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Mir Mahbub Ali Khan (Asaf Jah VI)

Nizam of Hyderabad from 1869 to 1911, only son of Afzal-ud-daula. Placed on the throne at the age of two, he grew up under the regency of Salar Jang I and took full powers from the Viceroy Lord Ripon on 5 February 1884. His reign saw the railways, the cotton mills, the code of 1892, the lease of Berar to the British in perpetuity (1902), the purchase of the Falaknuma palace (1897) and the Musi flood of 1908. Remembered in Hyderabad as 'Mahboob Pasha', he died on 31 August 1911.

Portrait photograph of the Nizam of Hyderabad in a turban and uniform with a sash and star.
Portrait photograph of the Nizam of Hyderabad in a turban and uniform with a sash and star. · J. D. B. Gribble (opens in a new tab) · Public domain

Mir Mahbub Ali Khan, the sixth Nizam of the Asaf Jahi line, was the only son of Afzal-ud-daula.12 He reigned for forty-two years, from 1869 to 1911.12 Mudiraj’s Pictorial Hyderabad (1929) gives his birth date as 17 August 1866 in one place, and 18 August 1866 in another.34

A child on the throne

When his father died on 26 February 1869, the child was “not three years of age”. The Resident placed him on the throne.2 The government was entrusted jointly to Salar Jang and Nawab Shams-ul-Umara.2

Campbell and Mudiraj describe the formal installation on 6 March 1869.53 The Resident led the boy, carried in the arms of a nurse, to the masnad (throne).53 On the co-regent’s death in 1877, his half-brother Vikar-ul-Umara became co-administrator. After his death in 1881, Salar Jang governed alone until he himself died in 1883.1

The treaty collection says Captain John Clerk was appointed in 1874 to oversee the young Nizam’s education.6 He was followed by his brother Captain Claude Clerk.6 Campbell says the Nizam learned Persian, Urdu and English.7 He became “an exceptionally good marksman” and wrote Urdu poetry “of no mean merit” (of real quality).7 He attended the Delhi Darbar of 1 January 1877.68

Reign

On 5 February 1884 the Viceroy, Lord Ripon, came to Hyderabad and gave him full powers.98 Mudiraj notes that it was the first visit of a Viceroy to the state.8 Ripon’s speech on that occasion, as Mudiraj prints it, urged him to win a name “by the justice of your government and the acknowledged prosperity of your people”.810 Then men would say of him, “He left his people the better for his rule.”810

His ministers were:1112

In 1892 a code known as the Kanuncha-i-Mubarak, “the auspicious code”, was issued to guide the minister.11 A Council of all the ministers followed.11 In 1897 the Nizam bought the Falaknuma palace, built by Sir Vikar-ul-Umara.13

Mudiraj credits his reign with the railways, cotton mills at Hyderabad, Gulbarga and Aurangabad, new irrigation works and schools. He says the state’s cash reserves rose from 1.3 crores in 1901 to over five crores in 1910.14 He gives much of the credit to the finance minister Sir George Casson Walker.14

In August 1887, when Russia seemed to threaten India, the Nizam offered twenty lakhs a year for three years for frontier defence.15 The treaty collection says this offer “practically formed the seed from which sprang the idea of the Imperial Service troops”.1516

On 5 November 1902 his government leased the Hyderabad Assigned Districts of Berar to the British in perpetuity (for ever).15 The fixed rent was 25 lakhs a year.15 His sovereignty was to be marked by the hoisting of his flag and a salute on his birthday.15 The Hyderabad Contingent ceased to exist.15 See the Asaf Jahis for the Berar question.

At the end of September 1908, after days of rain, the Musi rose in flood. It carried away arches of the Purana Pul, Afzal and Chadarghat bridges and caused “widespread destruction of life and property”.17 Bilgrami says the Purana Pul was rebuilt after the flood “during the reign of Nawab Sir Mir Mahboob Ali Khan Bahadur Asaf Jah VI”.18 The old walls were replaced with railings of pierced ashlar (cut stone).18

Character and death

Mudiraj, writing eighteen years after his death, says that the poorest of his subjects still called him “Mahboob Pasha”. Stories were told of his nightly walks in disguise among the people, his generosity and his “large-hearted tolerance in all matters of religion”.19 A sect in Hyderabad, Mudiraj says, regarded him as their pir, or saint.19

He was a staunch Muslim and a supporter of the Aligarh movement, but for a time his chief minister was a Hindu.20 He was a keen tiger hunter in his hunting grounds at Pakhal in the Warangal district.20 He died of a stroke on 31 August 1911, and was buried at the Mecca Masjid beside his father.2122 His son Mir Osman Ali Khan was proclaimed Nizam the same afternoon.2122

Footnotes

  1. Imperial Gazetteer of India: Hyderabad State (1909), p. 18 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. C. U. Aitchison, A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads, Vol. IX (1909), p. 11 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  3. K. Krishnaswamy Mudiraj, Pictorial Hyderabad, Vol. I (1929), p. 72 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. Mudiraj, Pictorial Hyderabad (1929), p. 75 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  5. Campbell, Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions (1898), p. 126 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  6. Aitchison, Treaties, Vol. IX (1909), p. 12 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  7. A. Claude Campbell, Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions (1898), p. 14 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  8. Mudiraj, Pictorial Hyderabad (1929), p. 76 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  9. Aitchison, Treaties, Vol. IX (1909), p. 14 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  10. Mudiraj, Pictorial Hyderabad (1929), p. 77 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  11. Imperial Gazetteer: Hyderabad (1909), p. 19 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  12. Aitchison, Treaties, Vol. IX (1909), p. 15 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  13. Imperial Gazetteer: Hyderabad (1909), p. 117 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  14. Mudiraj, Pictorial Hyderabad (1929), p. 79 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  15. Aitchison, Treaties, Vol. IX (1909), p. 17 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  16. Aitchison, Treaties, Vol. IX (1909), p. 18 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  17. Imperial Gazetteer: Hyderabad (1909), p. 119 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  18. Syed Ali Asgar Bilgrami, Landmarks of the Deccan (1927), p. 11 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  19. Mudiraj, Pictorial Hyderabad (1929), p. 80 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  20. Mudiraj, Pictorial Hyderabad (1929), p. 81 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  21. Mudiraj, Pictorial Hyderabad (1929), p. 82 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  22. Bilgrami, Landmarks of the Deccan (1927), p. 37 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

Photos

Dynasties

Asaf Jahis (Nizams of Hyderabad)

1724–1948 CE

The dynasty of the Nizams of Hyderabad (1724–1948). It was founded by the Mughal viceroy Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, who made himself independent in the Deccan after defeating Mubariz Khan at Shakar Kheda in 1724. After his death the French and the English backed rival heirs. The Northern Circars passed to the French in 1753 and to the English in 1766, and the Ceded Districts of Rayalaseema to the East India Company in 1800, leaving Telangana as the Telugu heart of the Nizam's Dominions. Bound to the British by the subsidiary alliance of 1798–1800, the Nizams governed through ministers such as Chandu Lal and Salar Jung I. They assigned Berar to the British in 1853 and leased it in 1902. Mir Osman Ali Khan's reign brought Osmania University and the rebuilding of Hyderabad, and his government ended in September 1948.

References

Sources (5)
  1. Government of India, Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Hyderabad State (opens in a new tab), Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta, 1909, pp. 18–19, 117, 119. [Public domain]
  2. C. U. Aitchison (compiler), A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads relating to India and Neighbouring Countries, Vol. IX: Hyderabad, Mysore and Coorg (4th ed.) (opens in a new tab), Superintendent, Government Printing, India, Calcutta, 1909, pp. 11–18. [Public domain]
  3. K. Krishnaswamy Mudiraj, Pictorial Hyderabad, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Chandrakanth Press, Hyderabad (Deccan), 1929, pp. 72, 75–82. [Public domain]
  4. A. Claude Campbell, Glimpses of the Nizam's Dominions, Being an Exhaustive Photographic History of the Hyderabad State, Deccan, India (opens in a new tab), C. B. Burrows, Bombay, 1898, pp. 13–14, 126. [Public domain]
  5. Syed Ali Asgar Bilgrami, Landmarks of the Deccan: A Comprehensive Guide to the Archaeological Remains of the City and Suburbs of Hyderabad (opens in a new tab), Government Central Press, Hyderabad-Deccan, 1927, pp. 11, 37. [Public domain]

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