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The Asaf Jahi Nizams were the last and longest-reigning of the Deccan dynasties — rulers of Hyderabad from 1724 until 1948. Founded by a Mughal viceroy who made himself sovereign as the empire decayed, the dynasty governed the largest and wealthiest princely state in India, and presided over the final flowering of the Dakhni world: the maturity of Urdu, the composite Ganga-Jamuni culture of Hyderabad, and a vast programme of modern institutions raised under its last great Nizam.
A viceroy becomes a sovereign
Mir Qamar-ud-din Khan turns the Mughal viceroyalty of the Deccan into an independent throne
The dynasty was founded by Mir Qamar-ud-din Khan, a great Mughal noble appointed viceroy of the Deccan with the title Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asaf Jah. As the Mughal empire fractured after the death of Aurangzeb, the Nizam consolidated his own power, and his victory at the battle of Shakar Kheda in 1724 secured his autonomous rule over the Deccan. Though he never formally renounced Mughal sovereignty, from 1724 he governed as an independent prince — founding the line of the Nizams of Hyderabad.
The court settles at Hyderabad
The Qutb Shahi city becomes the seat of the Nizams and the capital of the Dakhni world
The early Nizams ruled from Aurangabad, but the seat of the dynasty soon settled at Hyderabad — the city the Qutb Shahis had founded a century before. Under the Asaf Jahis, Hyderabad became the unrivalled capital of the Dakhni cultural world: a city of Urdu poetry and refined etiquette, of Deccani cuisine, and of a composite Ganga-Jamuni civilisation in which Hindu and Muslim, Telugu and Urdu lived intertwined.
The Nizams and the Company
An early and enduring alliance with the British carries the state through the colonial century
The Nizams allied early with the rising British power. Under Nizam Ali Khan, Asaf Jah II, Hyderabad entered the Subsidiary Alliance in 1798, becoming the foremost of Britain's princely allies in India. The arrangement cost the state much of its sovereignty in foreign affairs but preserved the dynasty and its territories through the upheavals of the nineteenth century, and Hyderabad endured as the largest and richest of the princely states.
The age of Mir Osman Ali Khan
The seventh Nizam, once reckoned the richest man in the world, builds the modern city
The dynasty's modern apogee came under its seventh and last ruling Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan (r. 1911–1948), for a time reputed the wealthiest man in the world. After the catastrophic Musi flood of 1908 he remade Hyderabad as a modern capital — founding Osmania University, the first in India to teach in Urdu, together with Osmania General Hospital, the State Central Library, the High Court, and the great dams of Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar. His reign was the high noon of Hyderabadi institutional and architectural achievement.
The end of the princely state
A year after independence, Hyderabad is integrated into the Indian Union
At Indian independence in 1947, the Nizam sought to keep Hyderabad independent rather than accede to the new dominion. The standoff ended in September 1948 with Operation Polo, the Indian army's brief 'Police Action', after which Hyderabad State was integrated into the Indian Union. Mir Osman Ali Khan remained as Rajpramukh, ceremonial head of the new state, and the 224-year sovereignty of the Asaf Jahis came to an end.
The last flowering of the Dakhni world
Urdu, the institutions of Osman Ali Khan, and the living culture of Hyderabad
The Asaf Jahis shaped the Deccan that exists today. They presided over the maturity of Urdu as the language of Hyderabad, endowed the city with the universities, hospitals, libraries and museums — among them the incomparable Salar Jung collection assembled by their prime ministers — that still anchor its public life, and nurtured the cuisine, the courtesy and the composite culture for which Hyderabad is known. In them, the long history of the Deccan sultanates reached its final and most enduring chapter.
The Asaf Jahi Nizams in dates
- 1724Mir Qamar-ud-din Khan, Mughal viceroy of the Deccan bearing the title Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah, wins the battle of Shakar Kheda and secures autonomous rule — founding the line of the Nizams of Hyderabad.
- 1763Nizam Ali Khan, Asaf Jah II, moves the permanent capital from Aurangabad to Hyderabad — the city the Qutb Shahis had founded over a century before — which becomes the Asaf Jahi seat for the remainder of the dynasty.
- 1798Nizam Ali Khan, Asaf Jah II, enters the Subsidiary Alliance with the British East India Company, securing the state's territories and becoming the foremost of Britain's princely allies in India.
- c. 18th–19th c.Under Asaf Jahi patronage Hyderabad becomes the unrivalled capital of the Dakhni world: Urdu poetry, refined etiquette, Deccani cuisine, and a composite Ganga-Jamuni civilisation flourish across the largest and richest princely state in India.
- 1908The catastrophic Musi flood devastates Hyderabad; the seventh Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan, who accedes in 1911, uses the reconstruction as the occasion to remake the city as a modern capital.
- 1911–1948Mir Osman Ali Khan, for a time reputedly the wealthiest man in the world, founds Osmania University — the first in India to teach in Urdu — together with Osmania General Hospital, the State Central Library, and the High Court.
- c. 1920s–1930sThe great dams of Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar are completed; Hyderabad's infrastructure and institutional programme reaches the high noon of the Asaf Jahi achievement.
- 1947India achieves independence; the Nizam seeks to preserve Hyderabad as an independent state rather than accede to the Indian dominion.
- Sept. 1948Operation Polo — the Indian army's 'Police Action' — ends the standoff; Hyderabad State is integrated into the Indian Union, bringing 224 years of Asaf Jahi sovereignty to a close.
- Post-1948Mir Osman Ali Khan serves as Rajpramukh (ceremonial head) of the new state; the Salar Jung collection and the institutions of his reign remain anchors of Hyderabad's public life.
- LegacyThe Asaf Jahis presided over the final flowering of the Dakhni world — the maturity of Urdu, the Ganga-Jamuni composite culture, and the universities, hospitals, and museums that define modern Hyderabad.