SECTION- A 2. Analyse the rise and nature of Satavahana state. 20
In the north-western Deccan on the ruins of the Mauryan empire arose the kingdom of the Satavahanas in the first century B.C., with its centre at Pratishtana (modern Paithan in Maharashtra). The Puranas speak only of the Andhra rule and not of the Satavahana rule. On the other hand the name Andhra does not occur in the Satvahana inscriptions. There is a lot of controversy regarding the original home of the Satavahanas. The kings represented in epigraphic records are mentioned in the Puranas as Andhras, Andhra – bhrityah and Andhrajatiyah. The Aitareya Brahmana speaks of them as the degenerate sons of Visvamitra. Pliny the Elder refers to the Andhras as a powerful race which supplied the king with an army of 1, 00,000 infantry, 2,000 cavalry and 1,000 elephants. The Satavahanas were also called/the Andhra dynasty, which has led to the assumption that they originated in the Andhra region, the delta of the Krishna and Godavari rivers on the east coast, from where they moved westwards up the Godavari river, finally establishing their power in the west during the general political confusion on the breaking up of the Mauryan empire. A contrary opinion has also been put forward that the family originated in the west and extended its control to the east coast, finally giving its name, Andhra, to this region. Since the earliest inscriptions of the Satavahanas are found in the Western Deccan, the later view may be correct. The Andhras held a position of importance as early as the Mauryan period, since they are specifically mentioned by Asoka amongst the tribal people in his empire.
Satavahana Administration: The Satavahana coins, inscriptions and literature are the rich source of our knowledge about their administrative system. In this period the South was ruled over by the monarchies. King was the highest official of the Government and his office was hereditary. They did not assume high sounding titles. Similarly, the Satavahana rulers did not believe in divine rights of a king and they carried administration in accordance with the directives of the Dharma Shastras and the social customs. The king himself led his armies in the battle-field and was commander-in-chief of his forces. There was also a council of ministers to aid and advise him for carrying out the administration properly. The king was the head of the Government as well as the protector to his people. The
Satavahana kings regarded their subjects as their own children and always looked after their welfare.
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5. Discuss the nature of the autonomous state of Hyderabad under Nizams. 20
The Nizam-ul-Mulk of Hyderabad, popularly known as the Nizam of Hyderabad, was a monarch of the Hyderabad State, now divided into Telangana state, Hyderabad-Karnataka region of Karnataka and Marathwada region of Maharashtra. Nizam, shortened from Nizam-ul-Mulk, meaning Administrator of the Realm, the title of the sovereigns of Hyderabad State, was the premier Prince of India, since 1724, belonging to the Asaf Jah dynasty. The Asaf Jah Dynasty was founded by Mir Qamar-ud-Din Siddiqi, a viceroy of the Deccan under the Mughal Empire from 1713 to 1721. He intermittently ruled after Aurangzeb's death in 1707. In 1724, Mughal control lapsed, and Asaf Jah declared himself independent in Hyderabad. Following the decline of the Mughal power, the region of Deccan saw the rise of Maratha Empire. The Nizam himself saw many invasions by the Marathas in the 1720s, which resulted in the Nizam paying a regular tax (Chauth) to the Marathas. The major battles fought between the Marathas and the Nizam include Palkhed, Bhopal, Rakshasbhuvan, and Kharda, in all of which the Nizam lost. Following the conquest of Deccan by Bajirao I and the imposition of chauth by him, Nizam remained a tributary of the Marathas for all intent and purposes. In 1805, after the British victory in the Second Anglo-Maratha War, Nizam of Hyderabad came under the protection of the British East India Company., In 1903 the Berar region of the state was separated and merged into the Central Provinces of British India, to form the Central Provinces and Berar. In 1947, at the time of the partition of India, Britain offered the 565 princely states in the subcontinent the options of acceding to either India or Pakistan, or remaining independent. Hyderabad was the largest and most prosperous state of all princely states in India. It covered 82,698 square miles (214,190 km2) of fairly homogeneous territory and had a population of roughly 16.34 million people (as per the 1941 census), of which a majority (85%) was Hindu. Hyderabad State had its own army, airline, telecommunication system, railway network, postal system, currency and radio broadcasting service. In spite of the overwhelming Hindu majority, Hindus were severely under-represented in government, police and the military. Of 1765 officers in the State Army, 1268 were Muslims, 421 were Hindus, and 121 others were Christians, Parsis and Sikhs. Of the officials drawing a salary between Rs.600-1200 per month, 59 were Muslims, 5 were Hindus and 38 were of other religions. The Nizam and his nobles, who were mostly Muslims, owned 40% of the total land in the state.
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