Asaf-ud-Daula became nawab at the age of 26, on the death of his father, Shuja-ud-daula, on 28 January 1775. He assumed the throne with the aid of the British East India Company, outmanoeuvring his younger brother Saadat Ali who led a failed mutiny in the army. British Colonel John Parker defeated the mutineers decisively, securing Asaf-ud-Daula's succession. His first chief minister was Mukhtar-ud-Daula who was assassinated in the revolt. The other challenge to Asaf's rule was his mother Umat-ul-Zohra, who had amassed considerable control over the treasury and her own jagirs and private armed forces. She at one pointed invited the Company to intervene in her favour in the appointment of ministers against Asaf. When Shuja-ud-Daula died he left two million pounds sterling buried in the vaults of the zenana. The widow and mother of the deceased prince claimed the whole of this treasure under the terms of a will which was never produced. When Warren Hastings pressed the nawab for the payment of debt due to the Company, he obtained from his mother a loan of 26 lakh rupees, for which he gave her a jagir of four times the value; of subsequently obtained 30 lakh more in return for a full acquittal, and the recognition of her jagirs without interference for life by the Company. These jagirs were afterwards confiscated on the ground of the begum's complicity in the rising of Chait Singh, which was attested by documentary evidence. Ultimately this removed Umat-ul-Zohra as an obstacle to Asaf's reign. In the aftermath of Saadat's revolt, Asaf sought to restructure the government particularly by appointing nobles favourable to his cause and British officers to his miliary. Asaf appointed Hasan Riza Khan as his chief minister. Although he had little experience in administration, his assistant Haydar Beg Khan turned out to be a valuable support. Tikayt Ray was appointed finance minister. He was known for his generosity, particularly the offering of food and public employment in times of famine. Notably, the Bara Imambara, a mosque in Lucknow, was constructed during his reign by destitute workers seeking employment. A popular saying of the time of his benevolence: jisko na de maulā, usko de Asaf-ud-daulā "to whom even God does not give, Asaf-ud-Daula gives." He was painted several times by Johann Zoffany.
Shifting the capital
In 1775 he moved the capital of Awadh from Faizabad to Lucknow and built various monuments in and around Lucknow, including the Bara Imambara.
Architectural and other contribution
Nawab Asaf-ud-Dowlah is considered the architect general of Lucknow. With the ambition to outshine the splendour of Mughal architecture, he built a number of monuments and developed the city of Lucknow into an architectural marvel. Several of the buildings survive today, including the famed Asafi Imambara which attracts tourists even today, and the Qaisar Bagh area of downtown Lucknow where thousands live in resurrected buildings. The Asafi Imambara is a famed vaulted structure surrounded by beautiful gardens, which the Nawab started as a charitable project to generate employment during the famine of 1784. In that famine even the nobles were reduced to penury. It is said that Nawab Asaf employed over 20,000 people for the project, which was neither a masjid nor a mausoleum. The Nawab's sensitivity towards preserving the reputation of the upper class is demonstrated in the story of the construction of Imambara. During daytime, common citizens employed on the project would construct the building. On the night of every fourth day, the noble and upper-class people were employed in secret to demolish the structure built, an effort for which they received payment. Thus their dignity was preserved. The Nawab became so famous for his generosity that it is still a well-known saying in Lucknow that "he who does not receive from the Ali-Moula, will receive it from Asaf-ud-Doula".
The Rumi Darwaza, which stands sixty feet tall, was modeled after the Sublime Porte in Istanbul, is one of the very important examples of the exchange between the two cultures.
Death
He died on 21 September 1797 in Lucknow and is buried at Bara Imambara, Lucknow.
