Hyderabad State

Erstwhile kingdom and princely state in the Deccan region of southern India, covering parts of present-day Telangana, Karnataka and Maharashtra. Hyderabad State was established in 1724 by Mir Qamar-ud-din Khan Siddiqi, a former Mughal viceroy. Siddiqi also founded the kingdom’s ruling dynasty, the Asaf Jahis, whose monarchs used the title nizam (Arabic: ‘organiser’). In 1728, the kingdom became a tributary of the Maratha empire, and in 1798, British India’s first princely state. The court culture in Hyderabad was modelled on that of the Mughals. Telugu was an official state language, along with Persian, which was replaced by Urdu in 1886. From the late nineteenth century, Hyderabad distinguished itself by its economic development, progressive social reforms and educational infrastructure. With the end of colonial rule in 1947, Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan declared Hyderabad an independent state, part of neither India nor Pakistan. It was annexed by India in 1948.