The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c24.s9: Chapter XIII. The Hyderābād State, 1724–1762

The Cambridge History of India, Vol. IV: The Mughul Period v4.c24.s9

Language: English

Chapter XIII. The Hyderābād State, 1724–1762

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No detailed history of Āsaf Jāh I on the lines of the court annals of the Delhi emperors was ever written. The sources of his career up to 1724 are given in W. Irvine's *Later Mughals* (see chap. xi), as a part of the general history of the Mughal empire. For his independent rule in the Deccan (1724–48) the contemporary recorders are Khāfī Khān, Ghulām ‘Alī Āzād, and Shāh Nawāz Khān—all in his service. They are extremely brief, giving merely a list of important events with a short character-sketch. The later histories in Persian worth mentioning are the *Maāsir-i-Āsafī* of Lachmī Nārāyan (a hereditary revenue official), compiled in 1792–3, and the *Hadīqat-ul-‘Ālam* of the famous minister Mīr ‘Ālam, completed in 1802. The former gives a short summary of events from well-known sources, with a very large number of anecdotes illustrating Āsaf Jāh's virtues. The *Hadīqat* remains the best and longest Persian authority for the period 1724–62. Its author professedly borrows from the three contemporary writers named above, but he gives much fresh information in detail, which, however, requires correction. The English and French factory records attain to primary value for Carnatic affairs—and only incidentally for Hyderābād affairs—from 1740 onwards. The printed documents in these two languages have been co-ordinated and corrected, and the mass of manuscript correspondence analysed with admirable skill and success in Dodwell's *Dupleix and Clive*, without the help of which guide these documents cannot be properly utilized, nor the prevalent heresies corrected. But by far the most valuable original material for the history of the earlier Nizāms has been recently published in the form of Marāthī news-letters from their court, despatches from Marāthā officers, and reports from the Peshwās' agents. These give, month after month and even oftener, the minutest information about the movements of the Nizāms, their policy, the discussions in their councils, their campaigns, and the doings of their opponents, exactly as recorded at the time. These enable us to correct many errors and fill up many gaps in the current histories of that period, such as Grant Duff's. When these original sources are used, later histories like those of Briggs and Gribble may be safely discarded.

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Persian

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Muntakhab-ul-Lubāb, see chap. vi. Khazāna-i-‘Āmira. By Chulām ‘Alī Āzād. Lithographed, Cawnpore; repeated in his *Sarv-i-Āzād* (ditto). Maāsir-ul-Umarā. Hadīqat-ul-‘Ālam. By Mīr Abu’l-Qāsim, Mīr ‘Ālam. Lithographed, Hyderābād, A.H. 1310. Vol. ii. Maāsir-i-Āsafī. By Lachmī Nārāyan Khattrī. I.O.L. MS., Ethé 468. I have used the Hyderābād Record Office MS., entitled *Maāsir-i-Nizāmī*. Jagjīvan Dās. Revenue returns of Hindustan and Deccan in A.H. 1200. I.O.L. MS., Ethé 434. Other (earlier) returns translated in Jadunāth Sarkār's *India of Aurangzīb: Statistics, topography and roads*. 1901. Khatūt-i-Shivājī. R.A.S. MS. Persian 71. Gives three letters from Shāhū to Āsaf Jāh I.

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Marāthī

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Selections from the Peshwās’ Daftar. Edited by G. S. Sardesai (Bombay):

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Vol. i. Battle of Udgīr. 1930.
Vol. x. Early strife between Bājī Rāo and the Nizām. 1931.
Vol. xxv. Bālāji Bājī Rāo and the Nizām, 1740–61. 1932. Greatly supplements vol. i.
Vol. xxviii. Peshwā Bālājī Rāo: Karnātak Affairs, 1740–61. 1933.
Vol. xx. Bhonsles of Nāgpur. 1931.
Vol. xxxv. Peshwā and Nizām, supplementary. 1934.

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Aitihāsik Patren Yādi waghaira Lekh. 2nd ed. Edited by G. S. Sardesai and others. 1930. Aitihāsik Patravyavahār. Edited by G. S. Sardesai and others. 1933. Marāthyānchya Itihāsāchī Sādhanen. By V. K. Rājwāde. *Vols.* i (1898), iii (1901), and vi (1905). Selections from the Sātārā Rājās’ and the Peshwās’ Diaries. By G. C. Wad and D. B. Pārasnis. Vols. i (Shāhū), ii and iii (Bālājī Rāo), iv–vi (Mādhav Rāo). Vol. ii gives the Peshwās’ itineraries with dates. Marāthī Riyāsat. By G. S. Sardesai, Madhya Vibhāg. Vols. i, ii and iv (Bombay).

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2. MODERN WORKS

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Dodwell, H. H. Dupleix and Clive. London, 1920. —— Calendar of the Madras Records, 1740–44. Madras, 1917.

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DUFF, J. G. History of the Mahrattas, see chap. IX. IRVINE, W. Later Mughals, see chap. XI. ORME, R. History of...Indostan. 4th ed. vol. I. London, 1803. SARKĀR, Sir JADUNĀTH. Fall of the Mughal Empire. Vol. I. Calcutta, 1932. WHEELER, J. T. Madras in the Olden Time. Vol. III reproduces the diary o. T. Eyre's embassy to Āsaf Jāh at Trichinopoly. Madras, 1862. Lettres et Conventions des gouverneurs de Pondichéry avec différents princes hindous, 1666–1793. Pondichéry, 1914. Mémoire pour Bussy, expositif de ses créances.... Paris, 1764. Letters of François Raymond. Translated into English by Jadunāth Sarkār in *Islamic Culture* (Hyderābād, 1932), describing the military and financial conditions under Nizām 'Alī.

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THE RISE OF THE MARĀTHĀ EMPIRE, 1707–1761

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1. ORIGINAL SOURCES

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(*a*) MARĀTHĪ

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The vast collection of MSS., State Papers, and other documents in the Alienation Office, Poona (the Poona Daftar), and the collections made by V. K. Rājwāde, D. B. Pārasnīs, and other scholars, and housed in the Bhārata Itihāsa Mandala at Poona and the Historical Museum at Sātārā, together with the Daftars of the various Marāthā States, constitute the chief original sources for the period in Marāthī. The State Papers in the Poona Alienation Office have now been thoroughly sifted by Mr G. S. Sardesai, and forty-six volumes of Selections have been published under the auspices of the Government of Bombay. At the time of writing (1935) the papers in the Poona Residency Records are also being examined by Sir J. Sarkār and Mr Sardesai, with a view to the publication of similar volumes of Selections. The chief volumes of Selections at present printed are as follows:

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Marāthyānchyā Itihāsāchī Sādhane. By V. K. Rājwāde, 22 vols. Poona, 1898–1902.

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Itihāsa Sangraha. By D. B. Pārasnīs. 7 vols. Poona, V.D.

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Selections from the Peshwā's Daftar. By G. C. Wād. 9 vols. Poona, V.D. (Introduction by M. G. Rānade.)

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Selections from Shāhu Rājā's Daftar. By V. K. Pārasnīs. Poona, 1904.

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Selections from the Chitnīsi and other Daftars. By V. K. Pārasnīs. Published in *Itihāsa Sangraha*. 7 vols. Bombay, V.D.

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Selections from the Poona Daftar (Letters and Despatches relating to the Battles of Udgīr and Pānīpat). By G. S. Sardesai. Government Central Press, Bombay, 1930.

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Treaties, Agreements and Sanads. By D. B. Pārasnīs and P. V. Māvjī. Poona, 1908–14.

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Selections from the Peshwā Daftar. Edited by G. S. Sardesai, B.A. 45 vols. Government Central Press, Bombay, 1933. With Indexes, and a foreword by Sir Jadunāth Sarkār, C.I.E. This includes a Handbook to the records in the Alienation Office, Poona.

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(*b*) ENGLISH

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The Papers in the Bombay Secretariat are described in Kindersley's *Handbook*. *Selections from the State Papers in the Bombay Secretariat* (Home Series, 1887; Marāthā Series, 1885) have been published by Sir G. W. Forrest. For the India Office Records, Foster's *Guide*, and for the papers in the Imperial Record Department, the *Handbook to the Records of the Government of India (1748–1859)*, Calcutta, 1925, should be consulted.

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(*c*) PERSIAN

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The Persian correspondence in the Imperial Record Department will be found in the *Calendar of Persian Correspondence* issued by the Government of India, Calcutta, V.D. Many Persian documents, *farmāns*, etc. in the various daftars and in private possession require investigation. Detailed references to the Persian sources for the period are given in Sir Jadunāth Sarkār's *Fall of the Mughal Empire*, and his edition of Irvine's *Later Mughals*, see chap. xi; the leading Muhammadan historians of the period are translated in Elliot and Dowson's *History of India as told by its own Historians* (q.v.).

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II. SECONDARY SOURCES

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(*a*) ENGLISH

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Acworth, H. A. Ballads of the Marāthās. London, 1894. Autobiographical Memoir of the Early Life of Nānā Farnavīs. Trans. Briggs. *Transactions, Royal Asiatic Society*, vol. II. 1829. Bombay Presidency Gazetteer. Edited by J. M. Campbell. Bombay, 1877–94. Casi Raja Pundit, see Kāsīrāj Pandit. Downing, Clement. History of the Indian Wars, see chap. xi. Elphinstone, Mountstuart. History of India. Edited by E. B. Cowell. 6th ed. 1874. Forbes, A. K. Rās Mālā: Hindoo Annals of the Province of Goozerat. Edited by H. G. Rawlinson. 1924. Ghulām Husain Khān. Siyar-ul-Mutaākhkhirīn. English translation. Reprint, 4 volumes, Calcutta, 1902. Grant Duff, J. C. History of the Mahrattas, see chap. ix. Gwalior State Gazetteer. Gwalior, 1908. Ives, E. A Voyage from England to India in the Year 1754. 1773. Jervis, T. B. Geographical and Statistical Memoir of the Konkan. Calcutta, 1840. Kāsīrāj Pandit (Casi Raja Pundit). An Account of the Last Battle of Pānīpat. (Trans. J. Browne, *Asiatic Researches*, vol. III.) Reprint, edited by H. G. Rawlinson, 1926. The original MS. has now been discovered by Sir Jadunāth Sarkār, and a revised translation appeared in the *Indian Historical Quarterly*, 1934. Kincaid, C. A. and D. B. Pārasnīs. A History of the Marāthā People. 3 vols. 1918–25. Edition in one volume, 1931. Malcolm, Sir J. Memoir of Central India. 2 vols. London, 1823. Malleson, G. B. History of the French in India. London, 1868. —— Native States of India. 1875. Orme, R. Historical Fragments of the Moghul Empire. London, 1782. Pārasnīs, D. B. Mahableshwar. Bombay, 1916. —— Poona in Bygone Days. Bombay, 1921. Rānade, M. G. Rise of the Marāthā Power. Poona, 1900. —— Miscellaneous Writings. Poona, 1900. —— Introduction to the Peshwa's Diaries. Poona, 1900. Sardesai, G. B. Main Currents of Marāthā History. Calcutta, 1926. Sarkar, Sir J. Fall of the Mughal Empire, see chap. xiii. Sen, S. The Administrative System of the Marāthās. Calcutta, 1923. Subramanian, K. R. Marāthā Rājās of Tanjor. Madras, 1928. Waring, E. S. History of the Mahrattas. London, 1810.

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(*b*) MARĀTHĪ

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In Marāthī, the chief secondary sources are the *bakhars* or prose-chronicles. They are of varying value, but the early ones especially contain a great deal of information gleaned at first hand. Many of them were published by R. N. Sane in the historical journal *Kavyetihāsa Sangraha* (1878–89), and have since been separately printed. Some of the most important for the period are:
1. The Pānīpat Bakhar. By Raghunāth Yādāv. 1763.
2. The Peshwā's Bakhar. By Sohoni. 1822.
3. The Bhāo Sāhib's Bakhar. N.D.
4. Dābhāde Gāikwādāchī Hakīkat (History of the Dābhādes and Gāikwārs). 1818.
5. Holkarānchī Kaifiyat (Narrative of the Holkar family).
6. The Nāgpur Bhonsles' Bakhar. 1818.
7. The Bakhar of Shāhū Mahārājā. By Govindrāo Chitnīs.

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8. Thorle Shāhuche Charitra (Life of Shāhū I). By Malhārrāo Chitnīs. 1810.
9. Dhākte Rāmrājāche Charitra. By Malhārrāo Chitnīs. 1810. Malhārrāo Holkar Yānche Charitra. By M. M. Atre. Poona, 1893. Marāthyānche Parākrama. By D. B. Pārasnīs. Bombay, 1895. Brahmendraswāmī Yānche Charitra. By D. B. Pārasnīs. Bombay, 1903. Marāthyānche Ārmār (Marāthā Navy). By D. B. Pārasnīs. Bombay, 1904. The Standard History of the Marāthās in Marāthī is *Marāthī Riyāsat*, by G. S. Sardesai, 7 vols. Bombay, V.D., 1915–29.