Nizam of Hyderabad

Nizam of Hyderabad
	Nizam of Hyderabad
	Semi-autonomous domain of the Mughal Empire
	Nizam's dominions at its peak during the Fourth Anglo-Mysore War
Capital	Aurangabad (from 1724) to Hyderabad (1763 till 1803)
	Nizam
History
Today part of	India:; Telangana; Maharashtra; Karnataka

The Nizam-ul-Mulk of Hyderabad, popularly known as the Nizam of Hyderabad, was a monarch of the Hyderabad State, now divided into Telangana state, Hyderabad-Karnataka region of Karnataka and Marathwada region of Maharashtra. Nizam, shortened from Nizam-ul-Mulk, meaning Administrator of the Realm, was the title of the sovereigns of Hyderabad State was the premier Prince of India, since 1724, belonging to the Asaf Jah dynasty.

The Asaf Jah dynasty was of Turkic origin from the region around Samarkand in modern-day Uzbekistan, The dynasty was founded by Mir Qamar-ud-Din Siddiqi, a viceroy of the Deccan under the Mughal Empire from 1713 to 1721. He intermittently ruled after Aurangzeb's death in 1707. In 1724, Mughal control lapsed, and Asaf Jah declared himself independent in Hyderabad.

Following the decline of the Mughal power, India saw the rise of Maratha Empire. The Nizam himself saw many invasions by the Marathas, which resulted in the Nizam paying a regular tax (Chauth) to the Marathas. The major battles fought between the Marathas and the Nizam include Palkhed, Udgir, Rakshasbhuvan, and Kharda, in all of which the Nizam lost.^[1]^[2]

In 1903 the Berar region of the state was separated and merged into the Central Provinces of British India, to form the Central Provinces and Berar.

In 1947, at the time of the partition of India, Britain offered the 566 princely states in the sub-continent the option of acceding to either India or Pakistan, or remaining independent.

Hyderabad was the largest and most prosperous of all princely states in India. It covered 82,698 square miles (214,190 km²) of fairly homogeneous territory and had a population of roughly 16.34 million people (as per the 1941 census), of which a majority (85%) was Hindu. Hyderabad State had its own army, airline, telecommunication system, railway network, postal system, currency and radio broadcasting service. In spite of the overwhelming Hindu majority, Hindus were severely under-represented in government, police and the military. Of 1765 officers in the State Army, 1268 were Muslims, 421 were Hindus, and 121 others were Christians, Parsis and Sikhs. Of the officials drawing a salary between Rs.600-1200 per month, 59 were Muslims, 5 were Hindus and 38 were of other religions. The Nizam and his nobles, who were mostly Muslims, owned 40% of the total land in the state

Seven Nizams had ruled Hyderabad State for two centuries until the Indian conquest of Hyderabad in 1948 brought about the end of the dynasty. The Asaf Jahi rulers were great patrons of literature, art, architecture, culture, jewellery, and rich food. The Nizams patronized aspects of a Persianate society from their Turco-Mongol Mughal overlords, and which became central^{[citation needed]} to the Hyderabadi Muslim identity.^{[citation needed]} They also introduced electricity, developed the railways and the roads, air communications, irrigation and reservoirs. The last Nizam was well known for his huge wealth and jewelry collection; he had been the richest man in the world until the end of his reign.^[3] Indeed, all major public buildings in Hyderabad City were built during his reign, while the British Raj was supreme. He pushed education, science, and the establishment of Osmania University.

Hyderabad State in 1909

Family origins

Qamar-ud-din Khan, Asaf Jah I

The Asaf was a dynasty of Turkic origin from the region around Samarkand in modern-day Uzbekistan. They came to India in the late 17th century, and became servants of the Mughal Empire. As the Mughals were great patrons of Persian culture, language, literature: the family found a ready patronage.

Origin of the title

Nizām-ul-mulk was a title first used in Urdu around 1600 to mean Governor of the realm or Deputy for the Whole Empire. The word is derived from the Arabic language, as in (Abu Ali Hasan ibn Ali Tusi (April 10, 1018 – October 14, 1092), better known by his honorific title of Nizam al-Mulk (Arabic: نظام‌الملک, "Order of the Realm"), Nizām (نظام), meaning order, arrangement. The Nizam was referred to as Ala Hadrat / Ala Hazrat or Nizam Sarkar, meaning His Exalted Highness.

Rise of the Nizams

The first Nizam ruled on behalf of the Mughal emperors. After the death of Aurangzeb, the Nizams split from the Mughals to form an independent kingdom. When the British achieved paramountcy over India, the Nizams were allowed to continue to rule their princely states as client kings. The Nizams retained internal power over Hyderabad State until 17 September 1948 when Hyderabad was integrated into the new Indian Union.

The Asaf Jah dynasty had only seven rulers; however there was a period of 13 years after the rule of the first Nizam when three of his sons (Nasir Jung, Muzafar Jung and Salabath Jung) ruled. They were not officially recognised as the rulers.

A legend about the first Nizam^[vague] states that, on one of his hunting trips he was offered some kulcha oval bread (an Indian bread) by a holy man and was asked to eat as many as he could. The Nizam could eat seven kulchas and the holy man then prophesied that seven generations of his family would rule the state.

By tradition no Nizam has ever left India no matter how good a reason might exist for doing so, as it was said^{[by whom?]}, "the Sovereign is too precious to his people ever to leave India.". After the Nizam family, the next group in the hierarchy was the Paigah family. The royal family had matrimonial relations only with them and were the closest group of nobles during the Nizam's period.