The Nizams, the British and the Politics of Power

The story of the British Residency at Hyderabad is not only one of an opulent mansion, but also that of a political powerhouse. For over 140 years it was the official residence of successive British Residents, men who were not just witnesses of empire, but who actively shaped it. They stood, in the words of the historian Michael Fisher, ‘at the cutting edge of British expansion’ and were the ‘central yet slender thread that bound Hyderabad to the British Government of India’.1

Originally agents of the East India Company, the Residents evolved into powerful representatives of the British Crown and were virtually de-facto rulers – the new policy-makers of the princely state of Hyderabad. Between 1779 and 1947 Hyderabad had 54 Residents, in a chain unbroken for 168 years. Under them, the British influence on the city was not merely political but also cultural and social.

The British Residency building became the visual symbol of power and a monument that dominated the skyline of Hyderabad. Its presence introduced a second node of supremacy in the built fabric of the city, rivalling that of the Nizam of Hyderabad, and swung the direction of urban growth to the north, away from the walled Asaf Jahi capital that was situated south of the river Musi.

In this book a story spanning two and a quarter centuries will be told of the people, places and politics influenced by one magnificent edifice. The first five chapters, covering its construction, its design, its evolution and its historical significance, are followed by an account of the major 21st-century restoration and the role the building continues to play in the modern Indian context.

The story has its inceptions in the intrigues of the Mughal court. None of the characters central to that plot could have envisaged the dramatic events that were about to unfold.

A Shift in the Wind

‘The star of destiny shines on the forehead of your son,’ exclaimed the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb (1658–1707) to a leading nobleman, Mir Shahbuddin Ghaziuddin Khan Feroz Jung. These words were prophetic, for the young boy, Mir Qamaruddin Khan, went on to establish a kingdom that would long outlast the mighty Mughal dynasty itself.

The death of Aurangzeb in 1707 marked the end of the era of the great Mughals. As the central government began to lose authority, three major provinces broke away between 1717 and 1724: Bengal, Awadh and Hyderabad. These states were carved out of the subas or provinces of the vast Empire, and their founders had served as the viceroys of these provinces. Of the three, only one would survive until Indian independence: Hyderabad State, established by Mir Qamaruddin Khan in 1724.2

A born leader, Mir Qamaruddin developed all his father’s talents for war and diplomacy. In time he was made the Mughal viceroy of the six subas of the Deccan and was given the Mughal title Nizam ul-Mulk Asaf Jah. Although he never

‘Great House’, as mentioned in the 1797 sentry positions, was constructed by William, although to a poor quality. In a letter to his brother in August 1799, James wrote:

The upper storey you built to the house at the Residency is now scarcely habitable, as it leaks in all parts so that I am obliged to proof it to prevent it falling in on the lower storey, which itself gives strong symptoms of decay. I have been for these two or three months past patching up what the rains have caused to moulder away, but this patchwork is neither durable, comfortable nor creditable, and as I cannot suppose that it is wished that my accommodations should be either uncomfortable or uncreditable, it must end in my sending in an estimate.16

James Kirkpatrick was an aesthete and his correspondence with his family, colleagues and friends demonstrates an appreciation and understanding of architecture and landscape, both European and Indian.17

Initial

East and west rooms are rectangular in plan

Possible line of building on the first floor; walls visible in lower ground floor below

Bifurcated dog-leg staircase

Extension to Lower Ground Floor

Construction joints visible

Extension to Upper Ground Floor

Construction joints visible

Rectangular east and west rooms become oval

Addition of staircase

Portico extended: New dimensions match durbar hall

Metal ties from Corinthian columns to durbar hall external wall

Twinned Ionic columns added in the durbar hall

Construction joints along south wall

West wing added

Construction joints along south wall

East wing added

New staircase staircase at 20 Portman Square and the staircase at Hyderabad, where a single flight of stairs divides in the middle and continues in two curved sweeps, with recesses in the walls for statuary. Adam’s staircase is lit by a glass dome, whereas the one at Hyderabad has windows on the upper storey and a small skylight at the apex of the dome. The treatment of light renders the places different in appearance and experience, and such a large glass structure would not have been practical in the climatic conditions of the Deccan. Davies also compares the staircase to that by William Kent (1685–1748) at 44 Berkeley Square. However, Davies writes, ‘The Hyderabad interiors are more plainly treated though none the less creditably executed by native craftsmen.’

The Residency’s magnificent staircase also bears a resemblance to that at Attingham Park. The latter building, completed in 1780 to the designs of George Steuart (1730–1806), has been compared with Carlton House. In 1805, John Nash (1752–1835) intervened on Steuart’s original and installed a new staircase at Attingham as he designed a Picture Gallery in the centre of the house where Steuart’s original staircase had been. Nash’s staircase bears a striking resemblance to those at Carlton House and at the Hyderabad Residency, where it appears a similar solution was used when the interior was rearranged. Nash was familiar with Holland’s royal commissions and had succeeded Holland as the Prince Regent’s architect. He later advised the Prince (by then George IV) to demolish Carlton House and reused some of Holland’s Carlton House features at Buckingham Palace.

Similarities abound between the neoclassical manor houses of Britain and the Residency at Hyderabad in their layout, design and details. In Hyderabad, as in Britain, they were designed to showcase wealth and power both within and without, to inspire awe and establish position. In both continents, they achieved their object.

The primary difference between the two lay in the purpose of construction. At the Residency, the British created a new architecture that symbolised power as they knew it. This was the first step towards the imperial vision. At Hyderabad, as in the other princely states, the only role of the Nizam and his subjects was that of spectators. Ironically, it was the Nizam who had funded this building activity and it was constructed on his land.

Cementing this vision was the fact that the British primarily used elements of classical architecture as precedents. For British designers in India, it was ancient Rome that symbolised imperial power, and this influence was to be transplanted as their Imperial vision for India.

The structures they constructed were symbolic of this authority. The British rejected the vernacular Indian style, with its open courtyards and verandahs within and without, despite there being a precedent for such structures in the Residency grounds. Instead,