Mir Alam tank inscription (1806)

This is the only dated record of the Mir Alam tank. The minister Mir Alam built this reservoir south-west of Hyderabad in the reign of the Asaf Jahi Nizam Sikandar Jah. Syed Ali Asgar Bilgrami published the inscription in 1927 in Landmarks of the Deccan.¹ This was his survey of the archaeological remains of the city and suburbs, and the inscription is entry No. 41, “Mir Alam Bund”.¹

The text

Bilgrami says the inscription is set “on the reservoir stone of black basalt”.¹ The stone is on “one of the reservoirs wherefrom the water is distributed”.¹ He prints the one-line text in Arabic script and translates it:¹

“In the name of God it flows and thank God it stands firmly. In the year 1221 A.H.”¹

He gives the date as “Asaf Jah III’s reign 1221 A.H. (1806 A.D.)”.¹ He judges the inscription to be in good condition and recommends that it be protected.¹ In 1927 the bund belonged to the estate of Nawab Salar Jang.¹ No other edition or plate of the inscription was found in the sources consulted.

Context

Bilgrami says the bund (dam) was built near Kotwalguda, close to the Isa river.¹ Its builder was Mir Abul Qasim Khan, Mir Alam Bahadur, prime minister of Sikandar Jah.¹ Two of his grandsons supervised the work.¹ The tank and bund together cost Rs 8,00,000.¹

The Imperial Gazetteer of 1909 gives the dam to “French engineers in the Nizam’s service”.² It says the cost came from Mir Alam’s share of the prize money from Srirangapatna (then Seringapatam).² Bilgrami adds that Mir Alam had led the Nizam’s forces in the war with Tipu Sultan in 1799.³

Footnotes

1. Syed Ali Asgar Bilgrami, Landmarks of the Deccan (1927), p. 106 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸ ↩⁹ ↩¹⁰ ↩¹¹ ↩¹² ↩¹³

2. Imperial Gazetteer of India: Hyderabad State (1909), p. 118 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

3. Bilgrami, Landmarks of the Deccan (1927), p. 107 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩