ABSTRACT
The chapter places nawabi rule in Lucknow in the context of the larger colonial enterprise and draws attention to the nawabs’ non-normative performances of gender and sexuality. The chapter provides a historical account of nawabi rule and the colonial presence in 18th-to-19th-century Lucknow. It familiarizes its readers with the nawabs Asaf-ud-Daula and Wajid Ali Shah, their gender and sexuality, and their cultural contributions. It illustrates the various instances of queer performativity, focusing on how the political affairs and the private lives of the nawabs converged theatrically in cultural practices of poetry, dance, and music. It provides instances of colonial bias which target Asaf’s homosexuality and Wajid’s amorous court culture, reading against the grain to reveal the political motivations behind them.
