of living in Marathwara is very high, owing
to the many holdings that are put down in
cotton, and the uncertainty of the rainfall,
and nowhere are the people more at the
mercy of the money-lender than in the cotton
country.

The Agricultural Department has opened
some small State banks, and these, too, might
form a part of the work of the special com-
mission, for the principles on which they have
been based are open to comment.



L, MH



CHAPTER XV.

The Hon'ble the British Resident.

When we visit the Residency bazaars in
Hyderabad to-day, and learn that the British
Resident now exercises there civil and criminal
jurisdiction over 17,971 people, we find it
difficult to picture the Residency area of one
hundred years ago. At that time the Re-
sident lived in one of the garden houses of
the minister of the day and he had little
responsibility and little influence.

In ' The Nizam," by Henry George
Briggs, we find the following curious account
of the present fine-looking Residency. Writ-
ing to Lady Give, in October 1799, while
passing through Hyderabad on his way to
Persia, via Bombay, Sir John Malcolm says :■ —
" I will conclude this letter by relating an
anecdote connected with the projected edifice
(the Residency) that will satisfy you. The
princes of the East do not lose much of their
valuable time in the study of geography.
Major Achilles Kirkpatrick, the Resident
at this Court, wished to obtain a grant of



MODERN HYDERABAD. I3I

one or two fields to erect this structure upon.
He requested the engineer of the English
force stationed at Hyderabad to make an
exact survey of the spot and when this was
finished upon a large sheet he carried it to
the Darbar and, showing it to the Nizam,
requested he would grant the English Govern-
ment a grant of the land. The Prince, after
gravely examining the survey, said he was
sorry he could not comply with the request.
When the Resident was retiring, not a little
disconcerted at the refusal of a favour which
he deemed so trifling, Mir Alum (the minister),
said to him, with a smile, ' Do not be
annoyed. You frightened the Nizam with
the size of the plan you showed him. Your
iields were almost as large as any of the maps
of his kingdom he has yet seen. No wonder,"
added the Mir, laughing, " he did not like to
make such a cession. Make a survey on a
reduced scale and the difficulty will vanish."
The Resident could hardly believe that this
would be the case ; but when at his next
interview he presented the plan upon a small
card, the cheerful assent of the Prince satisfied
him that the Mir had been quite correct in his
guess at the cause of his former failure." In
due course the building was proceeded with,



132 MODERN HYDERABAD.

and the Residency was completed in 1807
by Lieutenant S. Russell, of the Madras
Engineers.

The attack made on the Residency in
1857 is also very graphically described by
Mr. Briggs in his book, " The Nizam."

The growth of the power of the Resident
and the importance of the area that now goes
by the name of " the Residency Bazaars"
was largely due to the fact that the Hon'ble
the Resident had to administer the Assigned
districts. And the many bankers who now
live in the Residency bazaars are said to have
been drawn to the neighbourhood by Resi-
dents who experienced much difficulty in
obtaining good money with which to pay the
troops, when there were in the State many
mints and many kinds of coins.

The Secunderabad cantonment (six miles
north-east of Hyderabad city), where the
Resident hoists the British flag during the
rains, has now a population of 113,499
persons, including 7,000 English and Indian
troops, which form the Secunderabad portion
of the 9th Division of the Southern Army,
whose headquarters are at Ootacamund.
This military station, which is one of the
largest in India, was originally the station of



MODERN HYDERABAD.



133



the Subsidiary Force. The combined canton-
ment now comprises Secunderabad, Chikal-
guda, Bowanpalli, Begampett, Trimulgherry
and Bolarum, and covers an area of nineteen
square miles.

Residents and Acting Residents.
Mr. John Holland was the first represent-
ative of the Governor-General at the Court
of the Nizam, and he arrived at Hyderabad
in 1779. He was succeeded by Mr. J. Grant,
who retired in 1784.

Mr. R. Johnson . . . . 1784

Captain Kennaway . . . . 1788

Captain J. A. Kirkpatrick . . 1797

Captain W. A. Kirkpatrick . . 1798

Mr. H. Russell . . . . 1805

Captain T. Sydenham . . . . 1806

Lieutenant C. Russell . . . . 1810

Mr. H. Russell . . . . 1811

Mr. C. T. Metcalfe . . . . 1820

Captain H. S. Barnett . . . . 1825

Mr. W. B. Martin . . . . 1825

Mr. E. C. Ravenshaw . . . . 1830

Colonel J. Stewart . . . . 1830

Major J. Cameron . . . . 1838

Brigadier J. Wahab, c.B. . . 1838

Major G. Tomkyns . . . . 1838

Colonel J. S. Fraser . . . . 1838



*34



iMODERN HYDERABAD.



Major C. Davidson .. .. 1852

Colonel Low, c.b. . . . . 1853

Major C. Davidson .. .. 1853

Mr. G. A. Bushby . . . . 1853

Captain A. R. Thornhill . . 1856

Colonel C. Davidson . . . . 1857

Major A. R. Thornhill . . . . 1862

Sir J. U. Yule, k.c.s.l, c.b. . . 1863

Sir R. Temple, k.c.s.i. . . . . 1867

Mr. G. J. Cordery . . . . 1868

Hon'ble A. A. Roberts, c.b., c.s.i. . . 1868

Mr. C. B. Saunders, c.b. . . 1868

Colonel E. C. Ross, c.s.i. . . 1886

Mr. G. J. Cordery .. .. 1886

Major D. Robertson . . . . 1887

Mr. A. P. Howell . . . . 1888

Sir D. Fitzpatrick, k.c.s.i. . . 1889
Mr. T. W. Chichele Plowden, c.s.i., i.c.s. 1891
Hon'ble Lieutenant-Colonel Sir D. W.

K. Barr, k.c.s.i. . . . . 1901

Hon'ble C. S. Bayley, c.s.i., i.c.s. . . 1905

Hon'ble M. F. O'Dwyer, i.c.s. . . 1908

Hon'ble C. S. Bayley, c.s.i., i.c.s. . . 1908
Lieutenant-Colonel A. F. Pinhey,

c.s.i., c.i.E. . . . . 1911

Hon'ble S. M. Fraser . . . . 1914
Lieutenant-Colonel A. F. Pinhey,

c.s.i., c.i.E. . . . . 1914



CHAPTER XVI.



The State Army.



The army of H. H. the Nizam, which is
by far the largest army of any native ruler
in India, consists of irregular troops, re-
gular troops, the Golconda Brigade, the
Imperial Service troops, the Nizam Mahbub
regiment, and volunteers.

The Irregular Forces, which have to-day
an average strength of 13,533, date back to
the time of Asaf Jah, and their ancestors
were the Arabs, Rohillas, Afghans, Sikhs,
Rahtores, Rajputs, and Baluchis who helped
the first Nizam to conquer and settle Hyder-
abad. H. E. the Minister says of them in the
administration report for 1320-21 Fasli
(October 1910-12) : — " The reduction in
the number of irregular troops goes on
slowly. Vested interests have to be res-
pected, but the cost of these irregulars,
twenty-three and a quarter lakhs a year, is
still a very heavy burden to the State."



I36 MODERN HYDERABAD.

These irregulars I saw in all their glory
on Langar day, 1913 ; and, in many cases,
they seemed to know little of drill and disci-
pline, to wear their own clothes or old-world
uniforms, and to carry antique weapons.
Some were old, others were boys, and I
was told that these picturesque soldiers guard
the palaces of His Highness and the great
nobles of Hyderabad, furnish escorts, and
in the districts, protect the treasuries, escort
the mails, and help to discover and arrest
dacoits.

The Regular Forces date from 1858 a.d.
When the attack was made on the British
Residency in Hyderabad, in 1857, most of
the Contingent troops had gone to British
India to fight there against the mutineers ;
and afterwards Sir Salar Jung I thought
that in an armed State like Hyderabad there
ought to be a State army on which H. H.
the Nizam could depend in case of internal
insurrection and rebellion. So in 1858 he
gave power to the Raja of Wonpurty to
organise a small army, with guns, which was
to be called " the Nizam's Field Force." To
this little army more men and more guns
were added, also Nawab Nizam Yar Jung's
Cavalry ; and in 1868 the Nizam's Field



MODERN HYDERABAD. 137

Force developed into the Nizam's Regular
Forces, with Major Rooke as Commandant.

The Nizam's Regular Forces, which havt
to-day an average strength of 46 officers and
3,053 men, are well-armed and well-dis-
ciplined, and would, no doubt, if called upon
to take the field, do the State great credit.
They are composed chiefly of Deccan Maho-
medans, other Mahomedans, Rajputs, Ma-
haratas, and Brahmins. The African Cavalry
Guards, which now form the bodyguard of
His Highness, are all Africans, and it is
found very difficult to keep up the strength of
this regiment, which began in 1858 with some
African slave boys, who were trained and
mounted by the Raja of Wonpurty.

The Imperial Service troops comprise
8 officers and 688 men ; and it must not be
forgotten that these troops, which now take
a prominent place in every native State in
India of size and importance, are the direct
outcome of the 60 lakhs of rupees offered
by H. H. the late Nizam to the British Gov-
ernment, in 1886, for the defence of the
Frontier. His example was followed by other
Indian princes, and the Government of India
then decided that the Indian ruling chiefs
should be allowed to raise properly trained



I38 MODERN HYDERABAD.

and equipped forces to fight side by side with
the British regiments in case of need.*

The total cost of the Military Establish-
ment was in 1321 Fasli (1912 a.d.),
Rs. 52,34.272 ; and almost half of this money
went to pay for the irregular troops, which
are now out-of-date and almost useless.

The Regular Forces have several regi-
mental bands, and the most important of
them — H. H. the Nizam's band — is composed
of string as well as wind instruments, and
is conducted by an experienced bandmaster.

The hospitals and dispensaries for the
troops I did not see, but I was told that an
up-to-date military hospital " has been pro-
mised."

The pay of the troops varies from eight
to fifteen rupees a month for the Regular
Forces and the Imperial Service. Troops can
add three rupees a month to their pay by
good conduct. Most of the troops are
stationed in or near the capital, but some
are in the chief towns in the districts. The

* Since this was written the army of H. H. the Nizam has been
largely drawn upon for the Expeditionary Forces sent from
India to the seat of war in 1914. We may feel sure that
the Hyderabad troops will make history in Europe and return
heme covered with honour and glory, or fall like heroes on the
battlefield.



MODERN HYDERABAD. 139

State Arm}" appears to be fairly popular as
a means of earning a living, and there is
no dearth of officers. These privileged
gentlemen have a fine club on the Fateh
Maidan, a suburb of Hyderabad city, and
they enjoy sports and races at the local
gymkhana, in fact, they have a very good
time, if one may judge by their appearance.



CHAPTER XVII.



The Mint.



The State Mint was moved in 1904 from
Hyderabad city to the suburb of Saifabad,
and since that time it had seen many im-
portant developments.

In 1853, when Sir Salar Jung I began his
currency reforms, there was practically no
State money. No less than 26 mints coined
money at that time, and three rupees — the
Bagh Chalni, the Shahr Chami, and the Hukm
Chalni — were then in circulation and each had
a different weight and different value. At
that time no less than fifty varieties of silver
coins were used in the State, to say nothing
of copper coins.

The standard of silver currency intro-
duced by the Delhi rulers was nine of silver
and two of alloy, and the name of the King of
Delhi was on Hyderabad coins until 1858 (the
year after the Mutiny). But the standard
was much debased in the private mints, and
as the rupees were all hand-made, they could
be easily manufactured in the city bazaars.



MODERN HYDERABAD. I4I

The British Residents constantly pro-
tested against the debasement of the currency,
which caused the greatest inconvenience to
them in obtaining reliable rupees for the
payment of the troops and for the monetary
transactions of the Residency, and they made
constant but unsuccessful attempts to per-
suade the Nizam to close the private mints
in the State and make the East India Com-
pany's rupee the sole legal currency. In
1851 Captain Meadows Taylor wrote, "The
wretched system of coinage in the Nizam's
country, and the indisputable necessity of
placing the department on a better footing
have been strongly urged by me on Siraj-ul-
Mulk, who has promised to give such im-
mediate attention to the subject as its im-
portance deserves."

In 1855 Sir Salar Jung I established a
State Bank in Hyderabad city and intro-
duced a silver currency called the Halli
Sicca rupee, and this currency, like that of
the Delhi rulers, contained nine of silver and
two of alloy. The progress of the Halli Sicca
rupee was slow, but in 1863 Sir Salar Jung
said that the new system of coinage had
answered " fairly well," and in 1868 the
Government of India adopted the Halli Sicca



142 MODERN HYDERABAD.

as the rupee for Hyderabad and fixed the
official rate of exchange between it and the
British Government rupee at Rs. 16-14-6.

In 1894 a rupee with a milled edge was
manufactured by machinery and at that time
the Char Minar pattern of rupee was in-
troduced, and with this pattern the present
currency of the State is minted.

In 1905, Sir George Casson Walker moved
the State Mint to Saifabad, and brought out
from England up-to-date machinery for it,
some of which has lately been used to open up
an Electricity Department. Ever since 1905,
silver and copper coins have been minted,
and the silver and copper coinage for 132 1
Fasli (1911-1912 a.d.) was as follows : —
Rupees . . . . 72,39,461

Eight anna silver coins . . 2

Four anna ,,,,.. 2

Two anna ,,,,-• 2

Half anna copper coins . . 9,53,002

Two pie „ „ 2,59,88,200

One pie „ 2

Gold coins are now used only for presen-
tation purposes. And there is in the State
no paper money. Salaries and wages are
paid in O. S. rupees, and the consequences
of this sort of payment are sometimes



MODERN HYDERABAD. 143

amusing. For instance, I was calling one day
at a house where a government servant
resided, and I was surprised to see him
stagger into the room with a large bag in
each hand. Asked what made him bend
and sway, he replied "My salar}' ", and he
poured on to the carpet a load of O. S. rupees
that would eventually go to the local branch
of the Bank of Bengal and be placed there
to his credit.

The official rate of exchange between
the Hyderabad rupee and the British Gov-
ernment rupee varies to-day between 16 and
20 ; and the official standard in 1,000 O. S.
rupees is 8i8*i pure silver and the rest alloy.

Into the intricacies of the copper coinage
I will not enter, for the ghandas and
dubs that are the delight of servants, I
found to be in the districts a great nuisance.
Thus if a railway ticket was a little more
than a rupee, I received from 80 to 90 small
copper coins, and the servant and the ticket
babu then began to quarrel over the rate of
exchange and the number of dubs that
I ought to have. Only in Hyderabad City
and Secunderabad can a railway ticket be
taken in British Government money, and at
the small stations it is difficult and some-



144 MODERN HYDERABAD.

times impossible to change B. G. rupees into
O. S. rupees. As to a B. G. ten-rupee note,
they look at it with suspicion in the districts,
and the sowcars there say : — " I have no use
for it."

The Stamp Department.

This Department is under the care of
the Mint Master, and in it postage stamps .
stamped envelopes and postcards, summons,
receipt and hundi stamps and stamp paper
are made. The Government made by this
department during 1321 Fasli (1911-1912
a.d.) a profit of Rs. 8,17,221. There is an
Inspector-General of Registration and
Stamps, and the Government surplus from
the Registration Department in 132 1 Fasli
(1911-1912 a.d.), was Rs. 43>595-

Weights and Measures Department.

This Department has only recently come
into existence, and the primary standards
and the necessary fine balances and appli-
ances for the accurate manufacture and
checking of weights and measures have not
yet arrived from London. The work under-
taken in this department will be the manu-
facture of standard weights for checking the



MODERN HYDERABAD. I45

weights and measures used throughout the
Dominions, and the manufacture of weights
and measures for use by the public.

The Electricity Department.

This Department, which is still in its
infancy, owes its inception to Mr. R. Loraine
Gamlen, the energetic Mint Master. He
found that the power of the engines provided
by Sir George Casson Walker for the purposes
of minting was in excess of the requirements,
and he obtained from His Highness's govern-
ment sanction to start an electric supply for
the neighbourhood, using the surplus power
available in the Mint for driving the electric
machinery. First, the King Koti Palace and
the Residency were lighted by electricity ;
and then, when the Viceroy visited Hyder-
abad in September 1913, the Falaknama
Palace, the Bund and the City were lighted
in the same way. More machinery has been
bought, and, at the present time, the Mint
Master is in England, perfecting the arrange-
ments of the Electricity Department.



l, mh 10



CHAPTER XVIII.
Miscellaneous.

Mahomeclan and English Rule.

Needless to say, the things that in-
terested me most, while travelling in the
districts, were the differences that I noticed
there between Mahomedan and English rule.
I came to the conclusion that the former is
the most popular with Hindus, and chiefly
so because it interferes the least with their
customs and habits. In British India,
Hindus are always being hustled by energetic
young English civilians and " chartered
hands, " who want to have everything done
in a hurry and done according to their own
customs. But in His Highness's Dominions,
Hindus are not interfered with, unless they
do something very flagrant.

Now I feel sure that in British India the
Irregular Forces, which are of little use and
which cost His Highness's government an-
nually 23! lakhs of rupees, wornd long ago
have been abolished, and that the jagirdars
would, many years before this, have been



MODERN HYDERABAD. 147

shorn of such privileges as their own Law
Courts and prisons. The small jagirdars
are, it seems to me, the white elephant of the
Hyderabad State at the present time, for
they retard general progress and, in most
cases, take no interest in the education of
their ryots.

And I am not at all sure that an exces-
sive regard for privileges conferred in by-gone
ages is good for the masses. In fact I noticed
in the districts an inertia that I have not
found anywhere in British India. In vain
I looked for modern Hindu temples. The
ruins of old ones I found, but I saw few, if
any, Hindu temples that have been built
during the time of the Nizams. Even in
religion the Hindus appear to be apathetic
under Mahomedan rule. Mosques I saw
everywhere, but when I asked : — " Where
do the Hindus worship ? ' I was shewn
ruined temples on hills outside cities, or I was
told : — " The Hindus go to the Godavari —
their sacred river — to say their prayers."

Perhaps it is good for the Hindus to
be hustled. I do not know. Bombs are
unpleasant. I cannot imagine a Nizam riding
alone to meet a Wat Tyler, like Richard
the Second of England; yet without such



I48 MODERN HYDERABAD.

people as Wat Tyler where would England
be now ?

The Purdah System.

English people are wont to say that the
purdah system is at the root of all back-
wardness in India, and that, " the hope of
India lies in educating its women." I do not
care to argue this point, more especially in
the case of the Hyderabad State, where all
women — both Mahomedans and Hindus — of
the higher classes (with a few notable ex-
ceptions), live behind the curtain. We have
seen in the new census that Hindu working-
women in the Dominions are engaged in
almost every kind of business, and that they
show a marked aptitude for trade and possess
a keen money-making instinct. And we
have read in the education reports that
the schools for girls of the upper classes in
Hyderabad city are as good, if not better,
than similar places in British India. No
doubt, there is in the districts a very strong
prejudice against female education ; and the
census suggests that one reason for this
is the jealousy of Hindu and Mahomedan
men. " If a woman can write a letter, then
she may write a love-letter," says the census.



MODERN HYDERABAD. 149

One would like to hear what such people
as " Taj," the gifted authoress of " Zorah,"
and Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, the well-known
Hindu poetess of Hyderabad, think on these
subjects. At any rate, there is in the Hyder-
abad State no great army of prostitutes,
such as one finds all over Europe.

The Missionaries.

There are many missionaries in the
H}/derabad State, more, I think, than can
be found in any similar area in British India.
The greater number of them come from
America, and are in consequence, pushing
and energetic people. That missionaries are
doing good work in raising the lowest classes
in the social scale throughout His Highness's
Dominions there can be no doubt, and more
especially by their hospitals do they reach the
hearts of the so-called " outcasts " and gain
a lasting influence. There is in the Hyder-
abad State no Missionary Year Book, and
Methodists, Baptists and Wesleyans seem
to know little about anything further than
their own particular mission. So I will
briefly describe the largest mission in the
State, namely, the Wesley an Methodist Evan-
gelistic Mission at Medak. This mission began



150 MODERN HYDERABAD.

its work in 1887, when Medak was fifty
miles from any railway station, and its
remarkable success is due to the three pioneer
workers, the Rev. Charles Posnett, his sister,
Miss Posnett, and her friend, Miss Sara
Harris. When Mr. Posnett in 1887 applied
for a piece of land at Medak on which to
build " an outcast church," the govern-
ment of that period gave him the city dung-
hill ! Now he is a person whom the govern-
ment of to-day fully appreciates. And even
among the people whom he desired to help,
Mr. Posnett met with much opposition until
the doctor, Miss Posnett, and the hospital
nurse, Miss Sara Harris, had won the con-
fidence of the women of Medak by their
medical and surgical treatment. In 1903
a large Zenana Hospital was built, chiefly
with the help of Mr. Posnett's relations and
friends in England, and last year (1913),
831 in-patients and 13,800 out-patients were
treated in this hospital and 2,660 in the
village dispensaries round Medak. There are
now in the boarding schools of the Mission
113 boys and 125 girls, and in the 51 village
schools 701 children, and in the Theological
College, 41 students. A great deal of famine
relief work has been done by this mission,



MODERN HYDERABAD. 15 1

and most of the large buildings in the mission
compound were built during famines.

Among Mahomedans the missionaries
do not work, but among the lowest classes
of Hindus they make in the Hyderabad
State a yearly increasing number of con-
verts.

And it is not generally known that the
Indian Protestant bishop, who, two years
ago, was consecrated with so much pomp
in St. Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta, lives
in His Highness's Dominions. Most people
think that Bishop Azariah resides in British
India, but as a matter of fact he is at
Dornakal, in the Hyderabad State.

An impatient and zealous young Ameri-
can missionary made not long ago some
foolish remarks on His Highness's govern-
ment because he could not obtain, in hot
haste, a piece of land on which to build a
church. So it may be well to state that all
religions are treated alike in the Hyderabad
State, that churches, as well as mosques and
temples, there receive donations, and that
the delay in granting permission to erect
a religious edifice has its root in the fact
that His Highness's government makes no
religious favourites.



152 modern hyderabad.

The Nizamiah Observatory.

This observatory began with two large
telescopes and other instruments which were
presented to His Highness the late Nizam
by the late Nawab Zaffer Jung Bahadur ; and
owes its development to Mr. A. B. Chatwood,
B.sc, f.r.a.s., a.m.i.c.e., who was appointed
State astronomer in 1908. Having built,
organised, and equipped an observatory, Mr.
Chatwood undertook, with the consent of