Hyderabad Sirf Hamara : NIZAM MUSEUM

Did you know that the area that constitutes Hyderabad today was inhabited nearly four thousand years ago? The City Museum will re-trace some of these steps back to Megalithic times, to the Kakatiyas of Warangal, to when Golconda, one of the world’s leading diamond trading centres that attracted tradesmen and travellers from the world over and was evocative of incredible glamour, unparalleled riches and romantic splendour.

The documented history of Hyderabad begins with the establishment of a considerable civilian population in the fortress of Golconda in the times of the Kakatiya rulers. Then a new garden suburb outside the fortress was designed and built by the Qutub Shahi Sultans in 1591. Aurangzeb took siege of Golconda in 1687, and the city was destroyed.

The Asaf Jahs ruled for over two hundred and fifty years and the city prospered again. The biggest transformation of the city occurred then. Post-independence, Hyderabad continued to prosper and is now sharing and contributing to India’s revitalisation.

After a brief introductory video describing the chronological history of the city, the story will unfold, not in a linear fashion, but by providing brief glimpses into various aspects of the city that make it special.

The Trust H.E.H. The Nizam’s Jubilee Pavilion Trust is a not for profit organization formed on the 12th of August 1957 with HEH Nawab Sir Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur, GCSI, GBE, the VII Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar as Chairman. The presents received by the Nizam during the Silver Jubilee Celebrations of his rale were transferred to the Trust. They form a majority of the items put on display in the two galleries.

The primary activity of the Trust was to display and care for the treasures so magnanimously left to the public domain by HEH Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan, Nizam VII.

Some of the aims of the Trust are: - To maintain the articles of HEH the Nizam’s Jubilee Pavilion Trust at all times as a museum or art gallery or place of exhibition for the use of the inhabitants of Hyderabad and of the visitors to Hyderabad. - To protect, preserve, enlarge and improve the collection of the works of art, articles of decoration, pictures, portraits and other collections, articles and things relating to the museum and - To help seekers of knowledge in the study of history and research in art including literary, scientific, historic and religious

The sixth Nizam

The sixth Nizam was HEH Nawab Mir Mahbub Ali Khan Bahadur 1869 – 1911. He was a man inspired, driven and even obsessed by his overwhelming desire to improve the condition of his people. The sixth Nizam took an active part in the administration of the state, especially after the death of his capable prime minister Salar Jung. His constant struggle was to regulate its finances. He had many setbacks due to the lack of financial acumen of the otherwise capable ministers, calamities like floods and famine, and British policies.

The sixth Nizam himself managed not only to reduce the levels of corruption but, after 1901, with the ministerial services of the Maharaja Kishen Pershad and the assistance of J.C.Walker, Financial Adviser (later minister), he also achieved economic stability. It was due to the dedication of the Sixth Nizam, and other gifted men and women, that the State started to flourish and its people progressed to enhanced wellbeing.

The sixth Nizam was a man who loved the people of Hyderabad and who became the most beloved (Mahbub) of the people of Hyderabad. Not infrequently he would, at night, put on the dress of a poor man and slip out incognito to mix with the people on the streets and in the ‘chai khanas’ – tea houses. He would listen to the grievances and the aspirations they voiced. His belief was that he could only serve them effectively when he heard their grievances first hand.

He was a large hearted man who alternated between bouts of pursuing pleasure and performing his duties with great diligence. He was a man of dignity, compassion, humility, rigid integrity and unbounded generosity – a man whose greatest happiness was the happiness of his people of Hyderabad.matters leading to the progress and development of knowledge in general.

The seventh and last Nizam

His Exalted Highness, Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan (1911 – [1948] – 1967), ascended the throne on August 11th, 1911, at the age of 25. His first Firman (Royal Decree) stated: “In every way I will do my best to do good to my people and my State”.

His first act as sovereign was to abolish the death penalty which remained suspended from the penal code throughout his reign. The seventh and last Nizam ruled the state of Hyderabad and Berar from 1911 to 1948.

He was a studious and serious young man who studied and understood all the state papers that his father sent him. He disliked frivolity and was disinclined to outdoor activities that passed for sport in his day.

He was a reclusive man who became a poet of distinction. He revered his mother, visiting her every day of her life, and afterwards visiting her grave almost every day of his life.

He was a man with a powerful sense of duty with a strong desire to serve his people to improve their lives as far as he could, and to create circumstances where each of them could be more in control of his own destiny.

In this he always followed his guiding principles: those of being just and completely impartial. He did not deviate from these even for favoured friends or religious institutions. In well known cases he upheld official findings against mosques in land disputes brought out by a Hindu temple and another by a Christian church. His motto that “Hindus and Muslims are my two eyes” is remembered even today. Mir Osman Ali Khan had a natural flair for both administration and finance. He gained a reputation for being an immensely wealthy man by the skilful handling of income of his personal estates and the fixed privy purse. Otherwise state funds were kept separate and disbursed or invested wisely. By the time he retired from public life, he had virtually given away most of his personal estate lands to the agriculturists who cultivated them. The last fourteen thousand odd acres he donated to Vinobha Bhave’s Bhoodan Movement for re-distribution among the landless. He avoided luxury and ostentation and lived an austere life. But when it came to others he was very generous both in munificent donations to institutions and in countless smaller individual acts of kindness.

He was a very intelligent man with a sharp mind and a phenomenal memory. During the earlier years, he had the gift of being an astute judge of human talent, personality and motivation.

He was a brilliant extempore speaker both in English and in Urdu, conveying very concisely stimulating ideas, using an elegant turn of phrase.

He was a man who, throughout his life, worked tirelessly at his papers and who paid keen attention to the smallest detail. In his earlier years, especially those of the “Personal Rule” when he assumed the functions of Prime Minister, he displayed great foresight, planning and executing interlinked policies that were truly radical. Later he made life difficult for his ministers questioning their actions, becoming known as his own Government’s “Loyal Opposition”. On the other hand, he would encourage initiative and self confidence among his ministers and civil servants to such an extent that they were quite at ease in taking decisions and actions on their own in anticipation of having them sanctioned later. The phrase used on files on these (frequent) occasions was ‘Ba-Umid-e-Sharf- E-Sudhue-e-Farman-e-Mubarak’. (In the expectation of getting ratification).

The long years of hard work that the Nizam undertook resulted in far reaching benefits for his people and his State. The display in this museum will possibly go some way in illustrating the record of his contribution which was not inconsiderable.

Mir Osman Ali Khan’s Last Journey Eleven years after he had retired from public life and on the day the news of his death spread, the people spontaneously closed down the entire city of Hyderabad in honour of a ruler dearly beloved by his people.

It was estimated by the authorities that for his funeral the next day, over ten lakh (one million) people came out on the streets to pay their last respects.

Later, the streets and pavements of the city were littered with the pieces of broken glass bangles as an incalculable number of women broke their bangles in mourning, as is the Telangana custom on the death of a close relative.

collection

The Museum was created at the wish of the seventh and last Nizam of Hyderabad. His rule along with his father’s rule spanned roughly a century from the middle of the 19th to the middle of the 20th century. During these years, the State of Hyderabad saw great development. The progress achieved by all the talented people concerned was celebrated in 1937, when a series of Silver Jubilee celebration functions were organized. These celebrations were held on the completion of 25 years of rule of the seventh Nizam. The Jubilee Pavilion Hall was built specifically for this purpose at the Public Gardens. It consisted of a dais at one end on which the Nizam sat under an ornamental pavilion. Many mementos, models, presentations and “Addresses” (formal declarations) were gifted to the Nizam then. Apart from these, he kept adding items presented to him later and made a trust called H.E.H. The Nizam’s Jubilee Pavilion Trust to hold and display this collection. A gold model of the pavilion is on display in the museum. Unfortunately, many of the names of the individuals who presented him with items in the collection have been lost in the mist of time. But it is apparent that, however modest the gift, the seventh Nizam treasured them all for the regard and affection with which they were offered. The present Trustees of HEH the Nizam’s Jubilee Pavilion Trust have organized and put on public display many of the items, including some new ones, given on loan for display at the museum.


Jewellery box studded with Pearls		Perfume Bottle studded with Pearls		Cups Studded with Pearls

The ASAF JAHI DYNASTY Khwaja Abid, the grand father of Asaf Jah I the founder of the Asaf Jah dynasty was the first to arrive in India in the 17th century from Farghana.He came from a Turkish family of teachers and intellectuals living in Central Asia originally in Samarquand.

Khwaja Abid joined the service of the Moghul emperors of India as a high ranking and competent administrator. His descendants also served the Moghul empire as competent administrators and high officers in the army. Even in his later years, when he was almost blind, Khwaja Abid’s army camps on campaigns were reputed to be the cleanest and the most orderly ones in India.

In the Deccan, Khwaja Abid’s grandson, known by his Moghul title Asaf Jah, established an independent state. Though the name of the then ruling Moghul emperor at Delhi was imprinted on the coinage for several years. Asaf Jah’s eldest son continued in the services of the Moghuls in Delhi, becoming the Prime Minister. Asaf Jah himself returned to Delhi one last time at the appeal of the Moghul emperor at the time of the invasion of Nadir Shah, emperor of Persia in Delhi. Again he distinguished himself by persuading Nadir Shah to stop the general massacre of the citizens of Delhi.

After the death of Asaf Jah I no clear successor emerged from among his sons until his fourth son Nizam Ali Khan became the undisputed ruler and was acknowledged with the title of Asaf Jah II by the Moghuls.

He and his successors ruled the Deccan through a constant succession of wars and shifting alliances with the Marathas, the French, the British and the rulers of the deep south.

The dynasty came to be called the Asaf Jahi dynasty, each successive Nizam assuming the title Asaf Jah. The last ruling VII Nizam of Hyderabad HEH Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII was the creator of the trust which set up this museum.

ASAF JAHI DYNASTY Khwaja Abid, the grand father of Asaf Jah I (the founder of the dynasty) was the first to come to India. He arrived early in the 17th century from Farghana.

He came from a Turkish family of teachers and intellectuals living in Central Asia originally in Samarquand.

Khwaja Abid joined the service of the Moghul Emperors of India. His descendants also served the Moghul Empire as gifted administrators and as high officers in the army. Even in his later years, when he was almost blind, Khwaja Abid’s army camps on campaigns were reputed to be the cleanest and best ordered in India.

In the Deccan, Khwaja Abid’s grandson, known by his Moghul title Asaf Jah, established an independent state, though the name of the then current Moghul Emperor at Delhi was kept on the coinage for several years. Asaf Jah’s eldest son continued in the services of the Moghuls in Delhi, becoming the Prime Minister. Asaf Jah himself returned to Delhi one last time at the appeal of the Moghul Emperor during the invasion of Nadir Shah, Emperor of Persia. Again he distinguished himself by persuading Nadir Shah to stop the general massacre of the citizens of Delhi.

After the death of Asaf Jah no clear successor emerged from among his sons until his fourth son Nizam Ali Khan became the undisputed ruler and was acknowledged with the title of Asaf Jah II by the Moghuls.

He and his successors ruled the Deccan through a constant succession of wars and shifting alliances with the Marathas, the French, the British and the rulers of the deep south.

The dynasty came to be called the Asaf Jah dynasty, each successive Nizam assuming the title Asaf Jah. The last ruling Nizam of Hyderabad Mir Osman Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VII was the creator of the trust which has set up this museum.