Mir Nizam Ali Khan Siddiqi, Asaf Jah II (7 March 1734 – 6 August 1803) was the 2nd

Nizam The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, Mar ...

Hyderabad State Hyderabad State () was a princely state located in the south-central Deccan region of India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and ...

South India South India, also known as Dakshina Bharata or Peninsular India, consists of the peninsular southern part of India. It encompasses the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, and Telangana, as well as the union terr ...

between 1762 and 1803. He was born on 7 March 1734 as fourth son to Asaf Jah I and Umda Begum. His official name is ''Asaf Jah II, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Nizam 'Ali Khan Siddiqi, Fateh Jang, Sipah Salar, Nawab Subedar of the Deccan''. Sawānih-i-Deccan, a Persian work compiled by Munim Khan, a military commander during the era of Asaf Jah II gave more insight about administration of Asaf Jahis.

Nizam of Hyderabad

Faujdar of the Deccan

Nizam Ali was appointed as the leading commander and administrator of the Deccan in the year 1759, his successful methods of fighting against the

Maratha The Marathi people ( Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed a ...

s had earned him much repute as a capable commander.

Shah Alam II' – Subedar of the Deccan

After the Marathas were routed during the Third Battle of Panipat in the year 1761, Nizam Ali and his army of 60,000 immediately advanced and repulsed them as far as Puna and forced them to sue for lasting peace. Nizam Ali then seized the Bidar Fort and later arrested Salabat Jung, this action of Nizam Ali Khan was ratified by the

Mughal Emperor The Mughal emperors ( fa, , Pādishāhān) were the supreme heads of state of the Mughal Empire on the Indian subcontinent, mainly corresponding to the modern countries of India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Bangladesh. The Mughal rulers styled ...

Shah Alam II Shah Alam II (; 25 June 1728 – 19 November 1806), also known by his birth name Ali Gohar (or Ali Gauhar), was the seventeenth Mughal Emperor and the son of Alamgir II. Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal empire. His po ...

, who issued a

Firman A firman ( fa, , translit=farmân; ), at the constitutional level, was a royal mandate or decree issued by a sovereign in an Islamic state. During various periods they were collected and applied as traditional bodies of law. The word firman co ...

terminating Salabat Jung (supported by the

French East India Company The French East India Company (french: Compagnie française pour le commerce des Indes orientales) was a colonial commercial enterprise, founded on 1 September 1664 to compete with the English (later British) and Dutch trading companies in th ...

), from his position as the

Subedar Subedar is a rank of junior commissioned officer in the Indian Army; a senior non-commissioned officer in the Pakistan Army, and formerly a Viceroy's commissioned officer in the British Indian Army. History ''Subedar'' or ''subadar'' was t ...

Deccan The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by the ...

and appointing Nizam Ali Khan Asaf Jah II as his successor.

Supporting Shah Alam II

Immediately after recapturing the throne Shah Alam II in 1772, came under the influence of Nizam Ali Khan the

Nizam of Hyderabad The Nizams were the rulers of Hyderabad from the 18th through the 20th century. Nizam of Hyderabad (Niẓām ul-Mulk, also known as Asaf Jah) was the title of the monarch of the Hyderabad State ( divided between the state of Telangana, Mar ...

Nizam's intervention against the Peshwa

In 1762,

Raghunathrao Raghunathrao Bhat (a.k.a. Ragho Ballal or Ragho Bharari) (18 August 1734 – 11 December 1783) was the 11th Peshwa of the Maratha Empire for a brief period from 1773 to 1774. He was known among the Hindus for his extremely successful North-wes ...

allied with the Nizam due to mutual distrust and differences with

Madhavrao Peshwa Peshwa Madhavrao Bhat I (February 15, 1745 – November 18, 1772) was the 9th Peshwa of the Maratha Empire. During his tenure, the Maratha empire fully recovered from the losses they suffered during the Third Battle of Panipat, a phenomenon ...

. The Nizam marched towards

Poona Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...

, but little did he know that Rughunathrao was going to betray him. In 1763,

Madhavrao I Peshwa Madhavrao Bhat I (February 15, 1745 – November 18, 1772) was the 9th Peshwa of the Maratha Empire. During his tenure, the Maratha empire fully recovered from the losses they suffered during the Third Battle of Panipat, a phenomenon kn ...

along with Rughunathrao defeated Nizam at

Battle of Rakshasbhuvan The Battle of Rakshasbhuvan in India was fought on 10 August 1763. After the defeat of the Marathas at the Battle of Panipat, their rivals started seizing the opportunity to recover their losses in the past at the hands of Marathas. Particula ...

and signed a treaty with the

Marathas The Marathi people ( Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a ...

. In 1795, he was defeated by Madhavrao II's

s at the

Battle of Kharda The Battle of Kharda took place in 1795 between Nizam and Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in th ...

and was forced to cede Daulatabad,

Aurangabad Aurangabad ( is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a hilly upland terrain in the Deccan Traps, Aurangabad is the ...

and

Sholapur Solapur () is a city located in the south-western region of the Indian state of Maharashtra, close to its border with Karnataka. Solapur is located on major highway, rail routes between Mumbai, Pune, Bangalore and Hyderabad, with a branch ...

and pay an indemnity of Rs. 30 million. A

French French (french: français(e), link=no) may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to France ** French language, which originated in France, and its various dialects and accents ** French people, a nation and ethnic group identified with Franc ...

general, Monsieur Raymond, served as his military leader, strategist and advisor.

Fall of Mysore

The following year, he realized that the fall of

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (born Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu, 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799), also known as the Tiger of Mysore, was the ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery.Dalrymple, p. 243 He i ...

was imminent and thus, he entered into a

Subsidiary alliance A subsidiary alliance, in South Asian history, was a tributary alliance between a South Asian state and a European East India Company. Under this system, an Indian ruler who formed a treaty with the company in question would be provided wi ...

with the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...

. Thus

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern Indi ...

, which is in both area and population comparable to the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...

, became a

princely state A princely state (also called native state or Indian state) was a nominally sovereign entity of the British Indian Empire that was not directly governed by the British, but rather by an Indian ruler under a form of indirect rule, subject to ...

within the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

Death

Asaf Jah II died at Chowmahalla Palace, Hyderabad at the age of 69 on 6 August 1803.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Asaf Jah Ii 19th-century Indian royalty 1734 births 1803 deaths 19th-century Indian monarchs Nizams of Hyderabad Indian royalty Asaf Jahi dynasty 18th-century Indian royalty