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Telugu Historyతెలుగు చరిత్ర

Qamar-ud-din Khan

Son of Mir Sahib and cousin of Tipu Sultan. He followed his father in command of the Gurramkonda and Cuddapah country in 1781–82. In 1783 he defeated a claimant to the Nawabship of Cuddapah and the English force that had taken Cumbum. Tipu arrested him in 1785 and took away his jagirs, but he led Mysore troops again in 1791. After the fall of Seringapatam in 1799 he surrendered to the British. The partition treaty bound the Nizam to give him a personal jagir in the Gurramkonda districts.

Qamar-ud-din Khan, Kummer-u-Deen in Wilks’s spelling, was the son of Mir Ali Raza Khan (Mir Sahib), Haidar Ali’s governor of Gurramkonda.12 So he was a first cousin of Tipu Sultan, and Wilks calls him the Sultan’s “cousin german” (first cousin).12 Gribble’s Cuddapah manual says he “had succeeded to the government of his father Meer Sahib”.3

The Cuddapah gazetteer calls him Kamal-ud-din.4 It counts father and son as the first rulers of the district “who seriously grappled with the problem of the poligars” (local chiefs).4 See Mysore under Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan.

Cuddapah and Cumbum, 1783

After Haidar’s death a son-in-law of the last Nawab of Cuddapah raised troops.15 Haidar had freed him as a mere “fakeer” (a poor holy man).15 He entered the province as Nawab, supported by an English force that took the fort of Cumbum.15

In 1783 Qamar-ud-din was sent to his jagir (land grant) at Kadapa (then Cuddapah) “with the troops composing the personal command of his late father Meer Saheb”.16 The claimant’s troops “were totally discomfited”.16 An English battalion in front was holding a parley, to find out whether the enemy thought himself bound by the armistice of Cuddalore.16 During the parley it “was treacherously charged and cut to pieces”.16

The Kurnool manual says the English had occupied the Cumbum valley and brought its poligars (local military chiefs) under control, including the poligar of Nossam.7 But then they exchanged “this fertile valley for Chetput on the Coromandel coast, which, on being occupied, was found to be a heap of ruins”.7

Loss of Tipu’s trust

In 1785 Qamar-ud-din was ordered from Kadapa to join the siege of Nargund.2 Tipu had planned that on his return he should surprise the Nizam’s fort of Adoni.8 But he kept to the eastern road.8 He was then reported at court to have sent an envoy to Hyderabad.8 He was said to be thinking of placing “himself and his jageer under the protection of that prince”.8

That year a rumour of Tipu’s death spread, and Qamar-ud-din hurried to Srirangapatna (then Seringapatam).9 He was “instantly placed under arrest; stripped of all his jageers and offices”.9 His troops were spread among other units.9

Gribble follows Wilks.3 He says that after two years in disgrace Qamar-ud-din was given a pay of Rs 500 a month, “and he was never again received into favor”.3 But Gribble added in a note that Munro’s notes on the poligars mention tributes fixed by Qamar-ud-din in 1791 or 1799.3 Wilks himself shows him leading a larger force that routed a Maratha force near Madhugiri in 1791.10

1799

Srirangapatna fell in May 1799.11 General Harris received the surrender of Purnaiya, “Kummer-u-Deen, and Futteh Hyder, the Sultaun’s eldest son”.11

The partition treaty of Mysore bound the Nizam “to provide liberally from the revenues of the said districts for the support of Meer Kummer-ood-deen Khan Bahadoor, and of his family and relations”.12 The Nizam was to grant him “a personal jaghire in the districts of Gurrumcondah” worth 70,000 Kanthiraya pagodas.12 He was also to give him a jagir to pay a body of troops.12 The Nizam’s schedule takes this personal jagir out of his share.13

The Cuddapah gazetteer quotes a passage of Munro.4 The Nizam gave Qamar-ud-din the management of the rest of the Gurramkonda province as well.4 Then “he found himself too weak to drive out the poligars who had recovered their hereditary districts during the war”.4 His expedition to make them pay “only ended in laying waste the country”.4 See Gurramkonda.

Footnotes

  1. Mark Wilks, Historical Sketches of the South of India, Vol. II (1817), p. 465 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9

  2. Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. II (1817), p. 537 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. Gribble, Cuddapah (1875), p. 100 and note (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  4. C. F. Brackenbury, Madras District Gazetteers: Cuddapah, Vol. I (1915), p. 45, quoting Munro (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  5. J. D. B. Gribble, A Manual of the District of Cuddapah (1875), p. 99 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  6. Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. II (1817), p. 466 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  7. Narahari Gopalakristnamah Chetty, A Manual of the Kurnool District (1886), p. 36 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  8. Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. II (1817), p. 539 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  9. Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. II (1817), p. 540 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  10. Mark Wilks, Historical Sketches of the South of India, Vol. III (1817), p. 189 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  11. Wilks, Historical Sketches, Vol. III (1817), p. 450 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  12. C. U. Aitchison, A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads, Vol. IX (4th ed., 1909), p. 58, partition treaty of Mysore, Article 2 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  13. Aitchison, Treaties, Vol. IX (1909), p. 63, Schedule B (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Dynasties

Mysore under Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan

1761–1799 CE

Haidar Ali, who made himself master of Mysore in 1761, and his son Tipu Sultan, who ruled until 1799, carried Mysore's frontier north and east into the Telugu country. Haidar took Penukonda and Madakasira from the Maratha Morari Rao in 1762, and recovered Gurramkonda through his brother-in-law Mir Sahib in 1768. He took Bellary in 1775 and Gooty in 1776, and conquered the Nawab of Cuddapah in 1779. The Nawab of Kurnool and the poligars of the Bellary and Anantapur country became his tributaries. Their wars with the Marathas, the Nizam and the East India Company were fought partly over these districts. By the treaty of 1792 Tipu ceded Cuddapah, Gurramkonda, Bellary and the Tadpatri country to the Nizam. After Tipu's death at Seringapatam in 1799 the Nizam took Gooty, Penukonda and the rest. In 1800 he ceded both gains to the Company as the Ceded Districts.

References

Sources (6)
  1. Mark Wilks, Historical Sketches of the South of India, in an Attempt to Trace the History of Mysoor, Vol. II (opens in a new tab), Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, London, 1817, pp. 465–466, 537–540. [Public domain]
  2. Mark Wilks, Historical Sketches of the South of India, in an Attempt to Trace the History of Mysoor, Vol. III (opens in a new tab), Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme and Brown, London, 1817, pp. 189, 450. [Public domain]
  3. 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. 99–100. [Public domain]
  4. Narahari Gopalakristnamah Chetty, A Manual of the Kurnool District in the Presidency of Madras (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1886, pp. 36. [Public domain]
  5. C. F. Brackenbury, Madras District Gazetteers: Cuddapah, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1915, pp. 45. [Public domain]
  6. 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. 58, 63. [Public domain]

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