Mother charged with hurting baby; Munchausen Syndrome by proxy?

Tuscon, Arizona police say that Blanca Montano, 21, an Arizona mother, was arrested and charged with child abuse on Tuesday for purposely injuring her seven-month-old daughter. Hospital staff reported Montano to authorities after the child was found to be suffering from nine separate, rare infections which became worse after the mother's visits.

Investigation by police determined that Montano had knowingly poisoned her child and made her sick. Montano was then prevented from visiting and the child noticeably improved.

Montano hospitalized her two children at University Medical Center in Tucson in February where they were diagnosed and treated for an infection. While one child improved and was released, her infant daughter became increasingly sick and was significantly worse following visits from her mother. Suspecting that the mother was exhibiting symptoms of a rare condition known as Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy, in which a mother intentionally harms her child to obtain attention or sympathy for herself, hospital officials contacted police and set up a hidden camera in the infant's room.

Police say that when the mother realized that there was a camera in the hospital room, she covered the child's crib with a towel.

KOLD News 13 obtained a search warrant which said doctors "believe that Blanca is giving her daughter something to make her sick. They indicated the ingestion of feces could cause the infections."

Dr Marc Feldman, a psychiatrist at the University of Alabama says that Munchausen Syndrome by Proxy is not a psychiatric disorder. "It is not a mental illness. It is a form of abuse, just like sexual abuse, physical abuse and emotional abuse – it's just a variant," he said.

Montano is out on $50,000 bail and will next appear in court on April 15.

Bank of Baroda

Bank of Baroda is the third largest bank in India, after the State Bank of India and the Punjab National Bank and ahead of ICICI Bank. BoB has total assets in excess of Rs. 2.27 lakh crores, or Rs. 2,274 billion, a network of over 3,000 branches and offices, and about 1,100 ATMs. IT plans to open 400 new branches in the coming year. It offers a wide range of banking products and financial services to corporate and retail customers through a variety of delivery channels and through its specialised subsidiaries and affiliates in the areas of investment banking, credit cards and asset management. Its total business was Rs. 4,402 billion as of June 30.

As of August 2010, the bank has 78 branches abroad and by the end of FY11 this number should climb to 90. In 2010, BOB opened a branch in Auckland, New Zealand, and its tenth branch in the United Kingdom. The bank also plans to open five branches in Africa. Besides branches, BoB plans to open three outlets in the Persian Gulf region that will consist of ATMs with a couple of people.

The Maharajah of Baroda, Sir Sayajirao Gaekwad III, founded the bank on 20 July 1908 in the princely state of Baroda, in Gujarat. The bank, along with 13 other major commercial banks of India, was nationalised on 19 July 1969, by the government of India.

International presence

Among the Bank of Baroda’s 42 overseas branches are ones in the world’s major financial centers (e.g., New York, London, Dubai,Hong Kong (which it has upgraded recently), Brussels and Singapore), as well as a number in other countries. The bank is engaged in retail banking via 17 branches of subsidiaries in Botswana, Guyana, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda. The Bank of Baroda also has a joint-venture bank in Zambia with nine branches. The Bank of Baroda maintains representative offices in Malaysia, China, Thailand, and Australia. It plans to upgrade its offices in China and Malaysia shortly to a branch and joint-venture, respectively.In its international expansion, the Bank of Baroda followed the Indian diaspora, especially that of the Gujaratis. It has significant international presence with a network of 72 offices in 25 countries, six subsidiaries, and four representative offices. 

The Bank of Baroda has received permission or in principle approval from host country regulators to open new offices in Trinidad and Tobago and Ghana, where it seeks to establish joint ventures or subsidiaries. The bank has received Reserve Bank of India approval to open offices in The Maldives, and New Zealand. It is seeking approval for operations in Bahrain, South Africa, Kuwait, Mozambique, and Qatar and is establishing offices in Canada, New Zealand, Sri Lanka, Bahrain, Saudi Arabia, and Russia. It also has plans to extend its existing operations in the United Kingdom, the United Arab Emirates, and Botswana. The slogan of bank of baroda is "india's International Bank".

History

1908-1959

• 1908: Maharaja Sayajirao Gaekwad III set up Bank of Baroda (BOB).
• 1910: BoB established its first branch in Ahmedabad.
• 1953: BoB established a branch in Mombasa and another in Kampala.
• 1954: BoB opened a branch in Nairobi.
• 1956: BoB opened a branch in Dar-es-Salaam.
• 1957: BoB established a branch in London.
• 1959: BoB acquired Hind Bank.

1960s

• 1961: BoB merged in New Citizen Bank of India. This merger helped it increase its branch network in Maharashtra.
• BOB also opened a branch in Fiji.

• 1962: BoB opened a branch in Mauritius.
• 1963: BoB acquired Surat Banking Corporation in Surat, Gujarat.
• 1964: BoB acquired two banks, Umbergaon People’s Bank in southern Gujarat and Tamil Nadu Central Bank in Tamil Nadu state.
• 1964: BoB lost its branch in Narayanjanj (East Pakistan) due to the Indo-Pakistan war. It is unclear when BOB had opened the branch.
• 1965: BoB opened a branch in Guyana.
• 1967: The Tanzanian government nationalized BoB’s three branches there and transferred their operations to the Tanzanian government-owned National Banking Corporation.
• 1969: The government of India nationalized 14 top banks, including BoB.

BoB incorporated its operations in Uganda as a 51% subsidiary, with the government owning the rest.

1970s

• 1972: BoB acquired The Bank of India’s operations in Uganda.
• 1974: BoB opened a branch each in Dubai and Abu Dhabi.
• 1975: BoB acquired the majority shareholding and management control of Bareilly Corporation Bank (est. 1928) and Nainital Bank (est. in 1954), both in Uttar Pradesh. Since then, Nainital Bank has expanded to Uttarakhand State.
• 1976: BoB opened a branch in Oman and another in Brussels. The Brussels branch was aimed at Indian firms from Mumbai (Bombay) engaged in diamond cutting and jewellery having business in Antwerp, a major center for diamond cutting.
• 1978: BoB opened a branch in New York and another in the Seychelles.
• 1979: BoB opened a branch in Nassau, the Bahamas.

1980s

BoB opened a branch in Bahrain and a representative office in Sydney, Australia.

BoB, Union Bank of India and Indian Bank established IUB International Finance, a licensed deposit taker, in Hong Kong. Each of the three banks took an equal share.

• 1985: BoB (20%), Bank of India (20%), Central Bank of India (20%) and ZIMCO (Zambian government; 40%) established Indo-Zambia Bank (Lusaka). BoB also opened an Offshore Banking Unit (OBU) in Bahrain.
• 1988: BoB acquired Traders Bank, which had a branch network in Delhi.

1990s

• 1990: BoB opened an OBU in Mauritius, but closed its representative office in Sydney.
• 1991: BoB took over the London branches of Union Bank of India and Punjab & Sind Bank (P&S). P&S’s branch had been established before 1970 and Union Bank’s after 1980. The Reserve Bank of India ordered the takeover of the two following the banks' involvement in the Sethia fraud in 1987 and subsequent losses.
• 1992 BoB incorporated its operations in Kenya into a local subsidiary with a small tranche of shares quoted on the Nairobi Stock Exchange.
• 1993: BoB closed its OBU in Bahrain.
• 1996: BoB Bank entered the capital market in December with an Initial Public Offering (IPO). The Government of India is still the largest shareholder, owning 66% of the bank's equity.
• 1997: BoB opened a branch in Durban.
• 1998: BoB bought out its partners in IUB International Finance in Hong Kong. Apparently this was a response to regulatory changes following Hong Kong’s reversion to the People’s Republic of China. The now wholly owned subsidiary became Bank of Baroda (Hong Kong), a restricted license bank.

BoB also acquired Punjab Cooperative Bank in a rescue.

• BoB also incorporate wholly owned subsidiary BOB Capital Markets Ltd.for Broking Business.
• 1999: BoB merged in Bareilly Corporation Bank in another rescue. At the time, Bareilly had 64 branches, including four in Delhi
• In Guyana, BoB incorporated its branch as a subsidiary, Bank of Baroda Guyana.
• BoB added a branch in Mauritius, but closed its Harrow Branch in London.

2000s

• 2000: BoB established Bank of Baroda (Botswana).
• 2002: BoB acquired Benares State Bank (BSB) at the Reserve Bank of India’s request. BSB was established in 1946 but traced its origins back to 1871 and its function as the treasury office of the Benares state. In 1964, BSB had acquired Bareilly Bank (est. 1934), with seven branches; it also had taken over Lucknow Bank in 1968. The acquisition of BSB brought BOB 105 new branches.
• 2002: Bank of Baroda (Uganda) was listed on the Uganda Securities Exchange (USE).
• 2003: BoB opened an OBU in Mumbai.
• 2004: BoB acquired the failed Gujarat Local Area Bank, and returned to Tanzania by establishing a subsidiary in Dar-es-Salaam. BoB also opened a representative office each in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, and Guangdong, China.
• 2005: BoB built a Global Data Centre (DC) in Mumbai for running its centralized banking solution (CBS) and other applications in more than 1,900 branches across India and 20 other counties where the bank operates. BoB also opened a representative office in Thailand.
• 2006: BoB established an Offshrore Banking Unit (OBU) in Singapore.
• 2007: In its centenary year, BoB’s total business crossed 2.09 lakh crores, its branches crossed 1000, and its global customer base 29 million people.
• 2008: BoB opened a branch in Guangzhou, China (02/08/2008) and in Kenton, Harrow United Kingdom.
• 2008: BoB opened a joint venture life insurance company with Andhra Bank and Legal and General (UK) called IndiaFirst Life Insurance Company
• 2009: The Bank of Baroda registered with the Reserve Bank of New Zealand, enabling it to trade as a bank in New Zealand (2009/09/01)

2010s

• 2010: Malaysia awarded a commercial banking license to a locally incorporated bank to be jointly owned by Bank of Baroda, Indian Overseas Bank and Andhra Bank. The new bank, India BIA Bank (Malaysia), will reside in Kuala Lumpur, which has a large population of Indians. Andhra Bank will hold a 25% stake in the joint-venture, BoB will own 40% and IOB the remaining 35%.

Indian Bank

Indian Bank, established in 1907, is a major Indian Commercial Bank headquartered in Chennai, India. It has 22,000 employees, 1,657 branches and is one of the big public sector banks of India. It has overseas branches in Colombo, Sri Lanka, Singapore, and 229 correspondent banks in 69 countries. The Government of India nationalized the bank, along with 13 other major commercial banks, on 19 July 1969.

History

Indian bank was founded by Annamalai and Ramaswami Chettiar in 1907. This was in response to the financial crash faced by two leading trading companies in Madras, Arbuthnot's and Binny's.

• 1907: Established on 15 August
• 1932: Indian Bank opened a branch in Colombo.
• 1935: IB opened a branch in Jaffna.
• 1939: IB closed the Jaffna branch.
• 1940: IB opened a branch in Rangoon (Yangon).
• 1941: IB closed the Rangoon branch but opened branches in Singapore (where future branch manager KB Pisharody (1915–1998) started his career in the same year), and in Kuala Lumpur, Ipoh, and Penang. The rapid advance of the Japanese Army forced IB to close all its branches in Malaya and Singapore.
• 1942: IB closed the Colombo branch.
• Post-WWII: IB reopened its Malayan and Singapore branches.
• 1948: IB reopened its branch in Colombo.
• 1960s: IB acquired Mannargudi Bank (est. 1932) and Salem Bank (est. 1925).
• 1969: The Government of India nationalized 14 top banks, including Indian Bank.
• 1973: Indian Overseas Bank, Indian Bank and United Commercial Bank established United Asian Bank Berhad in which IOB held 16.67% of the paid up capital, as a result of a new banking law in Malaysia that prohibited foreign government banks from operating in the country.
• 1978: IB became a technical adviser to P T Bank Rama in Indonesia, the result of the merger of P T Bank Masyarakat and P T Bank Ramayana.
• 1980: IB, Bank of Baroda, and Union Bank of India established IUB International Finance, a licensed deposit taker in Hong Kong. Each of the three banks took an equal share in the joint venture.
• 1987: IB acquired Bank of Tanjore (Bank of Thanjavur) in Tamil Nadu in a rescue.
• 1998: Bank of Baroda bought out its partners in IUB Intl. Fin. in Hong Kong. Apparently this was a response to regulatory changes following Hong Kong’s reversion. IUB became Bank of Baroda (Hong Kong), a restricted license bank.
• 2007: IB celebrated its centenary year.

C. V. Raman

Sir Chandrasekhara Venkata Raman, FRS (7 November 1888 – 21 November 1970) was an Indian physicist whose work was influential in the growth of science in the world. He was the recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physics in 1930 for the discovery that when light traverses a transparent material, some of the light that is deflected changes in wavelength. This phenomenon is now called Raman scattering and is the result of the Raman effect.

Early years

Venkata Raman was born at Thiruvanaikaval, near Tiruchirappalli, Madras Presidency to R. Chandrasekhara Iyer (b. 1866) and Parvati Ammal (Saptarshi Parvati). He was the second of their eight children. At an early age, Raman moved to the city of Vizag, Andhra Pradesh. Studied in St.Aloysius Anglo-Indian High School. His father was a lecturer in Mathematics and physics, so he grew up in an academic atmosphere.

Raman entered Presidency College, Chennai in 1902. In 1904, he gained his B.Sc., winning the first place and the gold medal in physics. In 1907, he gained his M.Sc., obtaining the highest distinctions. He joined the Indian Finance Department as an Assistant Accountant General.

Career

In 1917, Raman resigned from his government service and took up the newly created Palit Professorship in Physics at the University of Calcutta. At the same time, he continued doing research at the Indian Association for the Cultivation of Science, Calcutta, where he became the Honorary Secretary. Raman used to refer to this period as the golden era of his career. Many students gathered around him at the IACS and the University of Calcutta.

C.V Raman & Bhagavantam, discovered the quantum photon spin in 1932, which further confirmed the quantum nature of light. On February 28, 1928, through his experiments on the scattering of light, he discovered the Raman effect. It was instantly clear that this discovery was an important one. It gave further proof of the quantum nature of light. Raman spectroscopy came to be based on this phenomenon, and Ernest Rutherford referred to it in his presidential address to the Royal Society in 1929. Raman was president of the 16th session of the Indian Science Congress in 1929. He was conferred a knighthood, and medals and honorary doctorates by various universities. Raman was confident of winning the Nobel Prize in Physics as well, and was disappointed when the Nobel Prize went to Richardson in 1928 and to de Broglie in 1929. He was so confident of winning the prize in 1930 that he booked tickets in July, even though the awards were to be announced in November, and would scan each day's newspaper for announcement of the prize, tossing it away if it did not carry the news. He did eventually win the 1930 Nobel Prize in Physics "for his work on the scattering of light and for the discovery of the effect named after him. He was the first Asian and first non-White to receive any Nobel Prize in the sciences. Before him Rabindranath Tagore (also Indian) had received the Nobel Prize for Literature.

Raman also worked on the acoustics of musical instruments. He worked out the theory of transverse vibration of bowed strings, on the basis of superposition velocities. He was also the first to investigate the harmonic nature of the sound of the Indian drums such as the tabla and the mridangam.

Raman and his student Nagendranath, provided the correct theoretical explanation for the acousto-optic effect (light scattering by sound waves), in a series of articles resulting in the celebrated Raman-Nath theory. Modulators, and switching systems based on this effect have enabled optical communication components based on laser systems.

In 1934, Raman became the director of the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore, where two years later he continued as a professor of physics. Other investigations carried out by Raman were experimental and theoretical studies on the diffraction of light by acoustic waves of ultrasonic and hypersonic frequencies (published 1934-1942), and those on the effects produced by X-rays on infrared vibrations in crystals exposed to ordinary light.

He also started a company called Travancore Chemical and Manufacturing Co. Ltd. in 1943 along with Dr. Krishnamurthy. The Company during its 60 year history, established four factories in Southern India. In 1947, he was appointed as the first National Professor by the new government of Independent India.

In 1948, Raman, through studying the spectroscopic behavior of crystals, approached in a new manner fundamental problems of crystal dynamics. He dealt with the structure and properties of diamond, the structure and optical behavior of numerous iridescent substances (labradorite, pearly feldspar, agate, opal, and pearls). Among his other interests were the optics of colloids, electrical and magnetic anisotropy, and the physiology of human vision.

Personal life

Raman retired from the Indian Institute of Science in 1948 and established the Raman Research Institute in Bangalore, Karnataka a year later. He served as its director and remained active there until his death in 1970, in Bangalore, at the age of 82.

He was married on 6 May 1907 to Lokasundari Ammal with whom he had two sons, Chandrasekhar and Radhakrishnan.

C.V. Raman was the paternal uncle of Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, who later won the Nobel Prize in Physics (1983) for his discovery of the Chandrasekhar limit in 1931 and for his subsequent work on the nuclear reactions necessary for stellar evolution.

Honours and awards

Raman was honoured with a large number of honorary doctorates and memberships of scientific societies. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society early in his career (1924) and knighted in 1929. In 1930 he won the Nobel Prize in Physics. In 1941 he was awarded the Franklin Medal. In 1954 he was awarded the Bharat Ratna. He was also awarded the Lenin Peace Prize in 1957.

India celebrates National Science Day on 28 February of every year to commemorate the discovery of the Raman effect in 1928.

Vikram Sarabhai

Vikram Ambalal Sarabhai (August 12, 1919 – December 31, 1971) was an Indian physicist. He is considered to be the father of the Indian space program.

Biography

Early years and education

Vikram ambalal Sarabhai was born on 12 August 1919 in the city of Ahmedabad , Gujarat State in western India. The Sarabhai family was an important and rich Jain business family. His father Ambalal Sarabhai was an affluent industrialist and owned many mills in Gujarat. Vikram Sarabhai was one of the eight children of Ambalal and Sarla Devi.

To educate her eight children, Sarla Devi established a private school on the lines of the Montessori method, propounded by Maria Montessori, which was gaining fame at that time. As the Sarabhai family was involved in the Indian freedom struggle, many leaders of the freedom struggle like Mahatma Gandhi, Motilal Nehru, Rabindranath Tagore and Jawaharlal Nehru used to frequent the Sarabhai house. This is said to have greatly influenced the young Vikram Sarabhai and played an important role in the growth of his personality.

Sarabhai matriculated from the Gujarat College in Ahmedabad after passing the Intermediate Science examination. After that he moved to England and joined the St. John's College, University of Cambridge. He received the Tripos in Natural Sciences from Cambridge in 1940. With the escalation of the Second World War, Sarabhai returned to India and joined the Indian Institute of Science in Bangalore and began research in cosmic rays under the guidance of Sir C. V. Raman, a Nobel Prize winner. He returned to Cambridge after the war in 1945 and was awarded a Ph.D. degree in 1947 for his thesis titled Cosmic Ray investigation in Tropical Latitudes.

Marriage and children

In September, 1942, Vikram Sarabhai married Mrinalini Sarabhai, a celebrated classical dancer of India. The wedding was held in Chennai without anyone from Vikram's side of the family attending the wedding ceremony because of the ongoing Quit India movement led by Mahatma Gandhi. Vikram and Mrinalini had two children - Kartikeya and Mallika. Vikram Sarabhai allowed considerable freedom to Mrinalini to develop her own potential. Reportedly, they had a troubled marriage relationship. According to biographer Amrita Shah, Vikram Sarabhai had void in his personal life he sought to fill it by dedicating himself to applying science for social good.

His daughter Mallika Sarabhai is winner of Padma Bhushan, India's third highest civilian honor for the year 2010. She is also a renowned dancer herself and has been awarded the Palme d'Or.

Physical Research Laboratory

Vikram returned to an independent India in 1947. Looking at the needs of the country, he persuaded charitable trusts controlled by his family and friends to endow a research institution near home in Ahmedabad. Thus, Vikram Sarabhai founded the Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) in Ahmedabad on November 11, 1947. He was only 28 at that time. Sarabhai was a creator and cultivator of institutions and PRL was the first step in that direction. Vikram Sarabhai served of PRL from 1966-1971.

Death

Vikram Sarabhai died on 31 December 1971 at Kovalam, Thiruvananthapuram, Kerala. He was visiting Thiruvananthapuram to attend the foundation stone laying ceremony of the Thumba railway station being built to service Thumba launch center which would become one of ISRO's most important sites given its proximity to the equator, thus a convenient location to launch equatorial orbit satellites. During his last days, he was under a great amount of stress due to excessive travelling and a huge work-load which adversely affected his health. He did not wake up to celebrate the New Year. He died in his sleep at Halcyon Castle and was apparently a victim of a silent heart attack.

Indian Space Program

The establishment of the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) was one of his greatest achievements. He successfully convinced the government of the importance of a space programme for a developing country like India after the Russian Sputnik launch. Dr. Sarabhai emphasized the importance of a space program in his quote:

"There are some who question the relevance of space activities in a developing nation. To us, there is no ambiguity of purpose. We do not have the fantasy of competing with the economically advanced nations in the exploration of the moon or the planets or manned space-flight."

"But we are convinced that if we are to play a meaningful role nationally, and in the community of nations, we must be second to none in the application of advanced technologies to the real problems of man and society."

Dr. Homi Jehangir Bhabha, widely regarded as the father of India's nuclear science program, supported Dr. Sarabhai in setting up the first rocket launching station in India. This center was established at Thumba near Thiruvananthapuram on the coast of the Arabian Sea, primarily because of its proximity to the equator. After a remarkable effort in setting up the infrastructure, personnel, communication links, and launch pads, the inaugural flight was launched on November 21, 1963 with a sodium vapour payload.

As a result of Dr. Sarabhai's dialogue with NASA in 1966, the Satellite Instructional Television Experiment (SITE) was launched during July 1975 - July 1976 (when Dr.Sarabhai was no more).

Dr. Sarabhai started a project for the fabrication and launch of an Indian Satellite. As a result, the first Indian satellite, Aryabhata, was put in orbit in 1975 from a Russian Cosmodrome.

Dr. Sarabhai was very interested in science education and founded a Community Science Centre at Ahmedabad in 1966. Today, the Centre is called the Vikram A Sarabhai Community Science Centre.

He led the family's 'Sarabhai' diversified business group.

His interests varied from science to sports to statistics. He set up Operations Research Group (ORG), the first market research organization in the country.

Dr Vikram Sarabhai established many institutes which are of international repute. Most notable among them are Indian Institutes of Management (IIMs) which are considered world class for their management studies. Also he helped establishing Physical Research Laboratory (PRL) which is doing commendable job in R&D in Physics. Dr Vikram Sarabhai setupAhmedabad Textiles Industrial Research Association (ATIRA) which helped the booming textiles business in Ahmedabad. He also setup Center for Environmental Planning and Technology (CEPT). Not stopping with all these he went ahead and setup Blind Men Association (BMA) which helps visually challenged people with necessary skills and support.

Awards

• Shanti Swarup Bhatnagar Award (1962)
• Padma Bhushan (1966)
• Padma Vibhushan, posthumous (after-death) (1972)

Distinguished Positions

• President of the Physics section, Indian Science Congress (1962),
• President of the General Conference of the I.A.E.A., Verína (1970),
• Vice-President, Fourth U.N. Conference on 'Peaceful uses of Atomic Energy' (1971)

Honors

The Vikram Sarabhai Space Centre, (VSSC), which is the Indian Space Research Organization's lead facility for launch vehicle development located in Thiruvananthapuram (Trivandrum), capital of Kerala state, is named in his memory.

Chhota Imambara

Chhota Imambara (छोटा इमामबाड़ा), also known as Hussainabad Imambara is an imposing monument located in the city of Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh, India. Built by Muhammad Ali Shah, The third Nawab of Avadh in 1838, it was to serve as his own mausoleum. It is also known as the Palace of Lights because of its decorations during special festivals.

The chandeliers used to decorate the interior of this building was brought from Belgium. Thousands of labourers worked on the project to gain famine relief.

It has a gilded white dome and several turrets and minarets. The tombs of Muhammad Ali Shah and other members of his family are inside the imambara. The walls are decorated with Arabic calligraphy.

Outside the imambara is the watch tower called Satkhanda or tower of seven storeys. Though it is called satkhanda, it has only four storeys, as the construction of the tower was abandoned when Ali Shah died. satkhanda is built between 1837-1842 in the time of mohammad ali shah. mohammad ali shah wanted to made it same as kutubmeenaar of delhi and leaning tower of pisa.the main purpose of this construction is moon watching.

Bara Imambara

Bara Imambara

Bara Imambara (बड़ा इमामबाड़ा) is an imambara complex in Lucknow, India, built by Asaf-ud-daulah, Nawab of Lucknow, in 1784. It is also called the Asafi Imambara.

Bara means big, and an imambara is a shrine built by Shia Muslims for the purpose of Azadari. The Bara Imambara is among the grandest buildings of Lucknow.

The complex also includes the large Asfi mosque, the bhulbhulayah (the labyrinth), and bowli, a step well with running water. Two imposing gateways lead to the main hall.

The Bara Imambara was built in 1783, a year of a devastating famine, and one of Asaf-ud-Daula's objectives in embarking on this grandiose project was to provide employment for people in the region. According to reports, the famine continued for over a decade and the construction of the building continued for this time. It is said that ordinary people used to work in the day building up the edifice, while noblemen and other elite were called at night to break down all the structure raised, as they were incapable of doing anything else, according to a chronicle of the period. This see-saw efforts continued till the famine period was over. It was a project that preceded a Keynesian like intervention for employment generation.

The architecture of the complex reflects the maturation of ornamented Mughal design, namely the Badshahi Mosque - it is one of the last major projects not incorporating any European elements or the use of iron. The main imambara consists of a large vaulted central chamber containing the tomb of Asaf-ud-Daula. At 50 by 16 meters and over 15 meters tall, it has no beams supporting the ceiling, and is one of the largest such arched constructions in the world. There are eight surrounding chambers built to different roof heights, permitting the space above these to be reconstructed as a three-dimensional labyrinth with passages interconnecting with each other through 489 identical doorways. This part of the building, known as a popular attraction, and often the whole complex may be referred to as the bhulbhulayah. It is possibly the only existing maze in India and came about unintenionally to support the weight of the building, constructed on marshy land. Asaf-ud-Daula also erected the 18-m (59-f high Rumi Darwaza, just outside. This portal, embellished with lavish decorations, was the Imambara's west facing entrance. 

The design of the Imambara was obtained through a competitive process. The winner was an architect Kifayatullah, who also lies buried in the main hall of the Imambara. It is another unique aspect of the building where the sponsor and the architect lie buried besides each other.

There is also a blocked (tunnel) passageway which, according to legends, leads through a mile-long underground passage to a location near the Gomti river. Other passages are rumoured to lead to Faizabad (the former seat of power of the Nawabs), Allahabad and even to Delhi. They exist but have been sealed after a period of long disuse as well as fears over the disappearance of people who had purportedly gone missing, while exploring.