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Salabat Jang

Third son of Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah I, raised to the throne of the Deccan by the French commander Bussy in 1751. Under Bussy's protection he defeated the Marathas and his elder brother Ghazi-ud-din, and in 1753 assigned the Northern Circars to the French. After Colonel Forde drove the French from the coast, he ceded Masulipatam to the English (1759). His brother Nizam Ali took power as his minister, deposed him in 1761 or 1762 and had him killed in prison about 1763.

Salabat Jang was the third son of Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah I.1 He ruled the Deccan from 1751 to 1761, under the protection first of the French and then, briefly, of the English. During his reign the coastal provinces of the Telugu country, the Northern Circars, passed out of the direct control of the Nizams.23 See the Asaf Jahis.

Raised by the French

Muzaffar Jang was killed early in 1751, and his only son was a minor (under age). Briggs says that the French commander Bussy “prevailed upon the leaders of the army to raise Salabut Jung”.1 Salabat Jang, “the third son of the late Nizam-ool-Moolk, who was then in camp”, was raised “to the vacant command”.1

Gribble says Salabat Jang had been travelling with the army “in a sort of honorary confinement”.4 He dates the installation to March 1751.4 Malleson, the historian of the French in India, records his first grants to the French. Salabat Jang confirmed their possessions at Machilipatnam (then Masulipatam), and added the lands of Nizampatnam, Kondavidu (then Kondavid), Alamanava and Narsapur.5

He also ordered the rebuilding of the factory (trading station) at Yanam, and gave Dupleix a territory in the district of Srikakulam (then Chicacole).5 Gribble says the army reached Hyderabad on 12 April and entered Aurangabad on 29 June.6

Gribble describes Salabat Jang as a man brought up “more or less in confinement”, who “devoted himself to pleasure” and trusted entirely to Bussy. Bussy kept his French troops in the fort of Aurangabad under strict discipline.7 The Peshwa’s army and Asaf Jah’s eldest son Ghazi-ud-din both moved against Salabat Jang.8

Bussy defeated the Marathas in a night attack at Rajapur on 12 November 1751.8 Ghazi-ud-din reached Aurangabad in September 1752, and died suddenly there while negotiating. Briggs, quoting Grant Duff, says he ate a poisoned dish “prepared by the hands of the mother of Nizam Alee”.9 He dates the death to 12 September 1752.9 Gribble quotes Malleson to the same effect.1011

Campbell instead names the poisoner as Salabat Jang’s own mother.12 The treaty collection of 1909 dates the death to 1751.3 Gribble says peace was then bought from the Marathas by giving up territory west of Berar at the end of 1752.11

The Northern Circars

To guarantee the pay of the French force, Bussy obtained from Salabat Jang the coastal districts later called the Northern Circars. Malleson dates the agreement to 4 December 1753. It assigned the four provinces of Mustafanagar, Eluru (then Ellore), Rajahmundry and Srikakulam to the French “for the support of their army so long as a certain strength should be maintained in the Dekkan”.13

With the districts ceded before, he reckons that this gave the French 470 miles of coast “from the Chilka Lake to Motupali”.13 The area was about 17,000 square miles, worth about £400,000 a year.13

Gribble describes the province as a coast of some 500 miles from Srikakulam to Machilipatnam.14 It was largely held by semi-independent zamindars (landholding chiefs) such as those of Vizianagaram, Bobbili and Jeypore.14 Until then it had been governed by the Nizam’s deputy at Rajahmundry.14 See Rajahmundry, Eluru, Srikakulam and Guntur.

Court politics turned against the French. In 1756 Salabat Jang’s minister, Shah Nawaz Khan, had Bussy dismissed. Bussy withdrew to Hyderabad, where, Malleson says, he took post in “the viceregal garden of Char Mahal” on the Musi.1516 He held out there until reinforcements came.1516 The Imperial Gazetteer says that Bussy and his troops occupied the Char Minar in 1756.17

The English and the end of his reign

When war broke out between the English and the French, Clive sent Colonel Forde by sea from Bengal to the Circars. Malleson dates his departure to 12 October 1758.18 Briggs dates it to 1757.19 Forde defeated the French at Condore and invested (besieged) Machilipatnam on 3 March.2021 The Godavari gazetteer dates its capture to 1759.21

Salabat Jang marched with his brother Basalat Jang to Vijayawada (then Bezwada) with 35,000 men, but did not intervene.20 With the French gone, and worried by the intrigues of his brother Nizam Ali at Hyderabad, he made a treaty with Forde.19

The treaty collection of 1909 says it granted the English “the seaport of Masulipatam and other districts, comprising altogether an area of about 700 square miles”, in inam (free of revenue).22 It also bound him to exclude the French from his dominions.22 Malleson puts the revenue of the ceded districts at four lakhs of rupees a year.23 The Godavari gazetteer adds that he promised to keep the French out of his dominions.21

Nizam Ali now held power as minister. Gribble says Salabat Jang “had to accept him as his Minister or Dewan”.24 Gribble adds that he sent Basalat Jang away to his government at Adoni.24

In 1760 the two brothers lost a war with the Marathas at Udgir.2526 They had to give up the forts of Daulatabad, Asirgarh and Bijapur, and districts worth over sixty-two lakhs of rupees a year.2526 The Imperial Gazetteer dates his deposition to 1761.27

Briggs says Nizam Ali imprisoned him at Bidar in July 1762.28 He adds that some English writers give 18 July 1761.28 About fifteen months later, he says, Nizam Ali “secured his usurpation by the murder of a brother”.28 The treaty collection says he died in prison two years after his deposition.22 Campbell and Mudiraj say he was killed in 1763, after several attempts to escape.1229

Footnotes

  1. Henry George Briggs, The Nizam, Vol. I (1861), p. 58 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Imperial Gazetteer of India: Hyderabad State (1909), p. 15 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

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

  4. J. D. B. Gribble (ed. M. Pendlebury), A History of the Deccan, Vol. II (1924), p. 29 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  5. G. B. Malleson, History of the French in India (1868), p. 275 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  6. Gribble, History of the Deccan, Vol. II (1924), p. 30 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  7. Gribble, History of the Deccan, Vol. II (1924), p. 31 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  8. Gribble, History of the Deccan, Vol. II (1924), p. 32 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  9. Briggs, The Nizam (1861), p. 59 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  10. Gribble, History of the Deccan, Vol. II (1924), p. 33 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  11. Gribble, History of the Deccan, Vol. II (1924), p. 34 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

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

  13. Malleson, History of the French in India (1868), p. 370 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  14. Gribble, History of the Deccan, Vol. II (1924), p. 38 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  15. Malleson, History of the French in India (1868), p. 473 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  16. Malleson, History of the French in India (1868), p. 475 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  17. Imperial Gazetteer: Hyderabad (1909), p. 115 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  18. Malleson, History of the French in India (1868), p. 531 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  19. Briggs, The Nizam (1861), p. 60 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  20. Gribble, History of the Deccan, Vol. II (1924), p. 57 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  21. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (1907), p. 32 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

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

  23. Malleson, History of the French in India (1868), p. 534 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  24. Gribble, History of the Deccan, Vol. II (1924), p. 59 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  25. Briggs, The Nizam (1861), p. 61 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  26. Briggs, The Nizam (1861), p. 62 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  27. Imperial Gazetteer: Hyderabad (1909), p. 16 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  28. Briggs, The Nizam (1861), p. 64 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  29. K. Krishnaswamy Mudiraj, Pictorial Hyderabad, Vol. I (1929), p. 57 (printed “37”) (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

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 (8)
  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. 29–34, 37–39, 49, 57–60. [Public domain]
  2. 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. 58–64. [Public domain]
  3. G. B. Malleson, History of the French in India, from the Founding of Pondichery in 1674 to the Capture of that Place in 1761 (opens in a new tab), Longmans, Green and Co., London, 1868, pp. 275, 370, 473–475, 531, 534. [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. 1–2. [Public domain]
  5. Government of India, Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Hyderabad State (opens in a new tab), Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta, 1909, pp. 15–16. [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. [Public domain]
  7. K. Krishnaswamy Mudiraj, Pictorial Hyderabad, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Chandrakanth Press, Hyderabad (Deccan), 1929, pp. 57. [Public domain]
  8. F. R. Hemingway, Madras District Gazetteers: Godavari, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Government Press, Madras, 1907, pp. 32. [Public domain]

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