After deposition when His Majesty Wajid Ali Shah, King of Oudh, left Lucknow for Calcutta, he passed through Benares and stayed from 16th April 1856 for 45 days as the guest of His Highness Maharajadhiraj Ishwari Pershad Narain Singh, Maharaja of Benares at Nandesar Palace in the cantonment of the city.

"Shaad Kya Khak Hon,Kis Se Kahain Kis Ghum May Hain,
Apni Sarkar Ke Mit Jan'ay Ke Matajm May Hain."

Meaning :--

"What on earth to celebrate whom to tell what is my grief
I am mourning the destruction of our kingdom."

When the King left Benares, he arranged at his own cost the daily playing of Shenai music at the Mandir of Lord Vishwanath at Kashi, and got built a Naobat-Khana in front of the holy shrine. It was Wajid Ali Shah's genius to invent a method of Muslim participation in the daily rituals of the holiest Hindu temple, without offending the principles of Islam. The idols were not garlanded, no Arti was performed, only Shenai from Noabat-Khan outside the Temple was played, whose Music went inside the Mandir.

From 200 years earlier, the Maharajas of Benares also used to keep Imam Husain's Tazia during the Ashra of Mohurrum in their Fort at Ramnagar, in the outskirts of Banares.

Such cordial display of Hindu Muslim brotherhood could not be tolerated by a wily alien regime, of a few thousand whites out to subjugate hundreds of millions of Indians. Thus the British rulers of India in their hay-day in pursuance of their notorious policy of "divide and rule", got both the practices, the Shehnai and Taziadari, discontinued and it remains so to this day.

The worthy great-grandson of H.H. Maharaja Ishwari Pershad Narain Singh namely the present Maharaja Vibhuti Narain Singh, and the humble great-grandson of H. M. Wajid Ali Shah namely the undersigned, have jointly decided to revive the traditional good practices started by our great forebears to renew the age old Hindu Muslim brotherhood in our great country.

Today, I get revived the daily playing of Shehnai at the Mandir of Lord Vishwanath at Kashi, the cost of which will be borne by me as the Chairman of His Majesty King Wajid Ali Shah's Trust and Mausoleum, Matiaburj, Calcutta. It will continue even after my death, for so long as the Trust of the King of Avadh continues.

Maharaja Dr. Vibhurti Narain Singh, Chancellor of Benares Hindu University, who wanted to simultaneously revive the Taziadari at Ramnagar Fort, has at my request postponed it to a near future date in order to do so in a separate grand ceremony at the Qula itself.

The Government of Inida and the State of uttar Pradesh are appreciating and patronizing our joint efforts to recreate the communal harmony and goodwill that existed here before the advent of the Feringhee to our peaceful land of milk and honey.

In Benares, in 1856, when His Majesty King Wajid Ali Shah, while going to Calcutta from Lucknow, stayed as guest of His Highness the Maharaja of Benares, the King wished to perpetuate the memory of his historical stay there. So he purchased a property facing Lord Vishwanath's deity and established a Naobat-khana there for a Muslim to play Shehnai in honour of Lord Vishwanath 3 times a day, from morning when the Lord woke up to night when He went to sleep; This pleased the entire population of Benares and greatly enhanced the Hindu-Muslim brotherhood. But when the King died in Calcutta in 1887, the British Government who dislikes the Hindu-Muslim unity got this Shehnai playing discontinued, and encouraged a strong Panda to capture the King's property and start residing there.

In 1980, when I met the present Maharaja Dr. Vibhuti Narayan Singh, Chancellor of B. H. U., he related to me this historical episode. I expressed to him my desire to revive it and he agreed. A date was fixed for the event 3 July, 1981, the Governor of U.P. Dr. Singh agreed to inaugurate the event. The Shehnai Maestro Bismillah Khan agreed to play on the first day. Hon'ble Dr. Ammar Rizvi distributed Dinner Invitation Cards. I distributed Lunch Invitation and the Function Cards. Maharaja was the Chief Guest.

A problem that had earlier arisen of the illegal and forcible occupation of Wajid Ali Shah's property by the Panda's family since the King's death in 1887, i.e. 93 years ago, was solved by the police Minister by forcibly evicting the Panda and family and establishing a Police Outpost there, leaving enough space for Shehnai party.

However, at the instance of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi just one day earlier the whole programme had to be postponed for 2 months (never to be revived) for her own political reasons.

But the Police Outpost is still there, in front of Lord Vishwanath's holy deity on our property, with our marble plaque written in Persian.

Typed written in 1997