Mir Nizam Ali Khan Siddiqi, Asaf Jah II (7 March 1734 – 6 August 1803) was the 5th

Nizam Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I ...

Hyderabad State Hyderabad State () was a princely state in the Deccan region of south-central 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 the ...

between 1762 and 1803. He was born on 7 March 1734 as fourth son to

Asaf Jah I Mir Qamar-ud-din Khan Siddiqi (11 August 16711 June 1748) also known as Chin Qilich Qamaruddin Khan, Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asaf Jah and Nizam I, was the first Nizam of Hyderabad. He began his career during the reign of the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, w ...

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 Sawānih-i-Deccan (''News of Deccan'') was a work was compiled by Munim Khan al-Hamdani al-Aurangabadi in 1197 A.H. ( 1782 A.D.). It is an unpublished manuscript in Persian and gives statistics of revenue accounts of the six subas of the Deccan ...

, a Persian work compiled by Munim Khan, a military commander during the era of

Asaf Jah II Mir Nizam Ali Khan Siddiqi, Asaf Jah II (7 March 1734 – 6 August 1803) was the 5th Nizam of Hyderabad State 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, Niz ...

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: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-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 The Third Battle of Panipat took place on 14 January 1761 between the Maratha Empire and the invading army of the Durrani Empire. The battle took place in and around the city of Panipat, approximately north of Delhi. The Afghan (ethnonym), Af ...

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 emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

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 power w ...

, who issued a

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

terminating Salabat Jung (supported by the

French East India Company Compagnie des Indes () may refer to several French chartered companies involved in long-distance trading: * First French East Indies Company, in existence from 1604 to 1614 * French West India Company, active in the Western Hemisphere from 1664 t ...

), from his position as the

Subedar Subedar ( ) is a military rank in the militaries of South Asia roughly equivalent to that of a warrant officer. Historically classed in the British Indian Army as a Viceroy's commissioned officer, the rank was retained in the Indian Army an ...

Deccan The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound by the mount ...

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 Mir Nizam Ali Khan Siddiqi, Asaf Jah II (7 March 1734 – 6 August 1803) was the 5th Nizam of Hyderabad State 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, Ni ...

the

Nizam of Hyderabad Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I wh ...

Nizam's intervention against the Peshwa

In 1757, the Nizam (Salabat Jung) was defeated by Sadashivraobhau in the

Battle of Sindhkhed A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

and again at the

Battle of Udgir A battle is an occurrence of combat in warfare between opposing military units of any number or size. A war usually consists of multiple battles. In general, a battle is a military engagement that is well defined in duration, area, and force c ...

in 1760. In 1762,

Raghunathrao Raghunathrao, also known as Ragho Ballal or Raghoba Dada (18 August 1734 – 11 December 1783), was the younger son of Peshwa Bajirao I who served as the 11th Peshwa of the Maratha Empire for a brief period from 1773 to 1774. He defeated ...

allied with the Nizam due to mutual distrust and differences with

Madhavrao Peshwa Madhavrao I (formerly known as Madhavrao Ballal Bhat) was the second son of Peshwa Balaji Bajirao and grandson of Peshwa Bajirao I, who served as the 9th Peshwa of the Maratha Empire. During his tenure, the Maratha Empire recovered from losses ...

. The Nizam marched towards

Poona Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

, unaware that Rughunathrao was going to betray him. In 1763,

Madhavrao I Madhavrao I (formerly known as Madhavrao Ballal Bhat) was the second son of Peshwa Balaji Bajirao and grandson of Peshwa Bajirao I, who served as the 9th Peshwa of the Maratha Empire. During his tenure, the Maratha Empire recovered from losse ...

along with Rughunathrao defeated the Nizam at the Battle of Rakshasbhuvan and signed a treaty with the

Marathas The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

. In 1795, he was defeated by

Madhavrao II Madhavrao II (18 April 1774 – 27 October 1795) was the 12th Peshwa of the Maratha Confederacy, from his infancy. He was known as Sawai Madhav Rao or Madhav Rao Narayan. He was the posthumous son of Narayanrao Peshwa, murdered in 1773 on the o ...

s at the

Battle of Kharda The Battle of Kharda also called the Battle of Khurla, took place in 1795 between the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Maratha Empire, in which the Nizam was defeated. During the Battle Governor General John Shore followed the policy of non-intervent ...

and was forced to cede Daulatabad,

Aurangabad Aurangabad (), officially renamed as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in 2023, 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 ...

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 line ...

and pay an indemnity of Rs. 30 million. A French 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 (, , ''Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu''; 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799) commonly referred to as Sher-e-Mysore or "Tiger of Mysore", was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery ...

was imminent and thus, he entered into a

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

with the

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

. Thus

Hyderabad Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of , much ...

, 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 Northwestern Europe, off the coast of European mainland, the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, became a princely state within the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

Death

Asaf Jah II died at

Chowmahalla Palace Chowmahalla Palace or Chowmahallat is the palace of the Nizam of Hyderabad, Nizams of Hyderabad State located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was the seat of power of the Asaf Jahi dynasty (1720-1948) and was the official residence of the Niza ...

, Hyderabad at the age of 69 on 6 August 1803.

Family

;Consorts * Bakhshi Begum (died on 21 December 1813, buried in Makkah Masjid, Hyderabad), Nizam's favourite wife; * Tinat-un-Nisa Begum (buried in Makkah Masjid, Hyderabad), a servant in service of Bakhshi Begum, and mother of Sikander Jah, Asaf Jah III and Akbar Jah; * Burhanpuri Begum (buried in Makkah Masjid, Hyderabad), mother of Jahandar Jah; * Dil Lagan Bai (died 3 June 1809), mother of a son born on 25 November 1777; ;Daughters * Fakhr-un-Nisa Begum also known as Manjli Begum, married to Fathyab-ud-Daulah, the grandson of Khaja Hamid Khan, the uncle of Asaf Jah I; * Sajida Begum, married to Mir Qudrut Ullah Khan, Ibrat Jung, son of Shuja-ul-Mulk; * Naqsh Bandi Begum (died 18 November 1808, buried in Hazrat Barhana Sahib Dargah), married to Mahabat Jung; * Basheer-un-Nisa Begum, married in 1800 to Amir-i-Kabir I, the first princess to be married in Paigah; * Imami Begum (buried in Makkah Masjid, Hyderabad); * A daughter married to the son of Shuja-ul-Mulk (died 23 December 1788); * A daughter married on 5 September 1776 to Zulfiqar-ud-Daulah Bahadur, son of Basalat Jung; * Riyaz-un-nisa Begum (died 3 June 1809), married to Khan-i-Shiraz; * A daughter married to Dara Jah;

References

Bibliography

External links

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