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Hyderabad State
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
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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.The Berar region of present day Vidharbha in Maharashtra was merged with The Central Provinces in 1903, to form Central Provinces and Berar.
Hyderabad state was located in south-central India from 1724 until 1948, ruled by a hereditary Nizam. During partition in 1947, the Nizam of Hyderabad declared his intentions of being of India or Pakistan. Sensing trouble, India launched "Operation Polo" which resulted in the absorbtion of Hyderabad into the Indian Union, in 1948.
Though Hindus were in the majority, Muslims also had a substantial population and most Muslims portray Hyderabad state as one of the most prosperous of the Indian states. Its capital city Hyderabad was for most of that time one of India's five largest cities.
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Main Article: History of Hyderabad
Hyderabad was founded by the Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golconda. In 1686 the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb campaigned in the Deccan to overcome 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, treacherously 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 Nizams patronized Islamic art, culture and literature and had a railway system called The Nizam's Government State Railways. Sharia-The Islamic Religious Law Code, was the guidng principle of the Nizams' official machinery.
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. The Nizam had a penchant for setting up institutions in the name of the dynasty. He set up schools, colleges, madrasas (Islamic Seminaries) and a University that imparted education in Urdu. Inspired by the elite and prestigious ICS (Indian Civil Service), he started HCS (Hyderabad Civil Service). The pace with which he amassed wealth made him to be the world's richest men in the 1930's, (Time cover story Feb. 22, 1937). Carrying a gift, called Nazrana in the local dialect, in accordance with one's net worth while meeting Nizam was a de facto neccesity.
When India gained independence in 1947, the British, left the choice of independance or unification up to the local rulers of the princely states. The Muslim ruler of Hyderbad, the last Nizam, wished to remain independent. First he tried to declare Hyderabad as an independent country but the British government did not allow this. Later in the same year, he announced his intention to become part of Pakistan.
Some people of the Hyderabad state rebelled against the Nizam, under the leadership of Communist Party of India. The Telangana peasant armed struggle was successful in driving out local landlords called Zamindars, and distributing their land to the landless. Nizam sought the help of Razakars, a local Muslim militia, to suppress the rebellion. Qasim Rizvi, also known as Kasin Razvi, the leader of Razakaars, had also stated at one point of time that he aims to hoist the Islamic flag on Delhi's Redfort. The 'Police Action' (officially-Operation Polo) by Indian forces neutralized the Razakars, paving the way for absorbtion of Hyderabad into India.
In 1956 during the Reorganisation of the Indian States, Hyderabad was split up between Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Karnataka. The last Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, passed away in 1967.
Administratively, Hyderabad State was made up of sixteen districts, grouped into four divisions. Aurangabad division included Aurangabad, Beed, Nanded, 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.
The present 'Nizam' (the eighth), Nawwab Mir Barkat Ali Khan, Mukarram Jah Bahadur, currently has an Indian address but spends most of his time in Turkey and Australia. Ms. Manolya Unur, a former Miss Turkey and the present 'Nizam's' most recent divorcee, won an alimony-related case against him in 2006, in an Indian family court.
Telugu, Hindi, Hindustani, (essentially Hindi but with an urdu flavour), Tamil, Marathi and Kannada are the important languages spoken in Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh today. Biryani, a spicy dish made of rice and meat, is among the remnants of the Nizami cuisine.
A subtle animosity between the pro-India Hindus and Nizam loyalist Muslims still lingers. The political party MIM (Majlis-Ittehadul-Muslimeen, with Qasim Rizvi as one of the founders, is considered by many as the de-facto successor of the Razakaars. The Owaisi family presently leads MIM.
- Hyderabad (India) for the city.
- Nizam for a list of Nizams and other information.
- Operation Polo the military operation that resulted in the unification of Hyderabad state into India.
- Zubrzycki, John. (2006) The Last Nizam: An Indian Prince in the Australian Outback. Pan Macmillan, Australia. ISBN 978-0-3304-2321-2.
(1911)