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Abdul Majid Khan of Cuddapah

Abdul Majid Khan was a Pathan Nawab of Cuddapah (Kadapa) in the middle of the eighteenth century. An inscription of 1732 names him, as Mahazid Khan, the Nawab, and Brown's Carnatic Chronology has Majid Khan ruling Kadapa in 1753. Kirmani says the Maratha general Balwant Rao killed him, and Grant Duff and Orme describe a Nawab of Cuddapah killed in battle with Balwant Rao near Kadapa on 24 September 1757. Gribble and the Telugu account translated by C. P. Brown make him the father of the last Nawab, Abdul Halim Khan. The sources disagree about his father, his death and his successor.

Abdul Majid Khan was one of the Pathan Nawabs who ruled the Kadapa (then Cuddapah) country for the Nizams.12 He held power in the years between the great Nawab Abdul Nabi Khan and the last Nawab, Abdul Halim Khan.1 Very little is known about him, and the sources do not agree even on his name.134 See the Nawabs of Cuddapah.

His names

Each source spells his name differently:1354

  • Mahazid Khan, in Gribble’s Cuddapah manual (1875) and the Cuddapah gazetteer (1915)12
  • Majid Khan, in C. P. Brown’s Carnatic Chronology (1863)3
  • Abdul Masid Khan, in a Telugu account of the family that Brown translated (1849)5
  • Abdul Mujeed Khan, in W. Miles’s translation of Kirmani’s history of Haidar Ali (1842)4

No single source joins all these names, but the sources link them in pairs.153 Gribble’s Mahazid and the Telugu account’s Abdul Masid are each the father of Abdul Halim Khan.15 Brown’s Majid, like the Telugu account’s Masid, is the son of an Abdul Hamid Khan.35

Nawab, 1732 and after

Gribble writes that Abdul Nabi Khan “had ceased to rule at all events before 1732”.1 In that year “an inscription speaking of his son Mahazid Khan as the Nabob” shows who ruled.1 The Cuddapah gazetteer repeats this.2 Brown’s chronology says that in 1753 “Abdul Hamid Khan’s son, Majid Khan, ruled Kadapa”.3 See Abdul Nabi Khan and Kadapa.

The war with Balwant Rao, 1757

Grant Duff says that the Peshwa left the Maratha general Balwant Rao in the south with a large force.6 Balwant Rao took Hoskote (then Ouscottah), “belonging to the Nabob of Kurpa”.6 The Maratha chief Murari Rao then joined the Nawabs of Kadapa, Savanur and Kurnool in a league against him.7

On 24 September 1757, near Kadapa, Balwant Rao defeated the Nawabs of Kadapa and Kurnool.7 Grant Duff writes that “the Nabob of Kurpa was killed, and his capital plundered”.7 He does not name the Nawab.7 Kirmani names the Nawab killed “by the hand of Bulwunt Rao” as Abdul Mujeed Khan.4 See Balwant Rao Mendle.

Kirmani says that after the Nawab’s death, Balwant Rao sent Amrit Rao with 500 horsemen and 2,000 foot soldiers to take the Baramahal.4 Amrit Rao plundered Vaniyambadi (then Wanambari).4 Then Asad Khan, the Nawab’s faujdar (military governor) in the Baramahal, rode out from Tiruppattur with only five horsemen.4 He beat the Marathas back, and Amrit Rao was wounded.4

Orme says that the Nawab’s “cousin-german and nearest relation”, Abdul Nabi Khan, shut himself up in the fort of Sidhout.8 At last he agreed with Balwant Rao to divide the country equally.9 The Marathas received the fort of Gurramkonda.9 See Siddhavatam and Gurramkonda.

His sons

Gribble’s Sidhout chronology says that the next Nawab, “Moochi Meer”, imprisoned “the three sons of the former Nabob” in the fort of Sidhout.10 One of them, Abdul Halim Khan, was set free in 1761 and became Nawab.105 The Telugu account names two younger brothers of Halim Khan, Sayad Mirjan Khan and Rahma Mirjan Khan.5

Kirmani names two Pathan commanders of 1779, Husseini Mean and Saeed Mean.11 He calls them the sons of “Kurma Mean, (the son of Mujeed Khan,)”.11 See Mohsin Khan and Abdul Halim Khan.

Where the sources disagree

  • His father. Gribble and the Cuddapah gazetteer name Abdul Nabi Khan.12 Brown’s chronology and the Telugu account name Abdul Hamid Khan.35
  • His death. Kirmani says that Balwant Rao killed him.4 Gribble’s narrative says that he died leaving a baby son, and that his brother Mahasim Khan then became Nawab and was killed in 1751.1 In Gribble’s Sidhout chronology the man killed by the Marathas was Syed Meer, jagirdar (holder of a land grant) of Sidhout, and the Nawab “Moochi Meer” survived.10
  • His heir. Grant Duff and Orme call Abdul Nabi Khan the “cousin and heir” of the Nawab killed in 1757.78 Kirmani and Gribble’s chronology make Mohsin Khan (Moochi Meer) the next Nawab.1210
  • The Nawab of 1740. The gazetteer says that Mahazid Khan ruled in 1732.2 But it names the Nawab defeated by the Marathas in 1740 as Abdul Nabi Khan, “probably a grandson of the first Abdul Nabi Khan”.2

Footnotes

  1. J. D. B. Gribble, A Manual of the District of Cuddapah (1875), p. 91 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11

  2. C. F. Brackenbury, Madras District Gazetteers: Cuddapah, Vol. I (1915), p. 41 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  3. C. P. Brown, Carnatic Chronology (1863), p. 73 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  4. Mir Husain Ali Khan Kirmani, The History of Hydur Naik, tr. W. Miles (1842), p. 67 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  5. Ram Chandra Rao Punganuri, Memoirs of Hyder and Tippoo, tr. C. P. Brown (1849), p. 26, translator’s Telugu account (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  6. James Grant Duff, A History of the Mahrattas, Vol. II (1826), p. 103 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  7. Grant Duff, History of the Mahrattas, Vol. II (1826), p. 104 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  8. Robert Orme, A History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan, Vol. II (Madras reprint, 1861), p. 291 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  9. Orme, Military Transactions, Vol. II (1861), p. 292 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  10. Gribble, Cuddapah (1875), p. 51, chronology of Sidhout (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  11. Kirmani, History of Hydur Naik, tr. Miles (1842), p. 355 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  12. Kirmani, History of Hydur Naik, tr. Miles (1842), p. 68 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Dynasties

Nawabs of Cuddapah

c. 1714–1779 CE

The Nawabs of Cuddapah were Pathan (Miana) chiefs who governed the Cuddapah country, first for the Mughals and then for the Nizams. They ruled from Cuddapah and the fort of Sidhout. The Cuddapah gazetteer dates Abdul Nabi Khan's rule from 1714. He held Sidhout, Gandikota, Cumbum and Gurramkonda, made the poligar of Punganur pay him tribute and raided the Baramahal. A Nawab of Cuddapah took part in the killing of Nasir Jang in 1750 and in the attack on Muzaffar Jang in 1751. In 1757 the Maratha general Balwant Rao defeated and killed the Nawab Abdul Majid Khan and took Gurramkonda. After a disputed succession, Abdul Halim Khan ruled from 1761 until Haidar Ali conquered him in 1779 and gave the country to Mir Sahib. It passed to the Nizam in 1792 and to the East India Company in 1800.

References

Sources (7)
  1. J. D. B. Gribble, A Manual of the District of Cuddapah in the Presidency of Madras (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1875, pp. 51, 91. [Public domain]
  2. C. F. Brackenbury, Madras District Gazetteers: Cuddapah, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1915, pp. 41. [Public domain]
  3. Charles Philip Brown, Carnatic Chronology: The Hindu and Mahomedan Methods of Reckoning Time Explained (opens in a new tab), Bernard Quaritch, London, 1863, pp. 73. [Public domain]
  4. Mir Husain Ali Khan Kirmani, tr. W. Miles, The History of Hydur Naik, otherwise styled Shums ul Moolk, Ameer ud Dowla, Nawaub Hydur Ali Khan Bahadoor, Hydur Jung (opens in a new tab), Oriental Translation Fund of Great Britain and Ireland, London, 1842, pp. 67, 355. [Public domain]
  5. James Grant Duff, A History of the Mahrattas, Vol. II (opens in a new tab), Longmans, Rees, Orme, Brown and Green, London, 1826, pp. 103–104. [Public domain]
  6. Robert Orme, A History of the Military Transactions of the British Nation in Indostan, Vol. II (Madras reprint) (opens in a new tab), Pharoah and Co., Madras, 1861, pp. 291–292. [Public domain]
  7. Ram Chandra Rao Punganuri (tr. C. P. Brown), Memoirs of Hyder and Tippoo, Rulers of Seringapatam (opens in a new tab), Simkins and Co., Madras, 1849, pp. 26. [Public domain]

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