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In Hussainabad, located in the northern Indian state of UP, 90-year-old Faiyaz Ali Khan travels to the Art Gallery, a nineteenth-century structure that is a relic of the region's regal history.

His fingers shake as he walks, but there is a gleam in his eyes. He has arrived to receive his stipend, a payment granted to the offspring and associates of the former Awadh kingdom.

This pension, derived from the Persian word for a formal contract, is a pension awarded to the heirs and affiliates of the rulers of the former Awadh kingdom. Awadh, now the central region of Uttar Pradesh, was ruled by semi-autonomous Muslim leaders - known as nawabs - until the British took control in the mid-19th century.

India no longer has a monarchy, and ex-royalty lack any honorifics, special rights or unique stipends, called privy purses. However, while their kingdoms and political power have long disappeared, some pension arrangements have continued for descendants of these lineages in regions including Uttar Pradesh, the southern state, and Rajasthan.

Roshan Taqui, a scholar of the city, where the area is situated, says that in the beginning of the nineteenth century some members of the Awadh dynasty provided loans to the East India Company - which was then a commercial entity - on the agreement that the earnings be paid out as stipends to their relatives. These loans were ongoing, meaning the firm never had to repay the original sum.

But shortly thereafter, the British gained power in the area while the local rulers became weaker.

During that period, Mr Taqui notes, several rulers were also forced to lend funds to the Company, which required it to fight the conflict in Afghanistan.

Waiting near the gallery, which was constructed during the rule of ex- Awadh ruler Mohammad Ali Shah, the elderly recipient states he has arrived to receive his stipend after over a year.

"We've been collecting this pension since the era of our ancestors. It's so little that I visit annually to receive it," he explained.

The stipend sum is modest, just 9.70 rupees ($0.11; £0.08) a thirty days, but for his family, it is about prestige - their last living link to a once-rich past.

"Even if we receive a single paisa, we'll pay a significant amount to come and collect it," states his son the younger generation.

Today, around twelve hundred individuals - known as wasikedars - continue to collect these stipends.

However, the payouts are neither fixed nor uniform and diminish with every successive heir. For instance, if a individual received 100 rupees and had two children, the pension would be reduced by half after their death, leaving each with fifty rupees. As heirs multiplied over time, the share of pensions became more diminished.

The distribution of the pension started in 1817 when Bahu Begum, the wife of Awadh's the ruler, lent 40m rupees to the British entity in two instalments on the stipulation that her relatives and associates obtain monthly pensions, as per the historian.

Official records show that additional individuals linked to the dynasty also gave loans to the firm on similar terms.

After India became independent in the mid-twentieth century, a portion of the funds provided by the begum was deposited in a financial institution.

As per the state's wasika officer the officer, approximately 3m rupees was first deposited in the Reserve Bank of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta) and later moved to the industrial city and then Lucknow. Today, the stipends are paid out from the interest earned on around 2.6m rupees held in a city bank in the city.

The payments are handled by dual authorities in the gallery: the local trust, run by Lucknow's district administration, and the state's wasika office. The government now transfers pensions directly into financial accounts, while the foundation distributes physical currency.

Danish Ansari, Uttar Pradesh's official, says the pension is distributed as per policy and that the tradition "dates back to the rulers of the region."

Critics argue that these stipends are vestiges of feudal privilege and should have no place today. But advocates view them as symbolic payments linked to past agreements that cannot be easily brushed aside.

Another beneficiary, a lawyer who is also a beneficiary of the royal pension, points to his own heritage. His grandfather was a minister to the ruler.

Today, he gets two separate royal pensions associated with dual advances, one payment of four rupees and eighty paise quarterly and a second monthly payment of 3.21 rupees.

"This wasika cannot be measured in currency. It's our heritage, worth more than millions. A select group receive it," he says, adding that he receives it just before the sacred period of Muharram, allocating it solely to spiritual purposes.

"I avoid receiving it annually because if even a single paisa is used for other purposes, I would feel guilty."

Numerous beneficiaries argue that the stipends should be raised in line with modern financial returns.

"We've been receiving wasika at a four percent return since the Nawabs' time, while current financial yields are significantly greater," Faiyaz Ali Khan states.

His offspring adds that they have petitioned multiple times for the amount to be raised, but without success.

"It's regrettable that I expend five hundred rupees on fuel only to receive 9.70 rupees," he remarks.

Scholars also point out that the stipend was initially distributed in silver coins that every piece weighed over 11.7 grams (approximately 11.7 grams).

But when the payments changed to the national money, the worth dropped sharply.

The lawyer says he intends to file a case to seek an update of the sum.

"We'll inquire why the stipend is no longer distributed in silver coins anymore. And if not in silver, then at least the sum corresponding to today's silver value should be paid," he states.

It is not only the financial worth of the pension that has faded, but also the grandeur surrounding it.

Another recipient, whose lineage has been receiving these payments for generations, recalls a period when collecting the pension felt like a festival, with sherbets and beverages being available on the occasion.

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