The Early History of the Deccan (Parts I–XI) v1.c2.2

v1.c2.2

Simultaneously with the emergence of the three original suggestions for a history of the whole of India, some universities sponsored schemes for the detailed histories of their respective provinces, based upon up-to-date discoveries made by Indian scholars in the fields of Epigraphy and Archaeology, as well as on the interpretation given by them of extant religious texts and contemporary records, and on the correct appreciation of the artistic and iconographic significance of Indian sculpture throughout the period. In this respect Dacca University was the first to publish an authoritative history of Bengal under the able editorship of Dr. R. C. Majumdar. In Hyderabad Professors Haroon Khan Shirwani and 'Ali Yar Khan (now Nawab 'Ali Yavar Jung Bahadur) submitted to the Government a plan for the publication of a comprehensive history of the Deccan in five volumes. This scheme was temporarily shelved by the Government because there was at the time a heavy drain on the finances of the State owing to the outbreak of the Second World War. About the same time Dr. Yazdani independently submitted a note to the late Sir Akbar Hydari, the then President of the Executive Council, in which he described the rich contribution made by the Southern Peninsula to the economic, religious, social, and cultural life of India. He also referred in this note to the abundance of material which is available here in the South in the form of contemporary inscriptions, archaeological monuments, and continuous authoritative histories and documents for a comprehensive history of the Deccan from the earliest period up to modern times. Sir Akbar had appreciated fully the importance of the 'Ali-Shirwani scheme, and after the perusal of Dr. Yazdani's note he advised all three proposers to submit a joint scheme to the Government, and assured them of his strong support when the case should come up before the Executive Council. But shortly afterwards Sir Akbar Hydari retired abruptly from the service of the State and the only source of satisfaction remaining to the sponsors of the joint scheme was that one of them—Nawab 'Ali Yavar Jung Bahadur—was just then appointed to the high post of Secretary to the Government in the Department of Constitutional Affairs, and he thereupon immediately determined to use all his influence to secure the sanction of the scheme by the Government. The previous objection that owing to War conditions sufficient funds were not available was again raised by the Council when the case came up for decision before them, and it was with great difficulty and only by dint of much patient argument and persistence by Nawab 'Ali Yavar Jung that they finally agreed to sanction the scheme on condition that: