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Salar Jung I (Mir Turab Ali Khan)

Minister of Hyderabad for thirty years (1853–1883) and regent while Mahbub Ali Khan was a child. He was a great-grandson of the minister Mir Alam. He began in 1847 as talukdar (district officer) of districts in Telangana and became minister at twenty-four in 1853. He kept the Nizam's government on the British side in 1857. He reorganised the state: salaried revenue officers in place of revenue farmers, a revenue survey and settlement, civil and criminal courts, departments under four ministers (1868) and better finances. He died on 8 or 9 February 1883.

Full-length portrait of a moustached man in a white cap and long dark robe with a sash and the star of an order, standing beside a curtain.
Full-length portrait of a moustached man in a white cap and long dark robe with a sash and the star of an order, standing beside a curtain. · A. Claude Campbell (ed.) (opens in a new tab) · Public domain

Mir Turab Ali Khan, known by his title Salar Jang (Salar Jung), was minister of Hyderabad from 1853 until his death in 1883. For much of that time he governed for the Asaf Jahi Nizams Afzal-ud-daula and the young Mahbub Ali Khan.12 The Imperial Gazetteer says that “for thirty years the story of his life is the history of the Hyderabad State”.3

Family and early life

His private secretary, Syed Hossain Bilgrami, published a memoir of him in 1883.4 It gives his birth date as 2 January 1829.4 Campbell repeats this date and traces his descent.5 His father, Mir Muhammad Ali Khan, was the eldest son of the minister Munir-ul-Mulk by his marriage in 1804 with the second daughter of the minister Mir Alam.5

The Imperial Gazetteer traces the family further back to Shaikh Owais of Karan.6 It also names officers of the Bijapur kings and of Aurangzeb among his ancestors.6 After his grandfather’s death, his uncle Siraj-ul-Mulk brought the boy up, and he learned Persian, Arabic and English.5

According to Bilgrami, his public life began in 1847, at the age of nineteen.7 His uncle, then minister, made him talukdar (district officer) of some districts in Telangana.7 An Englishman, Mr Dighton, had run these districts before him.7 Dighton had to be removed because Europeans were then forbidden to work in the Nizam’s service.7

Salar Jang held the charge for about eight months.7 Campbell names the district as “Khaman, a district in Telingana”.5 See Khammam.

Minister

Siraj-ul-Mulk died on 26 May 1853, a few days after the treaty that gave Berar to the British.81 Five days later, Bilgrami says, the Nizam Nasir-ud-daula installed Salar Jang as minister in open durbar (royal court), in the presence of the Resident.81

Mudiraj calls him “a boy of 18 years” at his appointment, but he was in fact twenty-four if born in 1829.94

Campbell describes the state he took over.1011 The troops’ pay was years in arrears, and the state owed money to local bankers (sowcars). Arab jamadars (commanders) “held almost half the revenues and all the power”.1011 Salar Jang won over the jamadars and the bankers.1011

He set up a special court in his own palace to hear the Arabs’ claims.1011 He also began to buy back the lands and jagirs (land grants) pledged to Arabs and Pathans.1011 In January 1856 he issued a proclamation that forbade the trade in Muslim and Hindu children.12

In 1857, the Imperial Gazetteer says, he kept the new Nizam, Afzal-ud-daula, loyal to the British.2 Campbell says he had the mutineers who fled from Aurangabad to Hyderabad arrested.13 He handed them to the Resident and warned Colonel Davidson of the coming attack on the Residency.13

Salar Jang survived several attempts on his life, in February 1859 and again later in the 1860s.1214 In the later attempt, a man in the crowd fired at his sedan chair on the way to a durbar.1214 The Nizam tried to dismiss him in 1861 and 1867, but the British blocked it.15

Reforms

Mudiraj describes his revenue reform. The government stopped farming out the revenue. Instead it dealt with the cultivators through revenue officers on graded salaries, from the village headman up to the talukdars of sixteen districts.16

Records were kept of the land cultivated, its crops, its occupant and its rent, and the cultivator received a receipt for every payment.16

The Imperial Gazetteer lists his other measures.217 In 1868 he appointed four departmental ministers (Sadr-ul-Mahams) for justice, revenue, police and miscellaneous business.217 He kept the army, finance, treasury, post, mint and railway in his own hands.217

A revenue survey and settlement was completed in the Maratha districts.217 Civil and criminal courts were set up, and stamps were introduced.217 “In particular, the finances of the State, which had become greatly involved, were much improved.”217

In 1870 he appointed a committee of Muslim lawyers to frame laws on the model of those of British India.18 The gazetteer says that about three-quarters of the old city and suburbs of Hyderabad had been rebuilt or renovated since his ministry.1920 It adds that he had the Charminar “thoroughly renovated” a few years before his death.1920

Regent

Afzal-ud-daula died in 1869, when Mahbub Ali Khan was an infant.221 Salar Jang and Nawab Shams-ul-Umara were then made co-regents for the child, and from 1881 Salar Jang governed alone.221

He was given a personal salute of 17 guns in 1867.21 In 1870 he was made a Knight Grand Commander of the Star of India.21 He visited Europe in 1876.314 The Imperial Gazetteer says he received the degree of D.C.L. at Oxford and the freedom of the City of London.314

He died suddenly early in February 1883.222324 The treaty collection and one passage of Campbell date his death to 8 February, but Campbell’s list of ministers gives 9 February.222324

His son Mir Laiq Ali Khan, Salar Jang II, became minister in 1884.17 The family burial ground lies south of the Daira of Mir Momin in the old city.25

Footnotes

  1. Imperial Gazetteer of India: Hyderabad State (1909), p. 17 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  2. Imperial Gazetteer: Hyderabad (1909), p. 18 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10

  3. Imperial Gazetteer: Hyderabad (1909), p. 296 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  4. Syed Hossain Bilgrami, A Memoir of Sir Salar Jung (1883), p. 2 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. Campbell, Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions (1898), p. 36 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  6. Imperial Gazetteer: Hyderabad (1909), p. 295 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  7. Bilgrami, Memoir of Sir Salar Jung (1883), p. 16 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  8. Bilgrami, Memoir of Sir Salar Jung (1883), p. 18 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  9. K. Krishnaswamy Mudiraj, Pictorial Hyderabad, Vol. I (1929), p. 67 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  10. Campbell, Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions (1898), p. 37 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  11. Bilgrami, Memoir of Sir Salar Jung (1883), p. 24 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  12. Campbell, Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions (1898), p. 39 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  13. Campbell, Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions (1898), p. 38 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  14. Campbell, Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions (1898), p. 40 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  15. C. U. Aitchison, A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads, Vol. IX (1909), p. 10 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  16. Mudiraj, Pictorial Hyderabad (1929), p. 68 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

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

  18. Imperial Gazetteer: Hyderabad (1909), p. 52 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  19. Imperial Gazetteer: Hyderabad (1909), p. 119 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  20. Imperial Gazetteer: Hyderabad (1909), p. 115 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  21. Aitchison, Treaties, Vol. IX (1909), p. 11 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4

  22. Aitchison, Treaties, Vol. IX (1909), p. 13 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

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

  24. Campbell, Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions (1898), p. 128 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  25. Imperial Gazetteer: Hyderabad (1909), p. 116 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Photos

References

Sources (5)
  1. Syed Hossain Bilgrami, A Memoir of Sir Salar Jung, G.C.S.I. (opens in a new tab), Times of India Steam Press, Bombay, 1883, pp. 2, 16, 18, 24. [Public domain]
  2. 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. 14, 36–40, 128. [Public domain]
  3. Government of India, Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Hyderabad State (opens in a new tab), Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta, 1909, pp. 17–19, 52, 115–116, 119, 295–296. [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. 9–11, 13. [Public domain]
  5. K. Krishnaswamy Mudiraj, Pictorial Hyderabad, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Chandrakanth Press, Hyderabad (Deccan), 1929, pp. 67–68. [Public domain]

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