This insightful volume treats the world of the learned classes in the region of Awadh, in Muslim North India, with its famous capital Lucknow, from the fifteenth to the twentieth centuries. It focusses on those circles which carried, promoted, and reflected acculturation and interference in traditional as well as colonial settings. Part I examines the qasbahs where the seeds are laid for the efflorescence of scholarship, connecting South Asia with the Middle East and Europe. Part II deals with the accommodation of Islamic religious culture in the newly-established territorial states in the 18th century. The last section studies the Learned Council of Islamic Scholars (Nadwat al-‘Ulamā’) in Lucknow, its historical growth and internal set-up as well as its interaction with colonialists and traditionalists. The study is based on rich biographical and chronological accounts, narrative material, archival data, curricula and European reports.

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