Etymology The title
Nizam comes from the
Persian نظام /nɪˈzɑːm/, which itself is derived from
Arabic niẓām which means "order" or "arrangement", and was typically given to high ranking state officials.
Descent According to
Sir Roper Lethbridge in
The Golden Book of India (1893), the Nizams are lineally descended from the
First Caliph
Abu Bakr, the successor of the Islamic prophet
Muhammed. The family of Nizams in
India is descended from
Abid Khan, a
Persian from
Samarkand, whose lineage is traced to Sufi
Shihab-ud-Din Suhrawardi (1154–91) of
Suhraward in Iran. In the early 1650s, on his way to
hajj, Abid Khan stopped in Deccan, where the young prince
Aurangzeb, then Governor of Deccan, cultivated him. Abid Khan returned to the service of Aurangzeb to fight in the succession wars of 1657–58. After Aurangzeb's enthronement, Abid Khan was richly rewarded and became Aurangzeb's favourite nobleman. His son
Ghazi Uddin Khan was married to Safiya Khanum, the daughter of the former imperial
Grand Vizier (prime minister)
Sa'dullah Khan.
Mir Qamaruddin Khan, the founder of the line of Nizams, was born of the couple, thus descending from two prominent families of the Mughal court. Ghazi Uddin Khan rose to become a General of the
Emperor Aurangzeb and played a vital role in conquering
Bijapur and
Golconda Sultanates of Southern India in 1686. He also played a key role in thwarting the rebellion by
Prince Akbar and alleged rebellion by
Prince Mu`azzam.After Aurangzeb's death and during the war of succession, Qamaruddin and his father remained neutral thus escaping the risk of being on the losing side; they remained marginal players in the Mughal court during the reigns of
Bahadur Shah I (1707–12) and
Jahandar Shah (1712–13). Their successor
Farrukhsiyar (1713–19) appointed Qamaruddin the governor of Deccan in 1713, awarding him the title
Nizam-ul-Mulk. However, the governorship was taken away two years later and Qamaruddin withdrew to his estate in
Moradabad. Under the next emperor,
Muhammad Shah (1719–48), Qamaruddin accepted the governorship of Deccan for the second time in 1721. The next year, following the death of his uncle
Muhammad Amin Khan, a power-broker in the Mughal Court, Qamaruddin returned to Delhi and was made the
wazir (prime minister). According to historian Faruqui, his tenure as prime minister was undermined by his opponents and a rebellion in Deccan was engineered against him. In 1724, the Nizam returned to Deccan to reclaim his base, in the process making a transition to a semi-independent ruler.
Reign In 1724, Asaf Jah I defeated
Mubariz Khan to establish autonomy over the
Deccan Suba, named the region
Hyderabad Deccan, and started what came to be known as the
Asaf Jahi dynasty. Subsequent rulers retained the title
Nizam ul-Mulk and were referred to as Asaf Jahi Nizams, or Nizams of Hyderabad. Nizam I never formally declared independence from the Mughals; he still flew the Mughal flag, and was never crowned. In Friday prayers, the sermon would be conducted in the name of Aurangzeb, and this tradition continued until the end of Hyderabad State in 1948. The death of
Asaf Jah I in 1748 resulted in a period of political unrest as his sons, backed by opportunistic neighbouring states and colonial foreign forces, contended for the throne. The accession of
Asif Jah II, who reigned from 1762 to 1803, ended the instability. In 1768, he signed the treaty of
Machilipatnam, surrendering the coastal region to the
East India Company in return for a fixed annual rent. , official residence of the Nizams (1720-1948) Following the decline of the Mughal power, the region of Deccan saw the rise of the
Maratha Empire. The titular Nizams themselves fought during the
Mughal-Maratha Wars since the 1720s, 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,
Bhopal, Rakshasbhuvan, and
Kharda, in all of which the Nizam lost. Following the conquest of Deccan by
Bajirao I and the imposition of
Chauth by him, the Nizam essentially remained a tributary of the Marathas. riding an elephant in a procession from
Moula Ali, . In 1805, after the East India Company's victory in the
Second Anglo-Maratha War, the Nizam of Hyderabad came under their protection.. In 1858, the state of Hyderabad became part of the
British Indian Empire as a
princely state with full autonomy albeit under colonial rule and was subject to the British Crown. From 1876 to 1948, the Nizam recognised
the Crown as paramount ruler of India as the
monarch of the United Kingdom simultaneously held the title of
emperor of India (first held by
Queen Victoria as empress and the last being
George VI as emperor) 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. During the
Second World War, 80,000 men who were raised by the Nizam to form a personal army under the
Indian State Forces, known as the
19th Hyderabad Regiment served in Malaya, North Africa, Persia, Singapore and Burma The last Nizam of Hyderabad state,
Mir Osman Ali Khan crowned in 1911, had been the richest man in the world in his time. The Nizams developed the railway, introduced electricity, and developed roads, airways, irrigation and reservoirs; in fact, all major public buildings in Hyderabad City were built during his reign during the period of
British rule in India. He pushed education, science, and the establishment of
Osmania University forward. In 1947, at the time of the
partition of India, the
British government offered the 565
princely states in the sub-continent the options of acceding to either India or Pakistan or remaining independent.
End of the dynasty (at right) offers his surrender of the
Hyderabad State Forces to Major General (later General and Army Chief)
Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri at
Secunderabad. After the
Independence of India in 1947, the Nizam of Hyderabad chose to join neither the
Dominion of India nor the
Dominion of Pakistan. He later declared Hyderabad an independent state as the third Dominion, attempting to become an independent monarchy in the
British Commonwealth, sharing King George VI as head of state (since at that time members were required to share the king as head of state). Not only the Government of India, but
George VI who was head of the organisation, the last
emperor of India before independence and most crucially, the incumbent
monarch of India rejected the notion. After attempts by India to persuade the Nizam to accede to India failed, and due to large-scale atrocities committed by
Razakars (who wanted the Nizam to accede Hyderabad to Pakistan) on the Hindu populace, the Indian government finally launched a military operation named
Operation Polo. The
Indian Army invaded Hyderabad on 13 September 1948 and defeated his untrained forces. The Nizam capitulated on 17 September 1948; that same afternoon he broadcast the news over the State radio network. The Nizam was forced to accept accession to the new Union of India. His abdication on 17 September 1948 ended the dynasty's ambitions. Nevertheless, he became the
Rajpramukh postindependence based on public vote. He died on Friday, 24 February 1967. All Nizams are buried in royal graves at the
Makkah Masjid near
Charminar in Hyderabad excepting the
last, who wished to be buried beside his mother, in the graveyard of
Judi Mosque facing
King Kothi Palace. ==State wealth==