Nirmal

Nirmal is a town in northern Telangana, just north of the Godavari river. It is ringed by hills of granite boulders, many of them crowned with forts.¹ Its walls were built by French officers in the Nizam’s service, and its painters were known for their painted toys and playing cards.²³

The raja of Nirmal

A. Claude Campbell’s Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions (1898) places Nirmal on the old road from Secunderabad to Nagpur.¹ It was about 127 miles from Hyderabad and 150 from Nagpur.¹ Campbell says Nirmal was first the stronghold of a powerful raja, who paid tribute to the Golconda kings and later to the Nizams.¹

In 1752 the raja attacked the Nizam Salabat Jang, who was marching from Aurangabad to Golconda with the French commander Bussy.¹⁴ The raja was killed in the battle near Nirmal, and his forces scattered.¹² See Charles Bussy.

The forts

The Imperial Gazetteer of India volume on Hyderabad (1909) describes the country round Nirmal as “literally dotted with hills”.⁵ Most of them still showed signs of old fortifications.⁵ The largest rock stood in the middle of the town, with the ruins of the old palace.² The main defences, the gazetteer says, are “of European design and construction”.⁵ French officers in the Nizam’s service built them.⁵ Campbell adds that they were of brick faced with stone and mostly in good repair.¹ Three towers seem to have been made for boring cannon.²

Crafts

The gazetteer says painters in Nirmal and Bimgal decorated palanquins, trays, chairs, tables, toys, playing cards, leather shields and screen panels.³ They used colours made locally and raised patterns.³ Brass vessels, glass bangles and steel knives were also made and sent out.³ Nirmal taluk was once known for its fine cattle.³

The taluk

In 1901 Nirmal taluk had 45,551 people, down from 54,455 in 1891.⁴ The gazetteer blames the famine of 1900 for the fall.⁴ The town had 7,751 people.⁴ It held the offices of the tahsildar (taluk officer), the police, the forest officer and the public works supervisor, with a dispensary, a post office and a school.²

Nirmal taluk belonged to Indur (now Nizamabad) district until 1905.⁵ In that year it moved to the new Adilabad district.⁶ Its northern villages went to form the new Kinwat taluk.⁴ See Adilabad and Nizamabad.

Footnotes

1. A. Claude Campbell, Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions (1898), p. 473 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

2. Imperial Gazetteer: Hyderabad (1909), p. 193 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

3. Imperial Gazetteer: Hyderabad (1909), p. 126 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

4. Imperial Gazetteer: Hyderabad (1909), p. 192 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

5. Imperial Gazetteer of India: Hyderabad State (1909), p. 124 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵

6. Imperial Gazetteer: Hyderabad (1909), p. 187 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩