Hyderabad State

Flag of the State of Hyderabad

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. During partition in 1947, the Nizam of Hyderabad declared his intentions of being a part of Pakistan. Sensing trouble, India wrested control and liberated Hyderabad in 1948. Though Hindus were in majority, muslims also had a substantial population percentage and most of them portray the erstwhile 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.

History

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.

See also History of Hyderabad

The Nizams were great patrons of Islamic art, culture and literature. They even had their own railways called The NIzam's Government State Railways.

During British Raj

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. This was the British way of pampering a pliant satrap. He was also considered the most faithfull ally of the British, who succesfully kept the freedom movement at bay. Nizam the seventh took over when the state was rendered totally bankrupt by the previous Nizams. But soon with his policies of ruthless taxation, he converted it into one of the wealthiest state in India at that time, having a population of 16.5 million. He set up schools, colleges, madrasas (Islamic Seminaries) and a University that imparted education in Urdu-the language of choice for the south-asian Islamists. Inspired by the elite and prestigious ICS (Indian Civil Service), he started what he chose to call HCS (Hyderabad Civil Service). The pace with which he amassed wealth made him to be counted among the world's richest men, (Time cover story Feb. 22, 1937). A gift called 'Nazraana' in the local dialect was an indispensable requirement for all those who sought favours from him. He had a craze for building institutions and then naming them after himself or somebody from the dynasty. Few of those institutions have survived the test of time. He believed in the supremacy of Shariat (Islamic Law) and even changed the names of some districts in the erstwhile Hyderabad state to bring those names in conformity with Islam and Shariat. The district of Nizamabad, for example, was originally called Indrapur or Indur, after the Hindu "dev" Indra. His eccentricities included using the Jacob Diamond as a paperweight.

After British Raj (1947-48)

When India achieved independence in 1947, the British left the choice of unification up to the local rulers. The Muslim ruler of Hyderbad, Nizam, was reluctant to join a nation where Hindus would constitute the majority. 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.

Peasants of the Hyderabad state revolted 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 to suppress the armed struggle. It was a dark period in hyderabad history. Many Hindus were killed by razakars.

Finally, under the political leadership of Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Home Minister of India, India launched a Police Action(code-named "Operation Polo") to forcibly acquire and merge the state of Hyderabad into the Dominion of India.

On September 16, 1948, Indian Army moved in to Hyderabad State from five fronts. Four days later, the Hyderabad forces surrendered. The number of dead was a little over 800 : We have [V.P.] Menon's confession on P.376 of his story of the Integration of the Indian States ( Bombay: Orient Longman, 1961). The Police Action achieved success within a matter of days.

Off the battlefield 2,00,000 Muslims were killed, mostly butchered by the Communists,the Hindu Mahasabha and the advancing Indian army. The extant of the massacres can be imagined by the admission of Swami Tamananda Tirtha, the Congress chief, that Muslim losses in life and property far outdo Hindu sufferings before the Military operation, see Swami Ramananda Tirtha, Sadar Hyderabad State Congress ki Taqriren, ( Hyderabad : The Deccan Publishing Institute, 1950). The speeches of the congress leader seem to confirm the claim by Sundarlal and Abdulghaffarâ's report that at least 2,00,000 Muslims were Killed. There are several similar claims. The Official report on this has not been published.

In blatant disregard to the facts of the matter, Prime Minister Pundit Nehru called the Indian army's march into Hyderabad a a Police Action, a term which was popularized by the Government. This action was led by a lieutenant-general, three major-generals and a whole armored division with the help of Royal Indian Air Force bombing airstrips of Bidar, Hakimpet, Warangal and Hyderabad.

Hyderabad Today

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.

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.

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, former Miss Turkey and the present 'Nizam's' most recent divorcee, won an alimony related case case against him in 2006, in an Indian family court.

Due to the long rule of Nizams, Islamic influence still prevails and many of the vernacular languages like Telugu and Kannada have lost their pristine purity and are now hybridized dialects laced with Urdu - the official language during the Nizam rule. The cuisine too incorporates the Biryani a spicy dish and several other influences. A subtle animosity between the pro-India Hindus and Nizam loyalist Muslims still lingers. Majlis Ittehadul Musalmeen, MIM in short, is a fledgling political entity in the present Hyderabad and can be considered the de-facto successor of the notorious razakaar movement.

References

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