The Husainabad Trust

The case of a Shi'a heartland

Bibliographic Data

ID3607108
AuthorsAishwarya Pandit (0000-0002-5252-6579, O. P. Jindal Global University, corresponding author)
Year2018
Volume52
Issue5
Pages1692-1728
Publication date2018-09-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueModern Asian Studies (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0026-749X • E-ISSN: 1469-8099
PublisherCambridge University Press (CUP) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.1017/s0026749x16000974
OpenAlexW2809023040
LanguageEN
Citations received1
References cited11

This article explores the history of the Husainabad Trust ('the Trust'), a quasi-religious endowment that supported a number of key Shi'a institutions in Uttar Pradesh (UP). It asks how Shi'a elites were able to sustain their political clout and cultural independence in India whereas, in neighbouring Pakistan, they struggled. The fate of the Trust after independence led to a contest between the Shi'as and the state, but also among Shi'as themselves. The resulting confrontation between the Shi'a community in Lucknow and across UP was, it shows, complicated by internal divisions among Shi'as who, though united against state interference in their religious and royal trusts, were divided on how best to manage them. The Trust assumed importance for Shi'as after independence because they lost some of the Trust properties to Pakistan and also because the Trust provided the means to support the largest public manifestation of Shi'a presence in Awadh, Muharram. Husainabad, it suggests, helps to explain how and why Lucknow re-emerged after independence as the heartland of the Shi'as of India, and arguably of South Asia

CONTEST · Endowment · Independence (probability theory · Political economy · Political science · Politics · Socioeconomics · Sociology · State (computer science · Uttar pradesh · Anthropological Studies and Insights · Islamic Studies and History · Law · Politics and Conflicts in Afghanistan, Pakistan, and Middle East

Tools

Open DOISci-Hub