Mir Osman Ali Khan

Mir Osman Ali Khan
Nizam of Hyderabad
Amir al-Muminin
Mir Osman Ali Khan in 1926
Nizam of Hyderabad
Reign29 August 1911 –
17 September 1948
Titular: 17 September 1948 – 24 February 1967[1]
Coronation18 September 1911[2]
PredecessorMahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI
SuccessorTitle abolished
Barkat Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VIII (titular)
Prime minister
See list
Born(1886-04-05)5 April 1886[3] or (1886-04-06)6 April 1886
Purani Haveli, Hyderabad City, Hyderabad State, British India
(now in Telangana, India)
Died24 February 1967
(aged 80)
King Kothi Palace, Kingdom of Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
(now in Telangana)
Burial
Judi Mosque, (opposite King Kothi Palace), Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh, India
(now in Telangana, India)
Spouse
Azam-un-Nisa Begum
​
​
(m. 1906; died 1955)​

Shahzada Begum
Ikbal Begum
Gowhar Begum
Mazhar-un-Nisa Begum
​
​
(m. 1923; died 1964)​

Leila Begum
Jani Begum
Issue
Among others		Azam Jah
Moazzam Jah
HouseAsaf Jahi dynasty
FatherMahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI
MotherAmat-uz-Zahra Begum
ReligionSunni Islam[4]
Military career
AllegianceHyderabad State Hyderabad State
Service / branchHyderabad State Forces
Years of service1911 - 1948
Battles / wars

Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII GCSI GBE (5[5] or 6 April 1886 – 24 February 1967)[6] was the last Nizam[7] (ruler) of Hyderabad State, the largest state in the erstwhile Indian Empire. He ascended the throne on 29 August 1911, at the age of 25[8] and ruled the State of Hyderabad between 1911 and 1948, until the Indian Union annexed it.[9] He was styled as His Exalted Highness (H.E.H) the Nizam of Hyderabad,[10] and was widely considered one of the world's wealthiest people of all time.[11] With some estimates placing his wealth at 2% of U.S. GDP,[11] his portrait was on the cover of Time magazine in 1937.[12] As a semi-autonomous monarch, he had his mint, printing his currency, the Hyderabadi rupee, and had a private treasury that was said to contain £100 million in gold and silver bullion, and a further £400 million of jewels (in 2008 terms).[11] The major source of his wealth was the Golconda mines, the only supplier of diamonds in the world at that time.[13][14][15] Among them was the Jacob Diamond, valued at some £50 million (in 2008 terms),[16][17][18] and used by the Nizam as a paperweight.[19]

During his 37-year rule, electricity was introduced, and railways, roads, and airports were developed. He was known as the "Architect of modern Hyderabad" and is credited with establishing many public institutions in the city of Hyderabad, including Osmania University, Osmania General Hospital, State Bank of Hyderabad,[20] Begumpet Airport, and the Hyderabad High Court. Two reservoirs, Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar, were built during his reign, to prevent another great flood in the city. The Nizam also constructed the Nizam Sagar Dam and, in 1923, a reservoir constructed across the Manjira River, a tributary of the Godavari River, between Achampet(Nizamabad) and Banjepally villages of the Kamareddy district in Telangana, India. It is located at about 144 km (89 mi) northwest of Hyderabad. Nizam Sagar is the oldest dam in the state of Telangana.[21]

The Nizam had refused to accede Hyderabad to India after the country's independence on 15 August 1947. He wanted his domains to remain an independent state or join Pakistan.[22] Later, he wanted his state to join India; however, his power had weakened because of the Telangana Rebellion and the rise of a radical militia known as the Razakars, whom he could not put down. In 1948, the Indian Army invaded and annexed Hyderabad State and defeated the Razakars.[23] The Nizam became the Rajpramukh of Hyderabad State between 1950 and 1956, after which the state was partitioned and became part of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Maharashtra.[24][25]

In 1951, he not only started the construction of Nizam Orthopedic Hospital (now known as Nizam's Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS)) and gave it to the government on a 99-year lease for a monthly rent of Rs.1,[26] he also donated 14,000 acres (5,700 ha) of land from his estate to Vinobha Bhave's Bhoodan movement for re-distribution among landless farmers.[8][27]

  1. ^ Ali, Mir Quadir (17 September 2019). "Hyderabad's tryst with history". Deccan Chronicle. Retrieved 18 November 2020. The question now is: What exactly happened on September 17, 1948? [...] The Nizam's radio broadcast meant the lifting of the house arrest of Government of India's Agent General K.M. Munshi, allowing him to work on a new government, with the Nizam as Head of State.
  2. ^ Benjamin B. Cohen, Kingship and Colonialism in India's Deccan, 1850–1948 (Macmillan, 2007) p81[need quotation to verify]
  3. ^ Jaganath, Santosh (2013). The History of Nizam's Railways System. Laxmi Book Publication. p. 44. ISBN 9781312496477. Archived from the original on 15 September 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  4. ^ "No parallel to Hyderabad's Muharram procession in India". News18. news18. 24 November 2012. Retrieved 23 February 2022.
  5. ^ Jaganath, Santosh (2013). The History of Nizam's Railways System. Laxmi Book Publication. p. 44. ISBN 9781312496477. Archived from the original on 15 September 2020. Retrieved 22 July 2020.
  6. ^ "Here are five super-rich people from the pages of history!". The Economic Times. 1 May 2015.
  7. ^ "Family of Indian royals wins £35m court battle against Pakistan". BBC News. 2 October 2019. Retrieved 16 September 2020.
  8. ^ a b ":: The Seventh Nizam - The Nizam's Museum Hyderabad, Telangana, India". thenizamsmuseum.com. Archived from the original on 17 May 2019. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  9. ^ "This day, that year: How Hyderabad became a part of the union of India". 16 September 2018. Archived from the original on 30 December 2018. Retrieved 16 July 2020.
  10. ^ "HYDERABAD: Silver Jubilee Durbar". Time. 22 February 1937. Archived from the original on 24 May 2007. Retrieved 20 May 2007.
  11. ^ a b c Zupan, M.A. (2017). Inside Job: How Government Insiders Subvert the Public Interest. Cambridge University Press. pp. 10–115. ISBN 978-1-107-15373-8. LCCN 2016044124.
  12. ^ "The Nizam of Hyderabad". Time. Archived from the original on 6 March 2005.
  13. ^ Jhala, A.D. (2015). Royal Patronage, Power and Aesthetics in Princely India. Empires in Perspective. Taylor & Francis. ISBN 978-1-317-31656-5.
  14. ^ "Globalisation of Golconda".
  15. ^ "Making money the royal way!". Retrieved 8 February 2019.
  16. ^ McCaffrey, Julie (3 February 2012). "Exclusive: The last Nizam of Hyderabad was so rich he had a £50 million diamond paperweight". Mirror.co.uk. London.
  17. ^ Bedi, Rahul (12 April 2008). "India finally settles £1million Nizam dispute". The Daily Telegraph. London. Archived from the original on 12 January 2022.
  18. ^ "Exhibitions at National Museum of India, New Delhi(India)". 2 April 2009. Archived from the original on 2 April 2009.
  19. ^ Shah, Tahir. "Alan the Red, the Brit who makes Bill Gates a pauper." Times Online. The Sunday Times. 7 October 2007. Web. 19 9ay 2010.
  20. ^ Pagdi, Raghavendra Rao (1987) Short History of Banking in Hyderabad District, 1879-1950. In M. Radhakrishna Sarma, K.D. Abhyankar, and V.G. Bilolikar, eds. History of Hyderabad District, 1879-1950AD (Yugabda 4981-5052). (Hyderabad : Bharatiya Itihasa Sankalana Samiti), Vol. 2, pp.85-87.
  21. ^ Cite error: The named reference lakes built was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  22. ^ "Why wealth of Hyderabad Nizam's heirs depends on Pakistan". NDTV.com. Retrieved 13 February 2023.
  23. ^ Apparasu, Srinivasa Rao (16 September 2022). "How Hyd merger with Union unfolded". Hindustan Times.
  24. ^ "A Memorable Republic Day". pib.nic.in. Archived from the original on 23 October 2017. Retrieved 3 May 2017.
  25. ^ Karnataka State Gazetteer: Gulbarga. Director of Printing, Stationery and Publications at the Government Press. 1966. Archived from the original on 15 September 2020. Retrieved 13 September 2020.
  26. ^ "The Last Nizam who put Hyderabad on global map". Archived from the original on 7 April 2019. Retrieved 11 June 2020.
  27. ^ Sunil, Mungara (4 September 2016). "Much of Bhoodan land found to be under encroachment in city | Hyderabad News". The Times of India. TNN / Updated.