Hyderabad State
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Hyderābād and Berar pronunciation (Telugu: హైదరాబాదు Urdu: حیدر آباد) under the Nizams, was the largest princely state in India. The area of the state was bigger than Great Britain.
It was located in south-central India from 1724 until 1948, ruled by a hereditary Nizam, and an Indian state from 1948 to 1956. Its capital city Hyderabad was for most of that time one of India's four largest cities. It was the most prosperous of the Indian states and best governed as testified by historians.
Hyderabad was founded by the Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golconda. It was built by Persian architects and was known as Isfahan-e-Nau, The New Isfahan due to its beauty and architectural style. The basic architectural design of the city was based upon the Quranic model of Paradise.1
In 1686 the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb campaigned in the Deccan to tame the Marathas and conquer the independent Deccan states. Before the campaign, the Mughals had controlled the northwestern Deccan, including Khandesh and Berar, but Mughal control ended at the Godavari River. Aurangzeb conquered Golconda and Bijapur in 1687, extending Mughal control south of the Krishna River.
The Mughal Empire began to weaken during the reign of Aurangzeb's grandson, Muhammad Shah. A Mughal official, Asif Jah, defeated a rival Mughal governor to seize control of the empire's southern provinces, declaring himself Nizam-al-Mulk of Hyderabad in 1724. The Mughal emperor, under renewed attack from the Marathas, was unable to prevent it.
The seniormost (21-gun) princely state in British India, Hyderabad was an 82,000 square mile (212,000 km²) region in the Deccan ruled by the Asif Jahi dynasty, who had the title of Nizam and was bestowed the title of His Exalted Highness by the British Empire. He was also the most faithfull ally of the British. Nizam the seventh took over when the state was totally bankrupt. With his policies and governance he converted it to be the wealthiest state in India at that time, having a population of 16.5 million. He set up schools, colleges and University that imparted education in an Indian language. He had a Civil Sevice called HCS (Hyderabad Civil Service). During the height of Hyderabad's wealth in the 1930s the Nizam was the world's richest man, (Time cover story Feb. 22, 1937). He was famous for building institutions. He believed in the indespensibility of institution and not people. Those institutions are still admirably serving the people. His eccentricities included using the Jacob Diamond as a paperweight.
Administratively, Hyderabad State was made up of sixteen districts, grouped into four divisions. Aurangabad division included Aurangabad, Beed, Nander, and Parbhani districts; Gulbargah (Gulbargah) division included Bidar District, Gulbarga, Osmanabad District, and Raichur District; Gulshanabad District or Medak division included Atraf-i-Baldah, Mahbubnagar, Medak, Nalgonda (Nalgundah), and Nizamabad districts, and Warangal division included Adilabad, Karimnagar, and Warangal districts.
When India became independent on 1947-08-15, the terms of independence were to allow the princely states to either merge with India or remain independent. The Nizam was reluctant to accede to either India or Pakistan. He signed a "Standstill Agreement" with the Indian Government to maintain the status-quo. This continued till September,1948. In the meantime "Razakars",a paramilitary group who wanted the Nizam's rule to continue began to terrorize the local population. Their atrocities reached such a level that the Indian Government intervened by sending in the Army(called Police Action) on September 22,1948. The Razakars were defeated and their leader Kasim Rizvi surrendered. The Nizam's Army under Maj.Gen El-Edroos too surrendered within a day at the cost of 822 soldiers killed and 22 jawans of the Indian Army killed. This operation was nicknamed Operation Polo. Large scale rioting broke out a few days later between Hindus & Muslims throughout the countryside leading to large scale killings. The Nizam was appointed as the Rajpramukh(Governor) of Hyderabad,which he retained till 1956. In 1956 during The Reorganisation of the Indian States,Hyderabad was split up between Andhra Pradesh,Maharashtra & Karnataka.The last Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan expired in 1967. The present Nizam (the eighth), Nawwab Mir Barkat Ali Khan, Mukarram Jah Bahadur, currently lives in Hyderabad while travelling to Turkey and Australia.
Due to the long rule of the Nizams, there is still a long lasting cultural impact. For instance many of the local languages of Telugu and Kannada are laced with Urdu - the official language during the Nizam rule. The cuisine too incorporates the Biryani a popular main dish and several other influences. The benevolent rule and the prosperity gave birth to a distinct composite Hindu Muslim culture with its own unique cuisine.
[edit] See also
- History of Hyderabad for a history of the city of Hyderabad.
- Hyderabad (India) for the city.
- Muslim culture of Hyderabad
- Jamia Nizamia
- Nizam for a list of Nizams and other information.
- Operation Polo the military operation that resulted in the annexation of Hyderabad state into India.
