Origins

Hyderabadis in Canada trace their origins to the historic state of Hyderabad, which in 1950 lost its independence and, six years later, ceased to exist as a distinct territorial entity. Located in the heart of the Indian subcontinent, Hyderabad covered 212,870 square kilometres, had a population of 18.6 million people in 1951, and was culturally and linguistically complex. About 80 percent of the population were Hindus, who were engaged primarily in the agrarian sector. The remaining inhabitants were mostly Muslims of both the Sunni and Shiite orientation, who formed the country’s ruling stratum and socio-economic elite. Despite their religious differences, Hindus and Muslims from all social strata practised indigenous rituals which over the years had evolved into a combination that characterized Hyderabadi cultural distinctiveness. There was also a Parsi (Zoroastrian) minority engaged in business and the professions, as well as Christians who were either part of the British Residency or of the Protestant overseas missionary movement or British wives of Hyderabadi aristocrats. The main languages spoken by the population of Hyderabad were Dakhni (a local version of Urdu) and Telugu. The languages of the court were Persian and Urdu, although English was widely used as well, in particular among the aristocratic social stratum.

Although Hyderabad territory has always been inhabited primarily by Hindus, it was under Muslim rule for many centuries. Muslim forces first invaded the area at the end of the thirteenth century and in 1347 established the independent kingdom of Golconda under the Bahmani dynasty. In 1687 Golconda was incorporated into the Mughal Empire, whose Muslim rulers eventually appointed a viceroy to rule the land with the title Nizam-ul-Mulk (Regulator of the State). In 1724 the Nizam declared his independence from the disintegrating Mughal state and established the Asaf Jahi dynasty that was to rule what came to be known as Hyderabad until its demise in the second half of the twentieth century.

During the eighteenth-century struggle between Great Britain and France for control of the Indian subcontinent following the decline of the Mughal Empire, the Nizams sided with the British and remained within their larger political sphere. Hyderabad nevertheless continued to function as an independent feudal state. In the course of the nineteenth century, its Muslim ruling elite (known as Nawabs/Nabobs) amassed incredible wealth in precious stones and large landed estates and lived a luxurious lifestyle. The country issued its own currency, functioned as a tax-free zone, and promoted the arts and sciences, including the establishment in 1918 of Osmania University.

When in 1947 the British were forced to leave the subcontinent and it was partitioned into the independent states of India and Pakistan, Hyderabad’s ruling elite favoured remaining an independent principality. But, surrounded territorially by India, Hyderabad was pressured to join the Indian Union. Negotiations between the two countries failed to end in agreement, and in 1948 Indian troops invaded Hyderabad, which two years later was made a state of India. Initially, the ruling Nizam was left in place alongside Hyderabad’s first parliament, but in 1956, as part of India’s administrative reorganization, Hyderabad ceased to exist; its territory was partitioned primarily between Andra Pradesh (including the capital city of Hyderabad) and Bombay, later Maharashtra. That same year, the Nizam abdicated. Finally, in 1972 all princely offices were abolished and the great landed estates confiscated, thereby effectively ending traditional Hyderabadi society and its aristocratic way of life.