II YDERABAD, in lat. 17° 21' 45" N., and long. 78° 30' 10" E., on the right bank of the river Musa, is the capital of an independent inland kingdom of the same name, in the centre of the Peninsula of India. The territory lies between lat. 15° 10' and 21° 41' N., and long. 40' to 81° 31' E., and has an area of 98,000 square miles, with a population of 11,250,000 ; and since the 15th century, it has 'been under Mahomedan rulers of the Bahmani, Kutub Shahi, and Azof Jahi dynasties, the second of whom ruled from the adjacent fortress of Golconda, and was over thrown by Aurangzeb, 1687. The Hyderabad country is in the table-land of the Dekhan, from 1250 to 1800 feet above the sea, and is surrounded by British provinces. It has been formed by the preceding and present dynasties out of several nationalities, viz. part of Gondwana on the N.E., Telingana on the E. and S.E., Maharastra on the N.W., and the Canarese or Karnatica speaking country on the S.W. and S. ; and the four languages of these races are current in their respective limits, that of the dominant Mahomedan race being the Urdu or Hindu stani, with Persian as the epistolary language of the court.
It comprehends the seats of some of the greatest and most powerful ancient sovereignties of the Dekhan ; Kalyan, the capital of the western Chalukya and Bijala Raya dynasties ; Devagiri or Deoghur, the capital of the Yadava ; Warangal, that of the Kakateya ; and the great Mahomedan principality of Kulburga, which subsequently split into the subordinate powers of Bijapur (the Adil Shahi), Ahmadnaggur (Nizam Shahi), Gol conda (Kutub Shahi), Berar (Imad Shahi), and of Beder (Birud Shahi). In the tract lying between the Mysore, Hyderabad, and the Mali ratta country, were several smaller chieftaincies, such as that of the Nawab of Banaganapilly, a Syud family in the east of the Ceded Districts ; the Pathan nawabs of Kurnool, on the-right bank of the Tumbudra river ; farther west, the Reddi chief of Gadwal; the Mahratta ruler of Sundur, one of the Ghorpara family ; the Kshatriya raja, Narapati of Anagunda, the representative descend ant of the great king Rama of Vijayanagar, who was overthrown by the combination of the Mahomedan kings of Golconda, Kulburga, llija tur, and Allinadnaggur ; the Pathan nawab of hhahpur, the Ghorpara chieftains of Canjander garli and Akalkoto ; and at Ghurguntah and Beder Sholapur aro the descendants of Pid Naik, a Beder soldier, to whom Aurangzcb granted a small territory in the Raichore Doab, for the aid given at the siege of Bijnpur.
The rulers of the reigning Asof Jahi dynasty have been :— 1. K.amr•od-Din, styled Asof Jab, Nizam- 1713-1748 ul-Mulk, subandar of tho Dekhan.
2. Nasir Jang, eldest son of Asof Jah, mur- ... dered by Pathans.
3. Muzafar Jang, grandson of Asof Jab, ... and nephew of Nasir Jang, killed during a mutiny of his troops.
4. Salabat Jang, third son of Asof Jab, 1761 deposed by his younger brother in 1761, and died in prison two years afterwards.
5. Nizam Ali, younger son of Asof Jab, . 1761.1803 6. Secunder Jah, son of Nizam Ali, . . 1803-1829 7. Nasir-ud-Dowla, son of Secunder Jab, . 1829-1857 8. Afzal-ud-Dowla, son of Nasir-ud-Dowla, 1857-1869 9. Mir Mahbub Ali Khan, Br., infant son 1869 (2i years) of Afzal-ud-Dowla.
The founder of the present dynasty was a officer of Aurangzeb. Ho was a Tumni noble, whose name was Chin Kilich Khan. He succeeded Daoud Khan in the government of the Dekhan. After various intrigues during the weak reigns of Ferokliair and of the Syuds, Mir IIasan Ali and Mir Abdallah, after the assassination of Ferokhsir in 1718, iu the reign of Muhammad Shah, Asof Jab, in 1720, when governor of Gujerat, revolted, overran Kandesh, and captured Asirgarh. He was subsequently appointed vizir, but, disgusted with the vicious courses of the emperor, he returned to the Dekhan, defeated 3fubaraz-ud-Dowla, and in 1724 re-established the Ilyderabad kingdom near Golconda, where the Kutub Shahi family had ruled till overthrown by Aurangzeb.