Hyderabad

Hyderabad, former princely state of south-central India that was centred on the city of Hyderabad.

It was founded by Nizam al-Mulk (Āṣaf Jāh), who was intermittently viceroy of the Deccan (peninsular India) under the Mughal emperors from 1713 to 1721 and who resumed the post again under the title Āṣaf Jāh in 1724. At that time he became virtually independent and founded the dynasty of the nizams (rulers) of Hyderabad. The British and the French participated in the wars of succession that followed his death in 1748.

After temporarily siding with Hyder Ali, the ruler of the Mysore principality (now Karnataka state), in 1767, Nizam ʿĀlī accepted British ascendancy in Hyderabad by the Treaty of Masulipatam (1768). From 1778 a British resident and subsidiary force were installed in his dominions. In 1795 Nizam ʿĀlī Khan lost some of his own territories, including parts of Berar, to the Marathas. When he turned to the French, the British increased their subsidiary force stationed in his domain. The nizam’s territorial gains as an ally of the British against Tippu Sultan in 1792 and 1799 were ceded to the British to meet the cost of that force.

Surrounded, except in the west, by territory owned by or dependent upon the British, Nizam ʿĀlī Khan in 1798 was forced to enter into an agreement that placed his country under British protection, becoming the first Indian prince to do so. His independence in internal matters, however, was confirmed. Nizam ʿĀlī Khan was a British ally in the second and third Maratha Wars (1803–05, 1817–19), and Nizam Nāṣir al-Dawlah and Hyderabad’s military contingent remained loyal to the British during the Indian Mutiny (1857–58).

In 1918 Nizam Mīr Us̄mān ʿĀlī was given the title “His Exalted Highness,” though the British government of India retained the right to intervene in his domain in case of misrule. Hyderabad remained a peaceful, but somewhat backward, princely state as the movement for independence gathered strength in India. Hyderabad’s Muslim nizams ruled over a population that was predominantly Hindu.

When the Indian subcontinent was partitioned in 1947, the ruling nizam elected to resume independent status rather than join India. On November 29, 1947, he signed a standstill agreement with India to last one year, and Indian troops were withdrawn. Difficulties persisted, however; the nizam continued his efforts to assert his autonomy, India insisted that Hyderabad join India, and the nizam appealed to King George VI of Great Britain. On September 13, 1948, Hyderabad was invaded by India, and within four days Hyderabad’s accession to India was achieved. After a period of military and provisional civil government, a popular ministry and legislature were set up in the state in March 1952.

On November 1, 1956, the state of Hyderabad ceased to exist administratively. It was divided (along linguistic lines) among the states of Andhra Pradesh, which took the Telangana districts; Mysore, which took the Kannada-speaking districts; and Bombay (now divided between Gujarat and Maharashtra states). Berar had already been merged with Madhya Pradesh. In 2014 the Telangana districts (including Hyderabad) were split off from Andhra Pradesh to form the independent state of Telangana.

The nizams of Hyderabad constituted a Muslim dynasty that ruled over a predominantly Hindu population, and it is a tribute to the dynasty’s government that its Hindu subjects over the years made no effort to evict the Muslim aristocracy by allying themselves with the Marathas, with Mysore, or with the European powers.