Part 3 -- End of an Order

--- title: Part 3 -- End of an Order date: 2021-04-09 tags: book, hydlit layout: page geometry: - top=2cm - bottom=2cm - left=2cm - right=2cm linkcolor: blue --- # Part 3: End of an Order ## Hyderabad: A Biography -- Narendra Luther ### A Unique Collection - **Content**: Talks about the 7th Nizam, and his ex-Premiere Yusuf Ali Khan, Salar Jung III. Yusuf began an impressive one-man art collection when he lost his premiership after just 2 years. City remodeled with the design of Sir M Viswesvarayya of Mysore. - Sravani - text - Shelly - titles play an important part in status: Rustam-e-Dauran, Arastu-e-Zaman, Sipah Salar, Asaf Jah, Muzaffar-ul-Mulk Wa-al-Mamalik, Nizam-ul-Mulk, Nizam-ud-Dowlah, Nawab Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur for the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad -- along with others, later - very dramatic - superior british attitudes - parallels made between Osman Ali and his father Mahboob - Yusuf was a generous figure as a collector -- supposedly bought even fake pieces to support sellers who needed it, pg 199 - When he died, many wanted to claim his collection but the govt intervened and turned his hereditary residence into a museum that still exists - can see a lot of pride in the continued eminence and prosperity of hyderabad by the way the author describes the various features of the city - Collection of impressive institutions and regions in the city as well -- museums, libraries, markets, universities, monuments, beautiful heritage -- lots of focus on how each of the elements of the collection makes it unique - suprisingly brushes over other noteworthy and commendabel developments, less importance given than art and the praise of others -- last paragraph (pg 203) talks about reforms in social sphere and public infrastructure ### The Masters of Verse - **Content**: Importance of mastery of pen in addition to sword -- among both the ruler and the rest of the court. Describes how it featured in courtly life. - Sravani - text - Shelly - the traditional patronage of poets became important with the fall of the mughal empire and lucknow and rampur courts -- magnet fot urdu poets - poetry composing and performing was an important part of the culture. Kings had tutors for this - great influence of Kishen pershad on the nizam - whimsical and generous portrayal of nizam wrt his love for poets - can begin to see how modern elements begin to pervade the traditional society -- not overtly shown, quite subtle and well done - despite generosity, mir's hypocrisy is also seen -- possessive about his tutors, prideful so tok no more corrections, and the salary never being repaid (pg 209), pg 210 on his 'secular poetry' - the flaws of poetry -- requires some strong emotion/impulse (injustice, deprivation, poverty, etc) which contradicts royalty, hence is felt inauthentic. hence, most of mir's better verses were in praise or love. - used verse of egotistical declaration that could not be done in prose -- could this be something noted in the book in general? - last 2 paras, pg 212, suddenly lose the complimentary tone, become more sardonic -- similar to prev chapter -- is the conclusion in each chapter like the author's true commentary? ("degenerate life") -- more realistic ### Chunnu Nawab and the 'Balishter' - **Content**: Chunnu Nawab was a tehsildar, and Imam Ali (or reverse?) was a barrister who became PM - Sravani - text - Shelly - British had a lot of influence on the 7th Nizam, especially after he decided to do away with a Premier during WWI - Chunnu Nawab was "a squat, fat, pompous person", Balishter (barrister/vakil) was Imam Ali - chunnu was condescending, blatantly (racist?) demeaning, superiority complex - use of accents -- lemnid == lemonade, balishter == barrister - contrast of corrupt, carefree Chunnu with the honest, diligent Imam - freedom struggle in british india was beginning to create echoes, though hyderabad itself was calm - Plural diversity and beauty of the city - euphemism about red-light district -- given in a couplet -- page 219 - genreal: vacillates between differnet narrative styles -- semi factual to praise to very factual/blunt -- inconsistent ### The Troubled Decades - **Content**: Political disturbance due to freedom struggle, various figures including university students. - Sravani - text - Shelly - Political activity forbidden, but now prevalent - breaking of the public into factions -- party which mimicked the muslim league - speeches of this league "ittehad" (by bahadur yar jung) influenced india as well the way indian activity influenced hyd pg 222 - jung was a shrewd political -- hindu majority with muslim rule -- made the muslim public also stakeholders with "I am the ruler" -- sovereignty in the muslim community, not just ruler pg 222 - forceful conversion to islam, gained power -- to much for the nizam (reduced ruler to mere symbol, and caused friction with britich with some of his words) - succeeded by kasim rizvi, a fanatic (despite saner party members wanting a more sober personality) -- conquered india by force and were born to rule -- created paramilitary razakars ("volunteers") modelled on hitler's brown shirts - no freedom of association so hyderabad political conferences all held outside state - muslims were united with hindus in eradicating the autocratic misrule and gaining freedom of press, assambly - general: author tries less to obfuscate his opinion as chronicle proceeds - awarenss about dicrimination spread, was being fought for - arya samaj not allowed kunds - hypocricy about communal orgs also noted - Hyderabad state congress -- responsible govt under nizam and asaf jahi dynasty - tried to avoid communal association - general: most factual tone when not taking about the rulers and their lives - Swami ramananda tirth championed Hindu rights pre and post annexation - various political movements, even in unis - conflict between the state nizam rule and the emerging political movements - again, digression on the beauty and harmony in hyd, pg 234 ### Nazar for the Nizam - **Content**: Abuse of Nizam'z power, and the practice of Nazar. - Sravani - text - Shelly - nizam earned coins through a mandatory practice of nazar - nazar: tribute to the mighty from the meek, gold coin called ashrafi and 4 rupees paid to nizam on 2 ids and bday - loses tone of reverence when talking about forceful inheritance of land pg 240 - pettiness of the nizam -- also his absolute authority ### 'Head Over Heart' - **Content**: Talks about Sarojini Naidu and then moves to 7th Nizam. Reference to how she told him he has a "mind" while his father had a "heart", then elaborates on his use of mind. - Sravani - text - Shelly - general: direct connect to lessons - dramatic way of stating atheism -- "did not belong to any religion" pg 243 - general: again, vacillation between overly dramatic and surprisingly euphemistic - very visibly favourable opinion of her - mind made nizam vv rich -- nazar, miserliness, frugality, etc - biscuit of nizam -- osmania biscuit?? connect to modern hyd -- pg 248 - contradiction of a person -- greedy for money, frugal but generous; proud but humble; possessive; liberal but not ### 'Rabbit in a Hutch' - **Content**: Sir Mirza Ismail, new PM, was called the demolisher for the penchant for renovation. The atmosphere was found to be oppressive by many. Talk about the imminent independence of India while Razvi puts in place his own puppet government while advising the Nizam (who becomes the 'rabbit in the hutch'). - Sravani - text - Shelly - Found hyd too oppressive and resigned - called the muslims to opposing, called their course suicidal - again, praise on cosmopolitan hyd - growing hostility and dissent - razvi growing more aggressive, directing the nizam - chhattari also resigned in disgust about the situation ad attitude in hyd - razvi virtually takes over, hyd is terrorised ### Dissent and Sanity - **Content**: Activities of separation and unification by the two sides of the conflict. Mostly tells the stories about the actions of the Muslim dissenters. Hates on the Razakars. - Sravani - text - Shelly - mulsims also unhappy with the situation -- guilty conscience - importance of poetry (art) still present -- mention of tagore and his song "ekla chalo" - the god krishna compared to a prophet on janamashtmi, in an urdu address full of references in arabic, persian - cites, elaborates verses from the quran to justify - by akbar yar jung, who was only saved from punishment due to his friendship with nizam and shad - treatment of the activists and other promoters of equality was condemned, razakars also not supported - lots of references here and in earlier chapter about "warnings proving prophetic" - blinders about fairness of nizam slowly being removed -- pg 266 - author seems to have no respect for razakars -- always "luckiyl they excaped" or "luckily they were saved" or describing the atrocities they committed, never any praise ### The Short March - **Content**: Events leading up to police action, and the socio-political climate in Hyderabad at the time. - Sravani - text - Shelly - Razvi fanning the flames of communalism, hatred, aggression, violence - tensions rising in city for the first time in 3 centuries - loss of british military force, landlocked by india, smuggling of weaponry - govt of india strenghtened economic blockade - many of the acts by the nizam were taken as hostile acts by delhi - realised hyd would not accede to india or rule responsibly, physical action reqd - sarcastic -- pg 279, "The Indian army was not trained to meet such ingenious tactics!" about crackers tied to donkey's tail - sarcasm in general is growing in narrative voice - "fool's paradise", pg 280 - fights happen -- polica action - this time, the end has different tone than usual -- liek a eulogy to razvi, matching his end as shown in the narrative content too ### The Debacle - **Content**: india wins, nizam rule breaks -- surrender - Sravani - text - Shelly - hyd not able to sustain in police action - nizam does not seem to comprehend the gravity of the situation - nizam finally concious of hypocrisy when called on air - dramatic at points of focus, pivotal moments like the surrender pg 289-290 - moves from factual to human, lots of quotes ### Hope, Despair, Hope - **Content**: india takes over - Sravani - text - Shelly - cultural contrast - alien takeover - retaliation against razakars - now muslims prosecuted, moved to outskirts for safety - revrse discrimination in the admin - dramatic -- personification of hyd pg 296 - hyd praise -- nice people, charming, polite, graceful - activists from earlier show up - many muslims left to pakistan -- land of the pure, app - dramatic end -- contrast from earlier, now factual start to dramatic end ### An Escape and a Sentence - **Content**: Escape of Laik Ali, last PM of Nizam. Sentence of Razvi fro 3 cases - Sravani - text - Shelly - Ali escaped house arrest - Razvi security was tightened - Razvi moved to another jailed to prevent bias toward helping him - on release from pune nobody wanted to associate with him - plans to move to pakistan became public, safety was threatened, arrived safety but a nobody, last message in india was of hatred, his energy had died ### A Call to Arms - **Content**: by the communists who wanted to overthrow the system, 3 important people - Sravani - text - Shelly - not all marxists were happy with the new social order -- still orwellian animal farm, just exchanged places of the animals -- exploitation of masses still present - state congress, communists wanted democracy -- communists wanted to completely overthrow the system, non violent congress too mild - congress awoke remainign public -- industry, students, intelligentsia, peasantry - women participated -- spies, etc - young people - organised military like force - successful attack against police electrified the atmosphere -- 14 hrs many incidents -- power of people - violent retribution - destruction, ransacking, killing razakars - many villages "liberated", reforms implemented - makhdoom mohiuddin was a prominent figure -- one of 3 main - some majpr achievements due to all this - seeds sown during armed struggle, blazed a trail not only in hyd but all india - jamaluddin -- humour -- no end to jokes -- even posthumous humour -- hyd would become the humour capital of india