HYDERABAD: Around 150 km from Aurangabad in a place called Shakar Kheda, Mubariz Khan, the Mughal governor of Hyderabad, forges ahead with his battalion against Nizam-ul-Mulk, the new Mughal-appointed Viceroy of the Deccan. After all, how could Khan allow ul-Mulk to just swoop in and take everything from him? But the Viceroy did, in the bloodiest way possible, on October 11, 1724.
Almost 300 years later, we are at the Salar Jung museum in Hyderabad listening in awe as 24-year-old heritage enthusiast Sibghat Khan guides us on the ‘The Asaf Jahi Trail - A Game of Thrones’, a joint collaboration between his Deccan Archives and INTACH. “Ul-Mulk killed Khan and felt invincible, especially since the Mughals had become quite weak after Aurangazeb’s passing in 1707.
Ul-Mulk founded the Asaf Jahi dynasty and became Asaf Jahi I. This line of Nizams and their advisors, the Salar Jungs, shaped Hyderabad,” Sibghat explains. Anuradha Reddy, historian and convener of INTACH Hyderabad, joins us on the trail. She quips, “Everyone always wanted Hyderabad because that’s just how important it was and is.”
When we look at Hyderabad today, what do we see? A developed, bustling city filled with culture and my, what food! The Asaf Jahs had a big role here, apart from building Begum Bazaar, City Wall and Mir Alam Tank, the source of drinking water for the people. If we can hop onto trains, it is because the Jahis and Jungs brought railways to Hyderabad. If we boast of great schools and universities, it is because the dynasty and its advisors modernised education here.
But it wasn’t a rosy reign for the early Jahis. “You see, Islamic texts have no laws about succession. Here, you could imprison or kill your brothers for the throne,” he says as we walk to the museum’s Bidri Library, significantly named after the Bidar Fort, where the Asaf Jahis imprisoned rivals.
As we look at the exquisite vases, jewel-encrusted swords, spoons and hookah tips, one thinks ah, what luxury these kings and nobles must have lived in! But Sibghat reads our minds, telling us that there is more than meets the eye.
“After ul-Mulk’s death, family squabbles began and the British and French eagerly dove into it. While his son Nasir was backed by the British, Nasir’s nephew Muzaffar had the French on his side. They battled it out around Tamil Nadu’s Gingee Fort, and Nasir was strangled to death,” says Sibghat, adding that the three rulers after ul-Mulk were not recognised, eliciting a couple of loud oh’s from us. “French-backed Nizam Ali Khan, another son of ul-Mulk, became the recognised Asaf Jahi II,” says the historian.
While authorities assessed the structural stability of 17 Musi bridges recently, not many know that a gruesome Anglo-French war during the Asaf Jahi reign took place in the Musi river. “So many died and their bodies just decomposed in the water, leaving bones scattered across the water. It looked like a white river,” says Sibghat.
What stands out in this trail is not just soaking into the history itself but the way Sibghat initiates you into the world of the Jahis and Jungs. “It is almost like you are right there, in the 1700s, seeing these battles in front of you. I wish I had a history teacher like him in school. It was such a fun storytelling session,” says Akib, a data manager.
We didn’t realise that over an hour had passed when Sibghat told us about the Nizams allying with the British and Marathas to defeat Tipu Sultan at Srirangapatna. And though their power waned after that, Sibghat reminds us, “As Hyderabadis, it is important to know what these great rulers did for our city.”