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Nasir Jang (Mir Ahmad Khan)

Second son of Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah I. He seized the treasury and the throne of the Deccan when his father died in 1748. The English backed him against his nephew Muzaffar Jang and the French. He took Muzaffar Jang prisoner in 1750. In December 1750 the Nawab of Cuddapah shot him dead on his elephant, in a plot encouraged by Dupleix.

Nasir Jang was the second son of Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah I, the founder of the Asaf Jahi state.12 He was the first of three short-lived successors whose wars brought the French and the English into the politics of Hyderabad.12 Campbell’s list of the Nizams gives his name as Mir Ahmad Khan.3

Revolt against his father

Mudiraj’s Pictorial Hyderabad (1929) tells how Asaf Jah left Nasir Jang as his deputy in the Deccan while he was at Delhi.4 Nasir Jang then proclaimed his independence, “misled by evil counsellors”.4 His father returned and defeated him near Aurangabad in 1741. Nasir Jang was wounded, taken prisoner and kept for a time in the fort of Kandhar near Nanded.4

Gribble’s account agrees in outline.2 He says Nasir Jang met his father in battle and surrendered at the last moment. He was then kept for a time in the fort of Nander. Gribble’s printed date, 1841, is a misprint for 1741.2

Succession and war

On Asaf Jah’s death in 1748, his eldest son, Ghazi-ud-din, held high office at Delhi and did not come south. Gribble says Nasir Jang “at once placed himself on the musnud, seized the treasury and proclaimed himself Nizam”, the musnud being the throne.2 The treaty collection of 1909 says Ghazi-ud-din at first accepted his succession.5

His nephew Muzaffar Jang, the son of Asaf Jah’s daughter, contested his claim.156 Muzaffar Jang was said to have been named heir by his grandfather. The French governor Dupleix backed Muzaffar Jang and his ally Chanda Sahib, so the English backed Nasir Jang.156

Gribble describes the campaign of 1750. Nasir Jang brought an army of some 300,000 men, 800 guns and 1,300 elephants into the Carnatic.7 At Gingee, 600 Europeans under Major Lawrence joined him.7

The French officers with Muzaffar Jang mutinied, and Muzaffar Jang then surrendered on a promise of safety.89 Nasir Jang, says Gribble, then had him seized and chained.89 The Nawabs of Cuddapah, Kurnool and Savanur had arranged the surrender.9 These old officers of Asaf Jah resented this breach of faith and began to write to Dupleix.9

Death

According to Gribble, the French under Bussy took the fortress of Gingee, and Nasir Jang marched against it in the rains. Dupleix negotiated with him and, at the same time, plotted with the discontented Nawabs.1011 When the French force attacked his camp, the Kadapa (then Cuddapah) and Kurnool troops stood still.1011

Nasir Jang rode up on his elephant to rebuke the Nawab of Cuddapah.1011 The Nawab “rose in his howdah and shot the Nizam through the heart”.1011 Gribble dates his death to 14 December 1750.1011

Briggs (1861) gives 5 December 1750 and names the assassin as Mahommed Khan, the Pathan Nawab of Cuddapah.12 He says Dupleix worked through Ramdass, a Brahmin whom Nasir Jang trusted, to stir up revolt in the army.12

The Imperial Gazetteer says only that he was assassinated.156 The treaty collection says that he was murdered “by Pathan rebels”.156 Campbell says he was killed “at the hands of his own followers, at Arcot”.156

Briggs quotes the historian Grant Duff’s view of him.12 Grant Duff called him “totally destitute of his father’s prudence”, but possessed of “bravery and generosity, a taste for poetry and literature”.12 In Grant Duff’s view, the Deccan Mughals remembered him partly through his own writings.12

Bilgrami’s guide of 1927 describes the graves near Atapur. It refers to him as “Nawab Nasir Jung Shahid”, the martyr.13 It says the Begum Bazaar of Hyderabad belonged to his mother.13 It adds that the bazaar’s toddy shops were closed on the orders of Iwaz Khan, the governor of Hyderabad.13 Mudiraj names his mother as Syed-un-Nissa Begum, the wife whom Asaf Jah married at Aurangabad.4

Footnotes

  1. Imperial Gazetteer of India: Hyderabad State (1909), p. 15 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  2. J. D. B. Gribble (ed. M. Pendlebury), A History of the Deccan, Vol. II (1924), p. 15 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

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

  4. K. Krishnaswamy Mudiraj, Pictorial Hyderabad, Vol. I (1929), p. 55 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  5. C. U. Aitchison, A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads, Vol. IX (1909), p. 1 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  6. A. Claude Campbell, Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions (1898), p. 124 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  7. Gribble, History of the Deccan, Vol. II (1924), p. 21 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  8. Gribble, History of the Deccan, Vol. II (1924), p. 22 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  9. Gribble, History of the Deccan, Vol. II (1924), p. 23 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  10. Gribble, History of the Deccan, Vol. II (1924), p. 25 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  11. Gribble, History of the Deccan, Vol. II (1924), p. 26 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  12. Henry George Briggs, The Nizam, Vol. I (1861), p. 56 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  13. Syed Ali Asgar Bilgrami, Landmarks of the Deccan (1927), p. 90 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

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 (7)
  1. J. D. B. Gribble (edited and finished by Mary Pendlebury), A History of the Deccan, Vol. II (opens in a new tab), Luzac & Co., London, 1924, pp. 15, 20–26. [Public domain]
  2. Government of India, Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Hyderabad State (opens in a new tab), Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta, 1909, pp. 15. [Public domain]
  3. K. Krishnaswamy Mudiraj, Pictorial Hyderabad, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Chandrakanth Press, Hyderabad (Deccan), 1929, pp. 55–56. [Public domain]
  4. 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. 1. [Public domain]
  5. Henry George Briggs, The Nizam: His History and Relations with the British Government, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Bernard Quaritch, London, 1861, pp. 55–56. [Public domain]
  6. 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. 124, 126. [Public domain]
  7. 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. 90. [Public domain]

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