Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asaf Jah I

The disintegration of the Mughal empire which Aurangzeb had well established, began upon Aurangzeb's death in 1707. The Sayyid brothers-(Syed Hussain Ali Khan and Syed Hassan Ali Khan Barha) became highly influential in the Mughal Court after Aurangzeb's death and became king makers during the anarchy following the death of emperor Aurangzeb in 1707.[21] They created conflict in the Mughal court by eliminating and appointing new emperor one after other. When Bahadur Shah I (1707-1712) died, his successor Jahandar Shah (1712-1713) was assassinated and his nephew Farrukhsiyar (1713–1719) became the emperor with the support of Sayyid brothers, Farrukhsiyar was later blinded, deposed and murdered and his first cousin Rafi ud-Darajat (February–June 1719) became Emperor and died of lung disease, when his elder brother Rafi ud-Daulah (June–September 1719) became Emperor who also died of lung disease, thus Muhammad Shah (1719–1748) the grandson of Bahadur Shah I from his fourth son Jahan Shah ascended the throne at the age of 17 years with Sayyid Brothers as his regents.[22]

After Aurangzeb's death in 1707, Asaf Jah was appointed Governor of Oudh. After Bahadur Shah I's death in 1712 Asaf Jah opted for a private life in Delhi. His sabbatical was cut short when in 1714 Farrukhsiyar appointed Asaf Jah I as Viceroy of the Deccan—(administrator of six Mughal governorates) with the title Nizam-ul-Mulk (Administrator of the Realm) and Fateh Jung.[23] In 1719, Asaf Jah was then called upon by Farrukhsiyar to help fight off the Sayyid Brothers, Farrukhsiyar lost his strife against the Sayyid Brothers and was killed in 1719. In due course from 1719 to 1722, Asaf Jah I was on a mission to eradicate the Sayyid brothers from Mughal court and to make this happen he organized and promoted Central Asian nobels in the Mughal court against the Sayyid brothers, in 1720 he captured the forts of Asirgarh and Burhanpur in Deccan and killed Mir Alam Ali Khan, the adopted son of Sayyid Hussain Ali Khan, who was the Deputy Subahdar of the Deccan. Muhammad Shah with the help of Asaf Jah, got Syed Hussain Ali Khan murdered in 1720 and Syed Hassan Ali Khan Barha poisoned in 1722, Muhammad Shah assumed as independent Mughal Emperor and as a reward in 1722, Asaf Jah was appointed as Grand Vazir (Prime Minister) of the Mughal Empire. As a Grand Vazir Asaf Jah's attempts to reform the court corruption which created for him many enemies. In 1723, Asaf Jah differences with the court noble increased and alarmed with his growing power, Muhammad Shah transferred him from the court of Delhi to Awadh. Nizam rebelled against the order, resigned as the Grand vizier left all imperial responsibilities and marched towards the Deccan by the end of the year 1723.[24][23][25][26][27] Under the influence of Asaf Jah's opponents, Muhammad Shah issued a decree to Mubariz Khan-the Governor of Hyderabad, to stop Asaf Jah which resulted in the Battle of Shakar Kheda.[28][26] In 1724, Asaf Jah I defeated Mubariz Khan and in response the Mughal emperor recognized him as the viceroy of the Deccan.[29]

Mir Qamar-ud-din became the subahdar (governor) of Bijapur in 1702 and was awarded with a steed by Emperor Aurangzeb. In the same year, he was also given the faujdari of Azamnagar and Belgaum. In 1704, he became the faujdar of Nusratabad and Mudgal.[20] In 1705 Mir Qamar-ud-din survived the attacks during the Siege of Wagingera Fort, and led an assault in the hillock of Lal Tikri.[30] He attacked the Marathas who were attempting to provide supplies to the besieged inhabitants at Vardhangad Fort. The Marathas were ultimately defeated. Mir Qamar-ud-din was raised to a rank of 5,000 zaat and 5,000 "Sowar" for his performance in the siege. He was also awarded with a jewelled sabre and an elephant.[31]

On 10 January 1713 Mughal prince Farrukhsiyar defeated Mughal Emperor Jahandar Shah in the Battle of Agra and later killed him, One of Mughal general Zulfiqar Khan Nusrat Jung aided and intrigues Jahandar Shah after the death of his father Bahadur Shah I in 1712 to overcame all his brothers-(including the battle in which Azim-ush-Shan father of Farrukhsiyar was drowned in the Ravi River) and ascended the throne of Mughal Emperor, in return Zulfiqar Khan was made Grand vizier, "Amir-ul-Umara" and Viceroy of the Deccan all at once. Zulfiqar Khan was captured and strangled to death in 1713 AD with the orders of Farrukhsiyar.[32][33]

In 1713 Farrukhsiyar appointed Mir Qumaruddin as Viceroy of the Deccan—(administrator of six Mughal governorates) and Faujdar of Carnatic region with the title Nizam-ul-Mulk (Administrator of the Realm) and Fateh Jung (Conqueror of battles).[34] He was a competent diplomatic person and accomplished his responsibilities very well, he eventually organized the administration, augmented finances and obtained full control over the Deccan including Carnatic region, the Nizam abrogated Maratha's from collecting Chauth in the region under his control which was granted by his predecessors. Nizam had been with Aurangzeb throughout his Deccan campaign. He was aware of the territory as well as the native communities for which he avoided direct confrontation with the Marathas and locals, rather he reduced the growing influence of Maratha's in Deccan by bringing Sambhaji II of Kolhapur to his side and appointing the rival Maratha generals (Maratha generals, Candrasen Jadhav, Sultanji Nimbalkar and Raja Rambha Rao Bahadur) under his services.[35][36][37][33][38][39]^ In 1715 AD, Farrukhsiyar under the influence of Sayyed brothers, call back Nizam to Delhi, and replaced Syed Hussain Ali Khan (one among the Sayyed brothers) as the viceroy of Deccan.[38][39]^

The Sayyid brothers, known as the badshahgar(king-makers),[40] became the sole authority of Mughal court reducing the status of the Turkic and the Irani noblemen. As a result, they formed a force of counter-revolution against the Sayyid brothers. The head of the Counter revolution was the Nizam. To subdue the counter-revolution, the Sayyid brothers shifted Nizam-ul-mulk from Delhi. In 1715 AD, the Nizam was appointed as the Governor of Malwa-(central India), a lesser position than previous post. in 1716 AD Nizam unwillingly accepted the new post so that he can reinforce his forces against the Sayyid brothers and to check and halt the increasing influence of Marathas in the central India region.[41]

In 1719, Nizam got suspicious against the machination of Sayyed brothers and understood there intentions to take over Mughal Empire. When two of the Mughal Emperors died simultaneously with in a year due to same ailment and Muhammad Shah the 18-year-old Mughal prince was appointed Mughal Emperor and Sayyid Brothers as regent to the Mughal Emperor, the Nizam commence full-fledged preparation to launch an armed action against them. When Sayyid Brothers learned about the Nizams situation, they got furious and issue an imperial order asking the Nizam to report in Delhi, and alternately they planned an attack on Nizam in case if he do not report. Meanwhile, Nizam received a secret communication from Mughal empress mother "resist the Sayyids, and you will find yourself a place of honour in the history of Mughals, May Allah help you in a war of righteous against suppression", and later a secret communication was sent by Emperor Muhammad Shah to get him relief from the atrocities of Sayyid Brothers. Nizam convinced with Sayyid Brothers planning and refused to report in Delhi and decided to eliminate Sayyid brothers.[36]

In Delhi Sayyid brothers released imperial order to attack Nizma's forces from two fronts, thus dispatched 20,000 imperial army of Delhi led by Dilawar Khan to attack from North and Army of Governor of Aurangabad led by Alim Ali-(the adopted son of Syed Hussain Ali Khan) to attack from South. Nizam being a military strategist rather than marching towards Delhi he decided to move southwards to the Deccan where he have many sympathizers to support. The Nizam utilizing his diplomatic manipulation occupied Asirgarh Fort from Mughals, and left Ujjain towards Burhanpur. His army clashed with Dilawar Khan aided by Maratha reinforcement near Burhanpur (Khandwa) in June 1720, Dilawar Khan and Marathas were defeated and Nizam took over Burhnpur. Sayyed brothers hopeless with the battle result issued an imperial order appointing Nizam as Viceroy of Deccan.[34][36]

Mughal empress mother alarmed Nizam that "Plans are already being made to mount a strong invasion of the south, be on your guard" meanwhile Sayyed brothers ordered Alim Ali-(Uninformed by Sayyed brothers about Nizam's appointment as Viceroy of Deccan) to march towards Nizam and stop him from reaching Aurangabad. Nizam wanted to avoid any war against a 20 year old Alim Ali, and sent his envoy, but all his efforts to avoid war went vain when in July 1720 AD Alim Ali approach with his army, though Alim Ali fought with bravery he lost against Nizams well equipped army. Frustrated with the defeat of Alim Ali, Sayyed brothers now decided to attack with much larger imperial army of 50,000 led by Emperor Muhammad Shah, they decided to move towards south by collecting reinforcement from Rajputana. While Mughal army was encamped in the outskirts of Delhi, a plot was devised against the Sayyid brothers and a section of Nizam's sympathizer a Turcic soldier assassinated commander and chief of the Mughal Army Sayyid Hussain (one of Sayyed Brothers) on 9 October 1720. When Abdullah Khan was informed about the death of his brother, he became furious and march towards Delhi from Agra to avenge his brother's murder, he led an army against the Emperor Muhammad Shah with his own puppet Emperor, Ibrahim. Muhammad Shah assigned Nizam's uncle and sympathizer Muhammad Amin Khan Turani to march towards Agara to deal with Abdullah Khan, the battle was fought near Hasanpur, most of Abdullah Khan army deserted him, Abdullah Khan personally fought on foot following the Barha tradition and was captured in November 1720, and eventually being poisoned while in captivity. Muhammad Shah was crowned Emperor without any regent and Muhammad Amin Khan Turani was appointed as first Grand vizier.[42][43][34][36] Nizam choose to continued his stay in Deccan and when Muhammad Amin Khan Turani died in 1721, he was offered to be Grand vizier of Mughal Empire.

In 1721 AD, Nizam ul-Mulk was rewarded for eliminating the Sayyid Brothers with the post of Wakil E Mutlaq Grand vizier in the court of Muhammad Shah, the 18-year-old successor. In Muhammad Shah's point of view, he expected Asaf Jah I to act as an elderly statesman and faithful servant of the emperor, but the cunning Asaf Jah proved to be more self-willed, and attempted to use his influence with the emperor to increase his territorial ambitions in the Deccan. With the pretext of restoring law and order in Gujarat, he sent there an expedition and appointed his maternal uncle, the relative of Saadullah Khan named Hamid Khan, to administer Gujarat. Hamid Khan engaged Shujaat Khan Gujarati in battle and shot him with an arrow on the chest while on top of his elephant, and finally entered Ahmedabad as a conqueror.[44] Shujaat Khan Gujarati's brother, Rustam Ali Khan, who had advanced towards Ahmedabad was also defeated with the aid of two Maratha commanders.[45] Muhammad Shah sent Sarbuland Khan to punish Hamid Khan. As Sarbuland Khan opposed this mission, with his request Muhammad Shah released Sayyid Najmuddin Ali Khan Barha from prison to join his the imperial army, with the reward of the governorship of Ajmer. Although a large number of Sarbuland Khan's men fell, in the heat of battle Shaikh Allahyar Khan delivered the victory to the imperialists. Both Hamid Khan and the Marathas suffered heavy losses, and as a result Hamid Khan departed to Aurangabad in the Deccan.[46] Thus the Nizam failed to win the confidence of the Emperor and lost in the estimation of the nobles.[47] For the Nizam, his desire to restore the decorum of Mughals lapsed when some courtiers, cliques of corrupt concubines and eunuchs along with harlots and jesters who were the Emperor's constant companions became Nizams enemy and coercively built distrust in the mind of Emperor about Nizam's growing power, thou Muhammad Shah had been dependent entirely upon the policies and courage of the Nizam, he transferred him from the court of Delhi to Awadh in 1723 AD. Muhammad Shah was young and foolish, and allowed his confidants to make remarks about him when he had made his obeisance in the Deccan fashion, which created a grudge between them.[48] His efforts were misrepresented and thwarted by the nobles close to the Emperor.[49] Nizam rebelled against the imperial order, abdicate as the Grand vizier and marched towards the Deccan against the will of Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah. Under the influence of Nizam's opponents, Muhammad Shah issued a decree to Mubariz Khan-the Governor of Hyderabad, and a former ally of the Barha Sayyids,[50] to stop and kill the Nizam which resulted in the Battle of Shakar Kheda.[3][26] In 1724, with the help of the Marathas,[51] Asaf Jah I defeated Mubariz Khan and in response, the Mughal emperor was forced to recognize him as the viceroy of the Deccan with the title of Asaf Jah.[29][52]

On 11 October 1724, the Nizam established autonomous rule over the Deccan region and started what came to be known as the Asaf Jahi dynasty. Subsequent rulers retained the title Nizam ul-Mulk and were referred to as Asaf Jahi Nizams, or Nizams of Hyderabad.[34][53] Nizam remained loyal to the Mughal Emperor, did not assume any imperial title, and continued to acknowledge Mughal suzerainty.[54] He acquired de facto control over Deccan and thus all six Mughal viceregal governorates of Deccan became his feudatory.[55][56]

In 1725 AD, as a sovereign ruler, the Nizam wanted to strengthening the Deccan by controlling the growing influence of the Marathas, he confronted and defeated Maratha forces and prevented them from collecting levies in Carnatic region—(it was granted to Marathas by his predecessor Mughal Viceroy of Deccan in 1719 AD).[57][58] In 1726 AD Sambhaji II of Kolhapur seek the Nizam's arbitration to settle issues with Shahu I of Satara which Shahu declined, thus in 1727 AD the Nizam armies captured Pune and appointed Sambhaji II as Chhatrapati.[57][59] These valorous acts of the Nizam started an extended series of conflicts with Shahu who uses a Guerrilla warfare technique led by his Peshwa Baji Rao I, which resulted in the Battle of Palkhed in 1728 AD, Sambhaji II repudiate at the last moment and the Shahu forces surrounded the Nizam, he sign the treaty with Shahu which restored him as a Chhatrapati of Marathas and the right to collect levies in the Carnatic region.[57][59]

1733 AD the Nizam and Baji Rao had made a compact to support each other in times of external attacks, in 1734 the Marathas attacked and captured bundelkhand and Malwa from the Mughal control, in exchange of these territories the Mughal emperor gave them the right to collect levies from Deccan, to which the nizam refused and the secret compact among both was broken.[60] in 1737 AD when Maratha forces gathered in Delhi, Nizam marched against Maraths from Deccan to stop the invasion thus Maraths withdraw from Delhi and with the help of Nawab of Bhopal, they make a counterattack on Nizam's armies which resulted in the Battle of Bhopal, later in January 1738, a peace treaty was signed between both the parties and withdraw to there regions.[60][61][62][39]^

The Nizam divided his newly acquired kingdom into three parts. One third became his own private estate known as the Sarf-i-Khas, one third was allotted for the expenses of the government and was known as the Diwans territory, and the remainder was distributed to nobles (Jagirdar, Zamindars, Deshmukh), who in return paid nazars (gifts) to the Nizam for the privilege of collecting revenue from the villages under their suzerainty. The most important of these were the Paigah estates. The House of Paigah doubled up as generals, Nawab Abu'l Fateh Khan who served as general of the nizams, the paigah's making it easy to raise an army should the Nizams Dominions come under attack. They were the equivalent to the Barmakids for the Abbasid Caliphate. Only second to the Nizams family.

The Nizam wrote an advice for his successors in the Ma'asir-i Nizami:[63]

"It is necessary for the ruler of the Deccan who desires his own safety, peace from war, and the prosperity of his country to have peace with the Marathas who are the landholders[zamindaran] of this region."

In 1725, the Marathas clashed with the Nizam, who refused to pay Chauth and Sardeshmukhi to the Marathas. The war began in August 1727 and ended in March 1728. Nizam signed a treaty named Treaty of Mungi-Shevgaon at Shevgaon near Nashik by Bajirao I, the son of Peshwa Balaji Vishwanath Bhatt.[65]

Anxious to divert Marathas away from his Deccan strongholds, and to save himself from the Mughal emperor of North India's hostile attempts to suppress his independence,[66] the Nizam encouraged the Marathas to invade Malwa and the northern Indian territories of the Mughal empire.[67][68] The Nizam says that he could use the Marathas to his own advantage in the Maasir-i Nizami:[69]

"I consider all this army (Marathas) as my own and I will get my work done through them. It is necessary to take our hands off Malwa. God willing, I will enter into an understanding with them and entrust the Mulukgiri(raiding) on that side of the Narmada to them."