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Umdat-ul-Umara

Umdat-ul-Umara was Nawab of the Carnatic from 1795 to 1801, the son of Muhammad Ali Walajah. His country in the north took in the Nellore district and Ongole, governed by his officers under the treaty of 1792. The Nellore manual says that he paid his debts by assigning the revenues of his country to creditors, 'a system which resulted in the most cruel and grinding oppression'. Papers found at Srirangapatna showed his secret letters to Tipu Sultan. After his death in July 1801 the Company took over the Carnatic, and Nellore passed finally to British rule.

Umdat-ul-Umara was Nawab of the Carnatic from 1795 to 1801.12 His northern country included the Nellore district and Ongole.34 He ruled it through his own officers, under a treaty that gave the East India Company great control.3 See the Nawabs of Arcot.

Nellore under the Nawab

In 1790 the Company took over the management of the Nawab’s revenues.5 In 1790 it appointed one Collector to “Nellore and dependencies” and another to “Ongole and the Palnaud”.5 The treaty of 12 July 1792 gave the country back to the Nawab.3 By the end of August 1792 Nellore had been handed over to the Nawab’s officers.3

Under that treaty the Company kept a force in the Carnatic, paid for by the Nawab.3 If he failed to pay, the Company would take over certain districts named in a schedule.3 They included Nellore, with a net revenue of 3,31,788 star pagodas, and Ongole, with 93,334.3 The Company was also to collect the tribute of the zamindars of Venkatagiri and Kalahasti in his name.3

His reign

Umdat-ul-Umara succeeded his father, Muhammad Ali Walajah, on 16 October 1795.1 The subsidy to the Company was paid regularly.1 But to meet his debts, the official record says, the Nawab “contracted heavy loans, and to liquidate them assigned to his creditors the revenues of his country”.1 The Nellore manual calls the result “the most cruel and grinding oppression”.6

When Srirangapatna (then Seringapatam) fell in 1799, papers were found there.6 They showed a secret correspondence with Tipu Sultan, begun by Muhammad Ali and continued by Umdat-ul-Umara as late as 1796.6 The Company declared itself free of the treaty of 1792 and resolved to take over the government of the Carnatic.6

Death and the cession of Nellore

Umdat-ul-Umara died on 15 July 1801, before the new arrangements were settled.61 His reputed son, Ali Husain, whom he had named as heir, refused the Company’s terms.72 On 31 July 1801 his nephew Azim-ud-daula accepted them and gave up the civil and military government of the Carnatic.72

So Nellore passed finally to British rule in 1801.7 The Imperial Gazetteer says that “with the cession of the Palnad in 1801 by the Nawab of Arcot, the entire District” of Guntur became British territory.8 See Nellore and Ongole.

Where the sources disagree

  • When his reign began. The Nellore manual’s list of Nawabs gives him the years 1794 to 1801.4 Its narrative, like the official record, puts his father’s death in October 1795.61

Footnotes

  1. C. U. Aitchison (ed.), A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads relating to India and Neighbouring Countries, Vol. VIII (1892), p. 4 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased except for the short phrase quoted. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  2. Aitchison, Treaties, Vol. VIII (1892), p. 5 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  3. Boswell, Nellore District (1873), p. 472 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8

  4. John A. C. Boswell, A Manual of the Nellore District (1873), p. 444 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  5. Boswell, Nellore District (1873), p. 464 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  6. Boswell, Nellore District (1873), p. 473 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). Paraphrased except for the short phrase quoted. ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6

  7. Boswell, Nellore District (1873), p. 474 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  8. Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Madras, Vol. I (1908), p. 302 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

Dynasties

Nawabs of the Carnatic (Arcot)

c. 1710–1801 CE

The Nawabs of Arcot governed the Carnatic below the Ghats, the coast from Guntur to the Coleroon, first for the Mughals and then for the Asaf Jahis. They ruled from Arcot from about 1710 until 1801. Their Telugu districts were Nellore, Ongole and the Palnad, with the jagir of Udayagiri and the tributary poligars of Venkatagiri and Kalahasti. The first house, the Navayats of Saadatullah Khan, gave way in 1744 to Anwar-ud-din Khan, who was killed at Ambur in 1749. His son Muhammad Ali Walajah won the Nawabship with English help against Chanda Sahib and the French, while his brother Najib-ullah held Nellore and rebelled. Deep in debt to the East India Company and to private lenders, Muhammad Ali assigned his revenues to the Company in 1781. The Company managed the country in 1790–92, and in 1792 he bound himself to pay for its troops. After a secret correspondence with Tipu Sultan came to light, Azim-ud-daula handed over the government of the Carnatic in 1801, and Nellore and Ongole became a British district.

References

Sources (3)
  1. John A. C. Boswell, A Manual of the Nellore District in the Presidency of Madras (opens in a new tab), Government of Madras, 1873, pp. 444, 464, 472–474. [Public domain]
  2. C. U. Aitchison (compiler), A Collection of Treaties, Engagements and Sanads relating to India and Neighbouring Countries, Vol. VIII: Madras Presidency, including Ceylon, Hyderabad, Mysore and Coorg, and the Central Provinces (opens in a new tab), Superintendent of Government Printing, India, Calcutta, 1892, pp. 4–5. C. U. Aitchison, Treaties, Engagements and Sanads, Vol. VIII (1892). [Public domain]
  3. Government of India, Imperial Gazetteer of India, Provincial Series: Madras, Vol. I (opens in a new tab), Superintendent of Government Printing, Calcutta, 1908, pp. 302. [Public domain]

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