Banganapalle State

Banganapalle was a small state round the town of Banganapalle, in the Kurnool district. It was one of the five Native States in political relations with the Government of Madras. The others were Travancore, Cochin, Pudukkottai and Sandur. The Imperial Gazetteer (1908) describes it as lying “on the tableland of the Southern Deccan within Kurnool District”.¹² It had an area of 255 square miles in two separate parts.¹² The main part ran from the Rampur pass over the Erramalas east to the town of Banganapalle, and south along the Kunderu.¹²

Its Political Agent was the Collector of Kurnool.² The gazetteer adds: “Banganapalle was a feudal estate at the time when it was ceded by the Nizam to the Company, and its position was continued.”¹ See Banganapalle and Kurnool.

The sources

The Kurnool district manual of 1886 gives a connected account of the family, from its own traditions.³ It is in the manual’s last chapter, “Descriptive Account of Banganapalle”.³ The Imperial Gazetteer (Vol. II, 1908) revised this account from the family’s title-deeds and the Madras records.⁴⁵ It found several of the traditions unsupported.⁴⁵

Aitchison’s Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads (Volume VIII, 1892) prints the official narrative and the sanads (deeds of grant) of 1849 and 1862.⁶⁷ A. Vadivelu’s Aristocracy of Southern India (1903) opens with a long family history written with the Nawab’s help.⁸⁹ It prints the government’s orders on the succession of 1868.⁸⁹ The Memoranda on the Indian States (1934) and the Government of India’s White Paper on Indian States (1950) carry the story to the end.¹⁰¹¹

Origins

The manual says that “towards the close of the seventeenth century Muhammad Beg Khan, a relative of Mubaraz Khan (a Vazier of Aurangzebe), was appointed as Killadar of Banganapalle”.¹² His brother Fazl Ali Khan was made killedar (fort commander) of the neighbouring fort of Chenchelimala.¹² When the brother died, the two charges were joined.¹²

When Asaf Jah, the first Nizam, “assumed sovereign powers”, Muhammad Beg Khan “became a petty chieftain or nabob”.¹²¹³ The manual goes on: “In the course of his southern tour, it is said, Asaf Ja recognised Muhammad Beg’s title and granted the territory in jaghire.”¹²¹³ Muhammad Beg Khan died at Banganapalle about 1172 of the Hijra (1758).¹²¹³ The Imperial Gazetteer adds that a document “still preserved at Banganapalle bears the seal of Muhammad Beg Khan and the date 1131 Hijra (A.D. 1718–19)”.⁴ See Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah I and the Mughals in the Telugu country.

The jagir (land grant) was already established by the middle of the century. In 1750, the Kurnool manual says, Nasir Jang’s envoy Saif-ud-din asked for “the village of Banganapalle” as his reward.¹⁴ But Nasir Jang was “unwilling to oust the Jaghiredar of Banganapalle”, and asked him to choose another village.¹⁴ See Nasir Jang.

Gulli Nawab and his nephews

Muhammad Beg Khan’s son, Fazl Ali Khan, had died before him.¹³ So he was succeeded by his grandson, also called Fazl Ali Khan, “alias Gulli Nabob, a boy of ten years of age”.¹³ For eight years a relative by marriage, Muhammad Beg Khan Laug, seized the power.¹³ Then the young Nawab drove him out.¹³

Gulli Nawab married his sister to a Persian, Saiyid Muhammad Khan Nagadi, who had served Saadatullah Khan of Arcot.¹³ He gave Banganapalle to their elder son, Husain Ali Khan, and Chenchelimala to the younger, Asad Ali Khan.¹³ He died in 1197 of the Hijra (1782), “after a reign of sixteen years”.¹³

In his time, the manual says, Haidar Ali of Mysore “invaded the country and reduced the Nabob to submission”.¹³ “The Nabob was then paying tribute to the Kurnool Nabob, which was now abolished.”¹³ See Haidar Ali, Saadatullah Khan and the Nawabs of Kurnool.

The oldest title-deed the family could show the Imperial Gazetteer’s compilers was dated 1761.⁴ It recorded “that the Nizam in that year appointed one Husain Ali Khan as Kiladar (commandant) and Faujdar (magistrate) of Banganapalle”.⁴ It also recorded “the removal of one Muhammad Beg Khan”.⁴ See Asad Ali Khan.

Tipu Sultan, 1783–1790

Husain Ali Khan’s four sons were minors when he died, and their uncle Asad Ali Khan managed the country for them. In 1783, the manual says, “Tipu Sultan of Mysore summoned Asaad Ali Khan to appear before him”.¹³ Asad Ali Khan refused and took refuge with the poligar (local chief) of Mutialpad.¹³ Tipu then “took possession of the territory and appointed one Muhammad Yusuf as Killadar of Banganapalle”.¹³ Yusuf held it for seven years.¹³

The Imperial Gazetteer found that Tipu had in fact confirmed the jagir to Husain Ali Khan’s son Ghulam Ali Khan.⁴ He did so by a letter of 1783, “at the beginning of Tipu’s reign”.⁴ Then he “at once resumed the jagir, and expelled Ghulam Ali Khan”.⁴ A letter of 1790 “to the Kiladar of Banganapalle, is addressed to one Yusuf”.⁴ See Tipu Sultan and Mysore under Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan.

The widow and her sons had fled to Hyderabad. They came back “with some force supplied by the Nizam and expelled Yusuf”.¹³ Tipu sent a Mysore force to retake the town.¹³ It “was met and a battle fought at Tammadapalle, near Banganapalle, in Hejairi 1203 (A.D. 1790)”.¹³ In that battle “Qutb was defeated and Asaad Ali Khan was victorious”.¹³ Tipu, the manual adds, did not try again, “as he had to look after troubles nearer home”.¹³¹⁵

The Nizam and the Company, 1790–1848

Ghulam Ali Khan, later titled Mansur-ud-daula, took Banganapalle, and his uncle took Chenchelimala. Asad Ali Khan joined the Nizam’s army against Tipu in 1791 and was for a time subahdar (governor) of Kadapa (then Cuddapah).¹⁵¹⁶ Ghulam Ali Khan lived mostly at Hyderabad and fought in the Nizam’s wars.¹⁵¹⁶ See Ghulam Ali Khan.

The manual says: “In 1800, the Nizam transferred his control over Banganapalle to the British Government when he ceded the districts of Cuddapah and Bellary.”¹⁵ The schedule of that treaty lists “Bungumpully and Chunchunmullah, 2 Talooks” among the Nizam’s gains of 1792.¹⁷

The Nizam laid down that the jagir should be continued to Asad Ali Khan and Ghulam Ali Khan, because it “was the sole means of subsistence of a numerous family”.⁵ The Company agreed.⁵ It neither took tribute nor, at first, used any authority there.⁵ The manual says that the treaty schedules had rated the territory at 45,000 Kanthirayi pagodas, “or Rs. 1,31,250”.¹⁵ At the Nizam’s request the tribute “was remitted by the British Government”.¹⁵ See Kadapa.

The family soon fell into debt.¹⁵ The manual blames this chiefly on Asad Ali Khan’s time as subahdar of Kadapa.¹⁵

Aitchison says that by 1825 “disorders” and “frequent complaints” led the government to propose annexing the jagir, with a pension for the family.⁶ The jagirdar (holder of the land grant) refused the pension and protested.⁶ When the Nizam’s condition of 1800 came to light, the Court of Directors decided that he was entitled to be treated “as an hereditary jagirdar”.⁶ The Collector of Cuddapah was told to settle the creditors’ claims, “to whom three-fourths of the net revenue were allotted”.⁶

The Imperial Gazetteer tells it differently.⁵ In its account the jagirdar was driven out of the country in 1831.⁵ The government took back the jagir in 1832 and proclaimed this in 1835.⁵ It says that “from 1835 to 1848 the State was accordingly administered by the Madras Government”, until the Court of Directors ruled in 1838 that the resumption must be cancelled.⁵ Both agree that the jagir was restored in 1848.⁶⁵

The sanads of 1849 and 1862

The jagir was restored to Husain Ali Khan, who died before his sanad could be issued.⁶⁷¹⁸ So the sanad of 20 March 1849 went to his nephew, adopted son and son-in-law, Ghulam Muhammad Ali Khan.⁶⁷¹⁸ It confirmed the jagir “free of peshcush and pecuniary demand”, that is, free of tribute and money claims.⁶⁷¹⁸

The sanad gave him “the general management of the revenue and police” and civil justice.⁶⁷¹⁸ It also gave him criminal justice, but he was to “abstain from the punishment of mutilating criminals”.⁶⁷¹⁸ He was not to execute anyone without the government’s sanction.⁶⁷¹⁸

In 1862 Lord Canning’s sanad promised that the British Government would “permit and confirm any succession to your State which may be legitimate according to Mahomedan law”.¹⁸ See Ghulam Muhammad Ali Khan.

The Nawabs, 1868–1948

Ghulam Muhammad Ali Khan died in October 1868.¹⁹²⁰ The government recognised his nephew and son-in-law Fateh Ali Khan as heir.¹⁹²⁰ It chose him over the claims of the widow and of a son-in-law.¹⁹²⁰ “The title of Nawab was granted to the jagirdar in 1876 as an hereditary distinction. He is not entitled to a salute.”¹⁹

In January 1905, “in consequence of his misgovernment”, Fateh Ali Khan was removed from the direct administration.²¹ It passed to an Assistant Political Agent.²¹ He died three months later.²¹ His son Saiyid Ghulam Ali Khan, then thirty-one, succeeded him.²¹ See Fateh Ali Khan.

The Memoranda on the Indian States of 1934 name the ruler as “Nawab Saiyid Fazl-i-Ali Khan Bahadur”, a Shia, born on 9 November 1901.¹⁰ He had succeeded on 22 January 1922.¹⁰ The Memoranda give the State’s area as 275 square miles and its average yearly revenue as 4,58,000 rupees.¹⁰

Territory

The Imperial Gazetteer gives the State’s borders:²

• the Ramallakota and Nandyal taluks on the north²
• Nandyal and Koilkuntla on the east and south²
• Pattikonda and Koilkuntla on the west²

A detached block of three hill villages, about twenty square miles, lay inside Koilkuntla.² The State had 63 villages and no town.²¹ Its population fell from 45,208 in 1871 to 30,754 in 1881, after the great famine.²¹ It recovered only to 32,264 by 1901.²¹

Telugu was spoken by 81 per cent of the people, and Hindustani was more common than in Kurnool.²¹ The ruling family was Shia, and the Muslims of the State were mostly Sunni.¹²²¹

Administration and revenue

In 1886 the Nawab governed with “a manager on Rs. 100 and a magistrate on Rs. 50”.²² He ruled through these courts and offices:²²

• a Sadar Court, over which he presided himself
• a munsif’s court (a lower civil court) for suits up to 3,000 rupees
• a magistrate’s court
• a revenue office, lately merged with the Sadar Court²²

The manual says: “The rates of land assessment are not settled and vary with the wishes of the Nabob”.²²²³ They sometimes rose to 12 rupees an acre on dry land and 30 on wet.²²²³ The land revenue in 1883–84, including the sub-jagirs, was 1,71,099 rupees.²²²³ Other heads brought in 30,465, among them excise, salt compensation, stamps, tolls and road cess.²²²³

Thirteen sub-jagirdars (holders of smaller grants), several of them living at Hyderabad, held 28 villages with an income of 1,14,589 rupees.²⁴ The sub-jagirs went back to Ghulam Ali Khan’s settlement of 1820, which gave villages to his cousins and other relatives.²⁵²⁶ They were resumed under the government’s management and granted again in 1848.²⁵²⁶ They were “finally resumed by the Madras Government” in 1905, and the holders received pensions.²⁵²⁶

By then the Penal Code and the civil and criminal procedure codes of British India had been adopted as laws of the State.²⁵²⁶ In 1904–05 the receipts were 96,000 rupees.²⁵²⁶ More than half the spending went on “the Nawab’s household and family”.²⁵²⁶

Army and forts

The State kept no army of any size. Aitchison records that “in 1891 the jagirdar had a force of 103 irregular footmen or police, and 2 unmounted guns of an obsolete pattern”.¹⁹ The Nawab’s home at Banganapalle was a fort.²⁷ Vadivelu says that at Queen Victoria’s jubilee in 1887 a salute of 31 guns was fired “from the ramparts of the Fort”.²⁷ In 1904–05 the police numbered 5 head constables, 59 constables and a bugler, with 131 village watchmen.²⁶

Coins and stamps

No source in the library describes a coinage of Banganapalle. The Nawab ran his own stamp revenue, “adopting the Indian Stamp Act as his model”.²⁵ “The State post office was amalgamated with the British postal system on January 1, 1900, when the Nawab issued a Regulation applying the provisions of the Indian Post Office Act to Banganapalle.”²⁵

The end, 1948

The White Paper on Indian States (1950) records that the Nawab of Banganapalle signed a merger agreement on 18 February 1948.¹¹²⁸ It was in the same form as the agreements signed by the rulers of the small States of Orissa and the Central Provinces.¹¹²⁸ The government of the Madras Province took over the administration of the State on 23 February 1948.¹¹²⁸ The White Paper’s table of privy purses (yearly allowances to former rulers) gives the Nawab of Banganapalle 53,000 rupees a year.²⁹ See Andhra State and Andhra Pradesh.

Where the sources disagree

• Muhammad Beg Khan. The Kurnool manual and Vadivelu make him a relative of Aurangzeb’s minister Mubariz Khan, appointed by the Mughals.¹²³⁰³¹ Aitchison calls him “son of Aurangzeb’s Grand Wazir”.⁶ The Imperial Gazetteer used the family’s manuscripts.⁴ It makes the Muhammad Beg Khan of the seal of 1718–19 the adopted son of a man of the same name.⁴ That man was appointed killedar “by the Sultan of Bijapur in the last half of the seventeenth century”.⁴ Vadivelu has Bijapur grant Banganapalle in 1643 to a general, Siddu Simbul.³⁰³¹
• Husain Ali Khan’s appointment. The manual says that Gulli Nawab gave Banganapalle to his nephew Husain Ali Khan.¹³ The Imperial Gazetteer says that the family’s oldest deed records the Nizam appointing Husain Ali Khan killedar and faujdar in 1761 in place of a Muhammad Beg Khan.⁴ That is three years after the manual’s date for Muhammad Beg’s death.¹³⁴ Vadivelu says that Husain Ali Khan succeeded a relative named Ghulam Ali Khan and served Haidar Ali.³¹
• Tammadapalle. The manual dates the battle to 1203 of the Hijra (1790).¹³ The Imperial Gazetteer dates it to about seven years after Ghulam Ali Khan’s expulsion of 1783.⁴ Vadivelu gives “1205 (Hijri), or 1787 A. D.” and calls the victorious uncle Husain Ali Khan, not Asad Ali Khan.¹⁶
• The rating of 1800. The manual gives 45,000 Kanthirayi pagodas.¹⁵ The schedule to the treaty of 1800 in Aitchison rates “Bungumpully and Chunchunmullah” at 41,804 pagodas.¹⁷
• The government’s management. The manual says that the Madras government took over the management in 1825 because the Nawab could not pay his creditors.¹⁵ Vadivelu says it did so “at the request of the Nawab himself” from 1825.³² Aitchison speaks of a proposal of 1825 to annex the jagir.⁶ The Imperial Gazetteer dates the resumption to 1832 and the direct administration to 1835–1848.⁵
• Death of Mansur-ud-daula. The manual dates it to 1824, and Vadivelu to 1822.¹⁵³³ The Imperial Gazetteer calls Ghulam Ali Khan “the sole jagirdar after 1815” and dates his settlement of the sub-jagirs to 1820.²⁵
• The title of Nawab. Aitchison, the manual, the Imperial Gazetteer and Lethbridge date it to 1876.^19222134 Thurston’s Madras Presidency (1913) dates it to 1871.³⁵
• Area. The manual gives about 275 square miles.³ The Imperial Gazetteer and Aitchison give 255.²¹⁹ Lethbridge gives 166, and the Memoranda of 1934 give 275.³⁴¹⁰

Footnotes

1. Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 84 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

2. Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Madras, Vol. II (1908), p. 471, “Banganapalle State” (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

3. Narahari Gopalakristnamah Chetty, A Manual of the Kurnool District (1886), p. 245, Chapter XIX (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

4. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. II (1908), p. 472 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶

5. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. II (1908), p. 473 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

6. C. U. Aitchison, A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads, Vol. VIII (1892), Part I, p. 97, “Banganapalle” (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴

7. Aitchison, Treaties, Vol. VIII (1892), Part I, p. 99, Sanad No. XVIII (1849) (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

8. A. Vadivelu, The Aristocracy of Southern India (1903), p. 1 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

9. Vadivelu, Aristocracy of Southern India (1903), p. 14 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

10. Memoranda on the Indian States, 1934 (Delhi, 1934), p. 138, Madras States Agency (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

11. Ministry of States, White Paper on Indian States (revised ed., 1950), p. 44, para. 107 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

12. Chetty, Kurnool District (1886), p. 246 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

13. Chetty, Kurnool District (1886), p. 247 and note (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³ ↩¹⁴ ↩¹⁵ ↩¹⁶ ↩¹⁷ ↩¹⁸ ↩¹⁹ ↩²⁰ ↩²¹ ↩²² ↩²³ ↩²⁴

14. Chetty, Kurnool District (1886), p. 32 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

15. Chetty, Kurnool District (1886), p. 248 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹

16. Vadivelu, Aristocracy of Southern India (1903), p. 8 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

17. Aitchison, Treaties, Vol. VIII (1892), Part II, p. 332, schedule to the treaty of 12 October 1800 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

18. Aitchison, Treaties, Vol. VIII (1892), Part I, p. 100, Sanads Nos. XVIII–XIX (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

19. Aitchison, Treaties, Vol. VIII (1892), Part I, p. 98 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

20. Vadivelu, Aristocracy of Southern India (1903), p. 18 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

21. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. II (1908), p. 474 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰

22. Chetty, Kurnool District (1886), p. 249 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

23. Chetty, Kurnool District (1886), p. 250 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴

24. Chetty, Kurnool District (1886), p. 252 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

25. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. II (1908), p. 477 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹

26. Imperial Gazetteer: Madras, Vol. II (1908), p. 478 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

27. Vadivelu, Aristocracy of Southern India (1903), p. 27 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

28. White Paper on Indian States (1950), p. 179, Appendix XI, note (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

29. White Paper on Indian States (1950), p. 389, Appendix LIX (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

30. Vadivelu, Aristocracy of Southern India (1903), p. 5 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

31. Vadivelu, Aristocracy of Southern India (1903), p. 6 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

32. Vadivelu, Aristocracy of Southern India (1903), p. 10 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

33. Vadivelu, Aristocracy of Southern India (1903), p. 9 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

34. Roper Lethbridge, The Golden Book of India (1893), p. 50 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

35. Edgar Thurston, The Madras Presidency, with Mysore, Coorg and the Associated States (1913), p. 5 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩