Thursday, March 7, 2013

The Last Nizam




Title: The Last Nizam – The Rise and Fall of India’s Greatest Princely State
Author: John Zubrzycki
Publisher: Picador, 2006 (First)
ISBN: 978-0-330-45138-3
Pages: 334

Being a journalist, John Zubrzycki displays commendable width in the amount of his researches, but in the same coin, lacks depth too. This Australian writer has travelled and worked in India over the past thirty years, and the familiarity is observable from the apt comments about Indian social life and how it would receive a ex-monarch into its fold. Hyderabad was the largest Indian princely state that enjoyed a 21-gun salute from the British. The traditional king of Hyderabad, known as the Nizam, had enormous amounts of booty that he was regarded as the richest man in the world at that time. We have an adage, as rich as Croesus, which refers to the fabulous riches of the ancient Greek king Croesus, and Nizam was a modern-day Croesus. To complete the analogy, both men lost their kingdoms and wealth to a superior power and had to act as vassals to them – Emperor Cyrus in the case of Croesus and the British and later, the Indian government for the Nizam. The book presents a very handy account of the rise of the dynasty, its consolidation, its warm relations and alliance with the British, how it tried to thwart the democratic aspirations of its people, had to lay down power to elected representatives of Indian democracy and how the last Nizam squandered the enormous resources to become a virtual pauper in a foreign land, Australia, to which he was attracted.

The emergence of the Nizamate in 18th century was to fill the political vacuum created by the demise of Mughal empire in its first quarter. Aurangzeb, with his impudent and shortsighted policies had ensured the alienation of allies and enemies alike. The wreckage caused by him was so severe that Mughal authority collapsed like a pack of cards after his death. The viceroys of provinces and local chieftains asserted their dominance without referring to Delhi. Nadir Shah’s devastating raid on Delhi in 1739 provided the coup de grace for the ailing monarchy. Meanwhile, Qamruddin, who was the Mughal general assigned to Deccan defeated the Qutb Shahi kingdom at Golconda and assumed reign as a representative of the titular Mughal emperor. He assumed the title Nizam ul-Mulk and the established the foundations of a dynasty which was to last two centuries. The Nizams always displayed loyalty to the absentee emperor, minted coins and read Khutbah prayers in the name of his master. Nizam ul-Mulk’s death in 1748 triggered the curse of Islamic dynasties in India, the war of succession. A bloody and brutal pogrom followed in which brothers killed brothers and sons plotted against fathers. The French and British, who were eagerly watching from the sidelines stepped up their presence, both commercial and military, took sides in these wars and with the smart deployment of their highly disciplined troops ensured that whoever ruled Hyderabad had to be the puppet of one or the other.

The power struggles between the contenders in 18th century Deccan – the Nizam, the Marathas, Mysore, the British and the French – kindled a game of political musical chair, with opportunism, breach of trust and clandestine deals becoming the order of the day. In the end, the British, along with the Nizam and Marathas routed Tipu Sultan of Mysore and his French allies. Those who praise Tipu for fighting the British in a spirit of patriotic fervour conveniently forget that he was only a pawn in the French game plan against the British. South India came under British dominance for the next 150 years. Nizam’s real power was much curtailed, always the strings were pulled by the British resident and the Diwan (prime minister) who most often deferred to the Europeans. The 19th century saw two powerful Diwans who ruled the state for nearly 30 years in the first and second halves of the century. However, their characters could not have been more contrasting. Chandu Lal was corrupt to the core and amassed a great fortune by the time he stepped down, while Salar Jung was an example of rectitude and an imaginative administrator who transformed Hyderabad from a Mughal-style fiefdom to a modern state. He alienated the British too, by voicing against their partisan actions. He died penniless, with a great debt to be paid back. Ever since the British assumed the administration of the subcontinent, succession struggles became a thing of the past. Successors were identified early on and investiture required the approval of the viceroy. Nizams now had a peaceful ascendancy to the throne and a confirmed long tenor.

The Nizams were loyal supporters and the lynchpins of the colonial regime. He ruthlessly suppressed the first signs of mutiny in 1857 when it surfaced in Hyderabad. The alliance continued in world wars too, at considerable embarrassment to the Nizam after World War I when Britain denuded the Turkish Caliph of his power. The Caliph was also the spiritual head of all Sunni Muslims, but the Nizam played the gamble and won. Osman Ali Khan became the Seventh Nizam in 1911. He was the founder of Osmania University and several modern establishments, but was personally corrupt and stooped in debauchery. He had about 300 concubines in his harem and though an extreme miser, was perfectly willing to ‘buy’ women to his harem. He aspired also to step in to the vacant post of Caliph, who was exiled in Paris. He arranged the marriage of his sons to the only daughter and niece of the Caliph. Thus, his grand son, who was the Last Nizam was poised to be the successor to the Caliph. Osman Ali Khan continued his corrupt ways even in times of great financial strain to the state. He gobbled up 27.3% of the state’s revenue to lavish on women and jewels, while King George V in contemporary England took only 0.091%. He was so rich that it was said that he could comfortably live in style on the interest of the interest on his income.

Hyderabad was a state in which Muslims who constituted only 10% of the population controlled the entire government machinery and had a 100% monopoly of government jobs. Nizam’s medieval mindset couldn’t accommodate the democratic aspirations of his Hindu subjects who made up 90% of the population. Instead, his quasi-state militia, called Razakars, tyrannized over them. Osman Ali’s plan was to accede to Pakistan if his demand for independence was not accepted when India gained its freedom from the British. He amassed weapons on a large scale from Pakistan through an Australian arms dealer to block the Indian army’s entry. He even moved the UN Security Council on Aug 21, 1948 to intervene to maintain the status quo. To the Indian army which was straining on the leash on his borders, this was the last straw. It quickly moved into Hyderabad at 4 am on Sep 13 in a manouvre euphemistically called the ‘Police Action’ by Indian historians. Nizam capitulated in two days which reportedly saw 20,000 people die.

Mukarram Jah, the grand son of Osman Ali Khan and designated Nizam was a young boy when his kingdom got absorbed in India. Having a Turkish mother who vehemently kept him aloof from sycophants and the degenerating culture of Hyderabadi nobility made him have a decent education. Though he was very poor in studies, he enrolled at premier institutions. After the Seventh Nizam died, Mukarram Jah was crowned the Eighth Nizam in 1967 with Indian approval. His status was short lived though, as part of Indira Gandhi’s socialist agenda, the privy purse and other prerogatives of the princes were abolished. There were to be no more Nizams, Jah became the last. He spent most of his time and money farming in a half-million acre estate in Western Australia, but ended up selling all of his property due to poor financial acumen. Bogged down in thousands of law suits filed against him by thousands of his own relatives who were bent upon receiving a share of the spoils, Jah decided to sell his valuable jewellery. The government stopped the auction, claiming historic importance to the artifacts which later bought them in an arbitrated settlement. He now lives in Turkey.

The book presents some curious but definitive clues to the bigoted mindset of early Nizams even behind their veneer of sophistication. Asaf Jah is said to have remarked in his last will and testament that Brahmins were fit only to be hanged and quartered (p.20). The moral bankruptcy of every Nizam who sat on the throne is laid out in vivid detail. They were profligate spenders on jewellery and women, and pathetically addicted to gems who were willing to opulent drawals on the state treasury for their personal gains. All of them possessed a huge zenana which, by some accounts, counted up to 10,000 women to satisfy every perverted carnal lust. They stuffed the harems with dancing girls and daughters of nobles who willingly pimped them for petty favours. The Nizams were ignorant of and completely indifferent to the administrative needs of his state or to the welfare of his people and cared only for the gratification of his whims and desires (p.106). Many a time, when the state was teetering on the edge of bankruptcy, Nizam still measured his gold by the ton and pearls by kilograms. 30% of land in his dominion was his private property called sarf-i-khas.

The book is truly illuminating as it exposes the extent of moral abyss a ruler can fall into. It also contains a set of good photographs to enliven the reading experience. On the other hand, there are several printing errors and omissions, particularly in years and dates. It calls for better proof reading. Also, the unnecessary elaboration of Mukarram Jah’s family life in Australia with his secretary-turned-princess Australian wife who later died of AIDS is uninteresting.

The book is highly recommended.

Rating: 3 Star

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