Oudh
a province and town of British India, separated on the N. from Nepal by the lower ranges of the Himalaya, whence it gradually slopes, a great plain watered by the Gumti, Gogra, and Rapti rivers, to the Ganges; area 24,158 square miles. Pop. province, about 13,000,000.
Town, 23,000, mostly Hindus, though the dominant native race for centuries has been Mohammedan. The Brahmans are the most numerous class, about oneeighth of the whole population. Oudh is believed to have been one of the oldest seats of Aryan civilization in India.
After being the center of a long native Hindu dynasty it was subjugated by the ruler of Kanauj, and in 1194 was made subject to the Mussulman empire of Delhi. In 1732-1743 it became virtually an independent state, and the dynasty of the Nawabs lasted till the annexation of the province by the British in 1856. Dur- OUDINOT OUZEL ing the mutiny of 1857 Oudh was one of OUNDLE, a small but ancient and the centers of rebellion and the scene of pleasant town of N Northamptonshire, highly dramatic events.