Modern Hyderabad (Deccan)

Front matter

MODERN HYDERABAD (DECCAN)

BY

JOHN LAW

Chapter I : His Highness the Nizam

CHAPTER I.

His Highness the Nizam.

When, after a year in India, I visited the city of Hyderabad (Deccan), I like many English people fell under its spell. The unique scenery, the orientalism, the gorgeous colouring of streets and houses, the palaces of a ruler and of nobles who seemed to belong to mediæval times, the marriage processions with blazonment and fireworks, the secluded ladies of whom such wondrous tales were related, and above all, perhaps, the absolutism of the ruler—these things glamoured my imagination and made me think of the India I had read and thought about in England, the India that no longer exists under the prosaic rule of Englishmen.

Encircled by great rocks and crags, which resemble the fortifications of ancient cities, and are believed by the common people to have been placed in position by giants, the city of Hyderabad, with its suburbs, and the fort of Golconda, gave me enough to think about during the short time that I spent among the ruling community— courteous and highly-cultivated Maho-medan gentlemen who seem to take a pleasure in helping the English visitor to form and carry away a pleasant and romantic impression of the capital of His Highness the Nizam's Dominions.

H. H. Mir Mahabub Ali Khan was then living, and I heard that he was a very small man, but one who had "a kingly presence and a regal eye." He wrote poetry, he was a great shikari, he had a kind heart, and he was generous to a fault. In his principal palace, which covered miles of the heart of the city, he had entertained King George and Queen Mary when Their Majesties visited India as Prince and Princess of Wales. He was the son of "Our Faithful Ally"; he had volunteered to take the field in person when a Russian scare had made the Government of India nervous; and, by the offer of a princely gift for the defence of the Frontier, he had brought the Imperial Service troops into existence. He was India's Premier Prince, the first of those ruling chiefs who make Great Britain an Empire.

His Highness the late Nizam I did not see. But H. H. Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur, the present ruler of Hyderabad, I saw several times while he was Heir-Apparent; and I noticed that he was strongly built, and that he had fine eyes—large, dark and smouldering—, and shapely hands.

And I was told that he possessed determination of character and will-power, and that he had a marked aptitude for business, which he showed by digesting the many State documents that, by order of his august father, were placed before him every morning. His upbringing had been somewhat stoical and strenuous, it was said, and not altogether unlike that of King Edward VII, who was then nearing the close of his short reign.

The next time that I saw His Highness the Nizam was at Delhi, where, at the Coronation Durbar, he, as premier prince of India, walked first to the thrones and bowed there to King George, who, at the same time, and in the same way, returned his homage. He wore a plain English morning suit and the yellow Hyderabad turban, and his quiet manner and dignified bearing seemed to make a very favourable impression on the vast assembly.

Later I had a yet pleasanter view of His Highness, and one that I like to retain in my memory. This was shortly after Lord Hardinge's visit to Hyderabad in September 1913, a visit that had been converted into a nightmare by anarchist threats, and characterised by viceregal isolation and aloofness. Every little heap of stones beside the railway line had been guarded by policemen while the viceregal train rushed past, and motor cars had conveyed Their Excellencies from entertainment to entertainment in Hyderabad city and its suburbs, while the lives of the common people had been made wretched by police regulations and restrictions, and the public had offered up a daily and hourly prayer that the Viceroy might go safely and quickly away. Soldiers had guarded the Faluknama Palace, where Their Excellencies had been the guests of H. H. the Nizam, and beds, chairs, cupboards, and sofas there had been searched for bombs by trembling menials. Rumours concerning anonymous letters from anarchists had been afloat, and it had been said that the man who threw the bomb at Lord Hardinge at Delhi was actually in Hyderabad city and threatened to do further mischief.

Well, Lord Hardinge had departed in safety, and it was the greatest day of the Mohurrum in Hyderabad, the day of the Langar procession. And in case anyone happens to be ignorant of the origin of this ceremony, I will briefly relate that not long after the city of Hyderabad had been built by Muhammad Kuli, at the close of the sixteenth century A.D., a Kutb Shahi prince was riding from the city to Golconda on an elephant, and, after crossing the Purana Pul (old bridge), the elephant became mad, and scattered the royal retinue and carried the prince into the jungle.

When the news reached Golconda, the Queen said that she would give to a Mahomedan recluse a gold chain "as thick as a langar" (a chain used to tether an elephant) if her son returned safely to the Palace. Some hours later, the prince arrived at Golconda on the runaway elephant, and the Queen then ordered the city goldsmiths to make the promised langar, which was afterwards taken by the prince in procession to the retreat of the recluse, and there cut up into many small pieces and distributed among religious mendicants.

Such was the beginning of the Langar ceremony, which is still performed each year in Hyderabad city in memory of the prince's escape and the queen's thank-offering. And although time has robbed it of many a picturesque incident, the procession is still of unique interest, because the whole of the State army takes part in it. His Highness's regular and irregular forces may be seen in this yearly pageant—gorgeous African Cavalry Guards on magnificent horses, smart Household Cavalry, the Golconda Lancers, the Imperial Service troops, and all the rest of the regular army, and also the irregular forces, the descendants of the soldiers who helped the first Nizam, Asaf Jah, to reconquer and settle the Deccan tableland at the beginning of the eighteenth century a.d., and to carve out and consolidate the country that is now known as "the Nizam's Dominions." Wild and weird some of these irregular soldiers look while they dance and sing in the procession and brandish all sorts of antique weapons. And terrible, indeed, appear the State executioners, who are dressed in red and hold aloft their hideous emblems of office.

The procession, which takes several hours to pass a given point, is swelled by nobles with their retainers; but in modern Hyderabad it would appear that the greater number of noblemen prefer to assemble at H. E. the Minister's city palace, and to watch the Langar ceremony there in shade and comfort. Thence the procession passes through the crowded streets to the city palace of the Nizam; and after having been inspected by His Highness, the troops disperse and return to barracks.

At all times Hyderabad city presents kaleidoscopic views of peculiar interest; but on Langar Day it seems to surpass itself, for then the streets are filled with men in holiday clothes, among whom pace gorgeously-caparisoned elephants, while carriages dash past, driven by syces in rainbow-coloured liveries, and carrying little children dressed in the most brilliant and varied garments. Behind the chicks of the windows, unseen but felt, are the secluded ladies, for whom, no doubt, the Langar is a great annual event, and every roof and every doorstep is covered with sightseers, who seem to vie one with another as regards the brilliancy of their attire.

The vast crowds in the streets are kept moving by vigilant policemen, but swarm at every corner and climb to each point of vantage, and the city resembles during the Langar Ceremony, nothing so much as a huge, humming, buzzing beehive only, to make the simile correct, the bees should be of every colour and not mere brown and black insects.

Now on Langar Day, October 1913, into these swarms of his loyal subjects, drove H. H. the Nizam, quite unexpectedly and heralded only by whizzing whirring rockets.

"His Highness!" "His Highness!" shouted galloping policemen, and the people in the streets hastily divided and piled themselves up on either side of the road. Silence seemed to fall on the masses, and only the voices of those in command were heard while a carriage drove past, a carriage driven by an English coachman in yellow satin, who wanted only a powdered full-bottomed wig to make him look perfect.

In the carriage sat H. H. the Nizam, quietly dressed, as usual, in a dark English suit and the yellow Hyderabad turban, and on either side of him were the two eldest princes, while behind him stood a tiny princess, who bowed incessantly to her father's delighted subjects.

Now it had seemed to me that the face of H. H. the Nizam had worn a somewhat bored and uninterested expression at functions of various sorts at which English people had been present; and I was glad to see that here, among his own people, he looked quite happy and pleasant. With hand raised to forehead, he glanced keenly from roof to pavement, and the low murmurs that rose from his salaaming subjects seemed to fill his mind and swell his heart.

So the carriage drove slowly through the silent, swarming people, with His Highness salaaming, the little princes wondering, and the tiny princess bowing, and then returned to the city palace.

Chapter II : Ancient History, and the Ruins

CHAPTER II.

Ancient History, and the Ruins.

Hindu Period.—The ancient history of Hyderabad is written eloquently in its ruins, and probably no area of similar size in India contains so many interesting records of the past as H. H. the Nizam's Dominions.

During a somewhat lengthy visit to the State in 1913, I gained a vivid idea of the Hindu races who lived and flourished in the Deccan tableland before the first Mahomedan invasion in 1294 a.d.; for I visited the chief places of historical interest.

I began with the rock monasteries and temples at Ellora and Ajanta, which speak of the time when king Asoka's rule stretched as far as the Upper Godavari, the sacred river that runs through the State, and in which (so legend tells us) Rama and Sita performed their morning ablutions and greeted with religious rites the rising sun. Here, rendered secure by the edicts of the great Buddhist king, followers of Lord Buddha sought Nirvâna two hundred years before the Christian era; and on the walls of the rock monasteries and temples we can trace to-day (so some authorities assert) the history of Buddhism in India, and can watch, too, Brahmanism slowly re-asserting itself and finally triumphing in the great rock temple called Kailas.

"All commentary," says M. Baudrillart, "grows pale before the magnificent ruins of the temples of Elura, which, more than any other ruins, confuse the imagination. . . . The development of the plastic art and of public religious luxury amongst the Hindus receives the most striking attestation in the magnificence of these temples, in the infinite diversity of their details, and the minute variety of the carvings."

Of the Andra kings, who ruled in the Deccan from about 220 B.C. to 550 A.D., I discovered no records; but of the Chalukya kings (550 — 1185 A.D.) I found a fascinating record in the "thousand-pillared temple" at Hanamkonda. And I marvelled much that the star-shaped mandapa there, which marks the Chalukyan style of architecture, is so little appreciated by the people who live in one of the most up-to-date towns in H. H. the Nizam's Dominions. I was told that Sir George Casson Walker caused the wall to be built that now surrounds the ruin; but to-day the interior of the temple is littered with rubbish and the walls are disfigured by scribblers.

An inscription, in ancient Telegu, is at the principal entrance, and this relates that the temple was built in 1162 a.d., during the reign of Sri Rudra Deva, and says of him:—"He was a terror to his enemies, whom he persecuted relentlessly. To the learned pundits and those who merited his admiration he was extremely merciful. He used to keep his wife always happy. He was celebrated as the most handsome man of his time. He had no equal in his skill of horsemanship, and his strength of body and muscle was so great that a seeming touch of his hand to an opponent rendered the latter powerless."

At Daulatabad I saw records of the Yadava kings, who came into power at the close of the 12th century a.d.; and who built the fort of Daulatabad, before which tourists from all parts of the world pause to-day, while on their way to the Ellora caves, and sometimes ask:—"What has become of the warlike Hindus who built this impregnable fortress?"

The fort of Daulatabad played a great part in the first conquest of the Deccan by the Mahomedans, who, after taking and re-taking this stronghold of the Hindus, went further south and besieged and took the great Hindu forts at Warangal, Raichur, and Gulbarga.

I found the fort of Warangal a wonderfully well-preserved and picturesque ruin.

Leaving the little railway station, I climbed the moss-covered rampart opposite; and then I had a fine view of the hills that rise abruptly from the plain and look like outposts. The second wall of the fort I found to be in an almost perfect state of preservation, although it dates from the middle of the 13th century a.d. Huge stones, placed one above another, form the Hindu portion of the wall, the Mahomedan additions being composed of much smaller stones, and apparently replacing the portions of the wall destroyed by the invaders.

Warangal is now a small hamlet and peasants live within the walls of the fort; but still the ruins of a Hindu temple, of stone bulls and pillars, may be seen, and on these things are written, in ancient Sanskrit, the history of the fort and the records of its great strength and vastness.

At Raichur I saw the fort built in 1294 by the Hindu minister of a Hindu raja, and I was told that a huge stone, 42 ft. by 3 ft., which forms a portion of the inner wall, and on which the date of the building is written, was placed in position by a woman. Here, as at the fort of Warangal, huge stones were laid one above another, and no cement was used; and looking at the walls, I said to myself, "These Hindu builders must have been giants!"

Of the fort at Gulbarga nothing remains to-day but a fragment of the ancient citadel; but the enormous strength of this ruin impresses the visitor, as do also the ruined forts at Mudgal, Naldrug, and other places.

And while travelling over the State, the garhis, or walled villages, cannot fail to arrest attention, speaking as they do of the unsettled condition of Hyderabad until about one hundred years ago.

The Muhamadan Invasion.—Returning to Daulatabad I was greatly interested in the history of Mahammad bin Tughlak, the sultan of Delhi, who tried to move his capital there in 1339 a.d. I read that the people of Delhi suffered terrible hardships on the way to Deogiri (the ancient name for Daulatabad), that many died on the way there, and that those who arrived safely "pined among the idolaters." The sultan found his coffers empty, and caused the gold and silver coinage to be replaced by copper, saying that his brass was equal to the precious metals of other men; but business came to a stand-still and he was obliged to withdraw his coinage edict. And, later, cholera attacked his subjects, and he himself nearly died of it, and then, being somewhat chastened and subdued, he gave permission to his subjects to return to Delhi, and a handful of despairing men, women, and children went home.

The Bahmani Kings (1347-1527 a.d.).—The various Mahomedan Governors of the Deccan asserted their independence after the sultan of Delhi had gone away, and the first to assume the title of King were the Bahmani rulers, who established their capital at Gulbarga.

I visited the tombs of these kings there—small square stone buildings, with a bulbous roof, and containing a grave of the simplest character. Standing at some distance from the city, the tombs are cool and quiet; and I was told that during the reign of H. H. the late Nizam, a local official appropriated two of them to his private use—one for a living place and the other as an office—a piece of vandalism that called down upon him the wrath of His Highness's government, when it was discovered.

After a time, the Bahmani kings moved their capital to Bidar, and there more of the tombs of these kings may be seen, also the remains of a great college built by a Bahmani minister.

The Barid Shahi Kings (1538-1609 a.d.).—At Bidar I saw the tombs of the Barid Shahi kings, who succeeded the Bahmani rulers. And here I would like to mention that Bidar, which is historically the most interesting city in the State, is very difficult to get at, unless one has a motor car, for there is no railway communication between Bidar and the capital, and the usual mode of performing the sixty miles journey between Bidar and Hyderabad city is by bullock cart.

Originally a Hindu stronghold, Bidar was besieged and taken by Mahammad bin Tughlak, the sultan of Delhi, in 1321 a.d. In 1430 a.d. it was annexed by the Bahmani kings, who moved their capital there from Gulbarga, and later on it became the capital of the Barid Shahi kings. In 1656 a.d. Aurangzeb besieged and took both the fort and the city, and, finally, at the beginning of the eighteenth century, Bidar passed quietly into the hands of Asaf Jah, the first Nizam.

The Kutb Shahi Kings (1512-1687 a.d.).—After the Barid Shahi dynasty, came the famous Kutb Shahi kings, who made their capital at Golconda.

As every one knows, the Golconda fortress lies five miles west of Hyderabad city, and the tombs of the Kutb Shahi kings are just outside it. Muhammad Kuli, the fifth Kutb Shahi king, founded the present capital of Hyderabad in 1589 a.d., and most of the old buildings in the city were erected by him, such as the Char Minar, the Char Kaman, the Ashur Khana (the city wall), and the Purana Pul (old bridge), which connects the city with the road to Golconda.

In 1687 the Golconda fortress was taken by Aurangzeb, after a siege of eight months, and the last king of Golconda, Abul Hasan, was made a prisoner and confined in the fort of Daulatabad, where he died in 1704 a.d.

The Emperor Aurangzeb.—At Roaza I saw the tombs of Abul Hasan, the last king of Golconda, Asaf Jah, the first Nizam, and Aurangzeb, the conqueror of Hyderabad, Golconda, Daulatabad, Bidar, Raichur, and the other strongholds in the Deccan that had refused to acknowledge the supremacy of Delhi. And before I briefly describe the tomb of that great conqueror and iconoclast, I would like to point out that at Roaza may be seen most, if not all, of the Indian styles of architecture—the Pathan style, characterised by horse-shoe shaped dome and pointed arches, the later Moghul style, with bulbous dome, slender minarets, and scolloped arches, the Jain, the Dravidian, the Indo-Aryan and the Chalukyan—all these styles may be seen at Roaza or near by. And at Ellora is one of India's greatest architectural triumphs, the Kailas rock-cut temple, built by Krishna, the Rashtrakuta king of Malkhed, in the eighth century a.d.

Midway between the north and south gates of Roaza is a domed porch that leads into a large quadrangle, with a mosque on the west side; and passing through a small gateway the visitor comes to a courtyard where a white cloth covers the simple grave of the great emperor Aurangzeb. He died on the 4th of March, 1707, in the eighty-ninth year of his age and the fifty-fourth year of his reign; and his last words to his sons were:—"I am going. No man has seen the departure of his own soul, but I see that mine is departing. Farewell! Farewell! Farewell!"

Chapter III : The Nizams and their Ministers

CHAPTER III.

The Nizams and their Ministers.

After leaving the ruins that make H. H. the Nizam's Dominions so interesting, the history of Hyderabad is not easy to follow.

In the public libraries in British India I could discover nothing about Hyderabad further than the condensed summaries contained in such books as the Imperial Gazetteer of India and the Encyclopædia Britannica; and only in the Hyderabad State Library was I able to find particulars concerning the Nizams and their Ministers.

Moreover, some of the most important books on these subjects are becoming rare, even in Hyderabad itself, such as, for instance, "Hyderabad (Deccan) under Sir Salar Jung" by Moulvi Cheragh Ali, and the biography of Sir Salar Jung I, which was written shortly after his death by Nawab Imud-ul-Mulk Bahadur. The "Historical and Descriptive Sketch of the Nizam's Dominions," compiled by Syed Hussain Bilgrami, b.a.; and C. Willmott, c.s., is out of print; and this book, which is, no doubt, the best history (in English) of Hyderabad, and which is, I believe, used as the text-book on Hyderabad for Civil Service examinations in England, ends with the death of H. H. Afzul-ud-Daula in 1869.

And it is a fact that there is no history of the long reign of H. H. Mir Mahabub Ali Khan—1869-1911—whatsoever at the present time, and that for information concerning all that has taken place during the last fifty years in Hyderabad State affairs we must go to the Administration Reports that have been published from time to time by His Highness's ministers. Consequently we read of the great reforms and improvements introduced by Sir Salar Jung I, and we find these things full-grown in the reign of the present Nizam, and so much altered and improved that Sir Salar Jung himself would scarcely know them now. And I need scarcely point out that Government Administration Reports are difficult to obtain, and that until about twelve years ago these official documents were published in Urdu.

As to this little book, I have had neither time nor opportunity to fill in the gap between the reigns of H. H. Nizam Afzul-ud-Daula and H. H. Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur. I have drawn on recent administration reports for information concerning the State as it is to-day; but I have not attempted to supply one of the greatest wants of the State, namely, a history of the reign of H. H. Mir Mahabub Ali Khan.

Asaf Jah, the first Nizam, was born in 1671 a.d., at Delhi, where he, at an early age, attracted the favourable notice of the emperor Aurangzeb. His original name was Kamar-ud-din, and the title of Asaf Jah was conferred upon him by the emperor Muhammud Shah when he obtained the keys of the fortress of Golconda. He was at that time engaged in re-conquering the possessions of the Delhi emperor in southern India, and about the year 1730 a.d. he was confirmed in his appointment as Viceroy of the Deccan by the emperor Muhammud Shah, who not only sent him the title of Asaf Jah, but also some jewels and an elephant, and told him "to settle the country, repress the turbulent, punish the rebels, and cherish the people." He went several times to the assistance of the emperor at Delhi, and "all his undertakings shed a new lustre on the house of Timur," and "he never moved a hair's breadth in opposition to the Imperial dynasty." In 1742 he formed projects for conquering the Carnatic, and in 1748 he died in camp, near Burhanpur, and his body was interred near the fort of Daulatabad, where his tomb may be seen to-day.

He was succeeded by his second son, Nasir Jung, who had rebelled against him in 1740 a.d., and had then been made a prisoner and confined in the fortress of Kandahar, near Nander. During the reign of this Nizam, M. Dupleix, the governor of the French possessions in India, began to intrigue in Hyderabad, and Nasir Jung collected a large army and marched on Pondicherry. But he was killed by one of his own followers before he could accomplish his project, and in 1750 a.d. he was succeeded by Muzaffar Jung, M. Dupleix's puppet.

A very interesting account of Muzaffar Jung's visit to Pondicherry and his installation there by M. Dupleix as Subedar of the Carnatic may be found in the French Library at Pondicherry; and we learn that he tried to arrange a marriage between the emperor of Delhi and Mile. Chou-Chou, the step-daughter of M. Dupleix, and that that astute Frenchman had some difficulty in refusing the honour that the Delhi emperor desired to confer upon his family.

Muzaffar Jung was murdered during his return journey, and M. Bussy, the commander of the French troops that had accompanied him, then persuaded the people of Hyderabad to place Salabat Jung upon the gadi. This was done in 1751, and afterwards the French gained much influence in Hyderabad, where territory was assigned to them for the support of their troops. But in 1755, when hostilities commenced in Europe between the French and the English, M. Bussy was obliged to return to Pondicherry, where the Count de Lally required his assistance; and after the departure of "the guardian angel of my life and fortune," as the Nizam called the gallant French captain, Salabat Jung was dethroned by his brother Nizam Ali Khan—the ally of the English—and confined in the fort of Bidar, where he died in 1762.

Nizam Ali Khan was the first Nizam who made a treaty with the English. In 1766 he ceded to them the Northern Circars, on condition that he was to be furnished with a subsidiary force in time of war, and should receive six lakhs of rupees annually when no troops were required, he, on his part, promising to assist the British with his troops when called upon to do so. Further treaties were made between the Nizam and the British in 1768, in 1790, and in 1798, when the subsidiary troops were augmented and the Ceded Districts of Madras were made over to the English by the Nizam for the payment of the troops, including the famous Hyderabad Contingent, which had been formed in 1709 by Mir Alum.

Nizam Ali Khan died in 1803, and was succeeded by his son Sikandar Jah, who died in 1829, and was succeeded by his son Nasir-ud-Daula.

Nasir-ud-Daula was a humane and broad-minded ruler, and much beloved by his subjects. He was six feet three inches high, and possessed great bodily strength and a handsome appearance. But he was wanting in energy and ability, and towards the close of his reign he became very self-indulgent. In 1853, the payment of the Contingent troops having fallen into arrears, he made a treaty with the English by which the Districts of Berar, Osmanabad, and the Raichur Doab were ceded to the British, and he pawned his jewels, which were taken to England. In May 1857, just at the commencement of the Mutiny, he died; and on his death-bed he told his son and successor, Afzul-ud-Daula, that as the British had always been friendly to the Nizams, so he should continue to be faithful to the English.

Nizam Afzul-ud-Daula followed his father's advice, and all through the terrible days of the Mutiny, he, and his minister, Sir Salar Jung I, stood by the English, thus preventing the Mutiny from spreading into southern India. In 1858 "Our Faithful Ally" received the thanks of the British Government, and a new treaty was then made between the Nizam and the English by which Osmanabad and the Raichur Doab Districts were restored to the Nizam, the assigned District of Berar being taken in trust by the British Government for the purposes specified in the treaty of 1853. (In November 1902 the assigned District of Berar was leased in perpetuity to the British Government at an annual rental of twenty-five lakhs of rupees.)

In 1869 Afzul-ud-Daula died and he was succeeded by his son, Mir Mahabub Ali Khan, who was then only three years old. Sir Salar Jung I and Nawab Shams-ul-Umara were made co-regents, the advice of the British Resident being taken on all important matters, and the Regency continued until 1884, when His Highness was invested with sovereign rights and the full enjoyment of an annual income of some ten millions of rupees derived from Sarf-i-khas (crown) lands, to say nothing of crown jewels and precious stones, that are said to be priceless.

During the reign of H. H. Nizam Mir Mahabub Ali Khan many improvements were introduced into the State, and the changes brought about by Sir Salar Jung I were further developed. In 1893 the Cabinet and Legislative Councils were formed, and in the latter Council, for the first time in the annals of Hyderabad, the non-official element was allowed a voice in the work of administration, a privilege that has not, so far, been appreciated or developed by His Highness's subjects.

Education received much encouragement, the valuable State Library was opened, the Guaranteed State Railway became a paying concern, three large spinning and weaving mills and many small ginning and pressing factories came into existence, the Singareni coal fields were developed, and municipal government was fostered in the city and in the suburb of Chadarghat, and was introduced in the form of Local Boards and Local Funds into the Districts. The good work done during the long reign of H. H. Mir Mahabub Ali Khan will be seen in the following chapters, including the changes made in the four Divisions and the sixteen Districts into which the State was re-divided in 1905, the introduction of up-to-date machinery into the State Mint about the same time, and many kindred matters.