Information AboutHyderabad State |
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Hyderābād and Berar (s, 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 ''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 Maratha s 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 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 km&2) 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 successfully 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, The Last 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. People 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. 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 passed away in 1967. Administratively, Hyderabad State was made up of sixteen District s, 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. ]] Even though the Nizams ruled for some time, Islamic influence no longer prevails and the vernacular languages like Telugu and Kannada have retained their pristine purity and are now the important languages spoken in Hyderabad and Andhra Pradesh, along with Tamil and Marathi. Urdu,which was spoken during the Nizam rule is no longer spoken here. The cuisine incorporates the Biryani a spicy dish and several other influences. A subtle animosity between the pro-India Hindus and Nizam loyalist Muslims still lingers. The political party MIM ie Majlis-Ittehadul-Musalmeen is condidered by many as the de-facto successor of the Razakaars. SEE ALSO
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