Oudh (Owd), or Awadh, a great plain sloping southward to the Ganges and watered by the Gumti, Gogra, and Rapti rivers, was made a British commissionership in 1858, and from 1877 was administered by the lieutenant-governor of the North-west Provinces (q.v.); but since 1901 the latter term is disused, the two areas being jointly known as the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh. Area, 24,246 sq. m.; pop. (1881) 11,387,741; (1901) 12,884,150. The bulk of the inhabitants of Oudh are Hindus, though the dominant native race for centuries has been Mohammedan. The Brahmans are about one-eighth of the whole population. The principal towns are Lucknow (the capital), Faizabad, Bahraich, Shahabad, Rai Bareli. Oudh was one of the oldest homes of Aryan civilisation in India. After being the seat 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 1732-43 it became virtually an independent state, and the dynasty of the Nawabs lasted until the annexation by the British in 1856. During the mutiny of 1857 Oudh was a centre of rebellion. - For the city of Oudh, see Ajodhya.