Mir Osman Ali Khan ( Born on 6 April 1886 Dated 1 Rajab 1303 H) – (Died on February 24 1967. Dated 14 zul qa’dah 1386 H) was the last Nizam (ruler) of the Princely State of Hyderabad, the largest princely state in British India. The second son of Mahbub Ali Khan, Asaf Jah VI and Amat-uz-Zahra Begum at Purani Haveli also known as Masarrat Mahal palace. He was educated privately and reportedly became fluent in Urdu, Persian, Arabic and English. Under Nawab Muhammad Ali Beg he received court ethics and military training.

Mir Osman Ali Khan was proclaimed Nizam VII under the supervision of Nawab Shahab Jung, a minister of Police and Public works. He ascended the throne on 29 August 1911, at the age of 25.   On 18 September 1911,  the crowning ceremony was official celebrated at Chowmahalla Palace. His coronation Durbar (court) included the prime minister of Hyderabad, Kishen Pershad, Colonel Alexander Pinhey (1911–1916) British resident of Hyderabad, the Paigah, and the distinguished nobles of the state and the head of principalities under Nizam domain. Nizam (ruler) of Hyderabad princely state in India in the period 1911–48 and its constitutional president until 1956. He was styled as His Exalted Highness-(H.E.H.) the Nizam of Hyderabad, and was one of the wealthiest individuals of all time. On 22 February 1937, Time featured him on its cover as the world’s richest person.

Encouraging financial reform, he led the state of Hyderabad to an enviable credit position, it issued its own currency notes and coins and acquired ownership of a major railway network. In 1918 he patronized the founding of Osmania University, Hyderabad. Unlike some neighboring princes, he maintained the feudal character of his state and showed little interest in the increasing voice of the Hindu majority among his people, although he spent considerable sums to improve their living conditions. In World War II his the state-provided naval vessels and two Royal Air Force squadrons, in 1946 he was awarded the Royal Victorian Chain. He also donated Rs 1 million for the Banaras Hindu University, Rs. 500,000 for the Aligarh Muslim University, and 300,000 for the Indian Institute of Science.

Supported by the Majlis Ittehad al-Muslimin (movement for Muslim unity) with its private army, the Raẕākārs, Osman Ali refused to submit to Indian sovereignty in 1947 when Britain withdrew. Appealing to the special alliance he claimed with the British, he placed his case for the full independence of his state before the United Nations. He rejected an Indian ultimatum that he surrender his authority but, in September 1948, was obliged to yield to Indian troops. He was made president (rajpramukh) of the state but had to accept the advice of Cabinet ministers responsible to an elected legislature until his state was absorbed by neighbouring states in the 1956 general reorganization of boundaries. after which the state was partitioned and became part of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and Maharashtra. He then lived in splendid retirement with 3 wives, 42 concubines, 200 children, 300 servants, and aging retainers, including a private army. He provided pensions for some 10,000 princelings and serfs of his former empire and aided Muslim refugees from Palestine. He was created Knight Grand Commander of the Star of India in 1911 and Knight Grand Cross of the British Empire in 1917.

He was known as the “Architect of modern Hyderabad” . During the next 37 years of his tenure as Nizam, extending till 1948, he established many public institutions such as the Osmania General Hospital and the State Bank of Hyderabad and also commissioned the construction of the Begumpet Airport and the Hyderabad High Court. In 1908, three years before the Nizam’s coronation, the city of Hyderabad was struck by a major flood that resulted in the death of thousands. The Nizam, on the advice of Sir M. Visvesvaraya, ordered the construction of two large reservoirs—the Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar—to prevent another flood.

In 1918, he established the Osmania University, India’s first university to have Urdu as the medium of instruction. The ‘bold’ move drew the attention of Nobel Laureate-poet Rabindranath Tagore, who applauded it and declared that he was overjoyed to see the day when Indians are “freed from the shackles of a foreign language and our education becomes naturally accessible to all our people”.

The Nizam founded agricultural research in the Marathwada region of Hyderabad State with the establishment of the Main Experimental Farm in 1918 in Parbhani. During his rule, agricultural education was available only at Hyderabad; crop research centres for sorghum, cotton, and fruits existed in Parbhani. After independence, the Indian government developed this facility further and renamed Marathwada Agriculture University on 18 May 1972

In 1951, he not only started the construction of Nizam Orthopedic hospital . Nizams Institute of Medical Sciences (NIMS)) and gave it to the government on a 99-year lease for a monthly rent of just Re.1,he also donated 14,000 acres (5,700 ha) of land from his personal estate to Vinobha Bhave’s Bhoodan movement for re-distribution among landless farmers

And though he had been averse to joining the Indian union, in the aftermath of the 1965 war with Pakistan, the Nizam is said to have donated a record 5,000 kg of gold (Rs 1,600 crore in today’s valuation), to the National Defence Fund. While there are conflicting accounts about this, Nawab Najaf Ali Khan, one of the grandsons of the seventh Nizam reaffirmed that Osman Ali donated the said amount. He was given the title of “Faithful Ally of the British Crown” after World War One because of his financial contribution to the British Empire’s war effort

Contriibution Towards  educational institutions

He also donated Rs 1 million for the Banaras Hindu University, Rs. 500,000 for the Aligarh Muslim University and 300,000 for the Indian Institute of Science.

Donations towards Hindu temples

The Nizam donated Rs. 82,825 to the Yadagirigutta temple at Bhongir, Rs. 29,999 to the Sita Ramachandraswamy temple, Bhadrachalam[48] and Rs. 8,000 to the Tirupati Balaji Temple.

He also donated Rs. 50,000 towards the re-construction of Sitarambagh temple located in the old city of Hyderabad,[48] and bestowed a grant of 100,000 Hyderabadi rupees towards the reconstruction of Thousand Pillar Temple.

After hearing about the Golden Temple of Amritsar through Maharaja Ranjit SinghMir Osman Ali Khan started providing it with yearly grants.

Donation towards the compilation of the Holy Mahabharata

In 1932, there was a need for money for the publication of the Holy Mahabharata by the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute located in Pune. A formal request was made to Mir Osman Ali Khan who granted Rs. 1000 per year for a period of 11 years.

He also gave Rs 50,000 for the construction of the institute’s guest house, which stands today as the Nizam Guest House.

Nizam invested 425,000 grams (425 kg) of gold in the National Defence Gold Scheme, floated in October 1965 with a 6.5% interest rate, to tide India over during the economic crisis.

In 1947, the Nizam made a gift of diamond jewels, including a tiara and necklace, to Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of her marriage. The brooches and necklace are still worn by the Queen and the necklace is known as the Nizam of Hyderabad necklace.

Personal life

The Nizam with his heir apparent and grandson Mukarram Jah

The Nizam lived at King Kothi Palace—bought from a nobleman—from age 13 until his death. He never moved to Chowmahalla Palace, even after his accession to the throne.

During his 37-year rule, electricity was introduced, and railways, roads and airports were developed.[citation needed] Unlike his father, he was not interested in fine clothing or hunting. Rather, his hobbies included poetry and writing Urdu ghazals.

He revered his mother and visited her every day she was alive; he used to visit her grave almost every day after she died.

The Nizam continued to stay at the King Kothi Palace until his death. He used to issue firmans on inconsequential matters in his newspaper, the Nizam Gazette.

He died on Friday, 24 February 1967. In his will, he asked to buried in Masjid-e Judi, a mosque where his mother was buried, that faced King Kothi Palace. The government declared state mourning on 25 February 1967, the day when he was buried. State government offices remained closed as a mark of respect while the National Flag of India was flown at half-mast on all the government buildings throughout the state.

 The Nizam Museum documents state :

“The streets and pavements of the city were littered with the pieces of broken glass bangles as an incalculable number of women broke their bangles in mourning, which Telangana women usually do as per Indian customs on the death of a close relative.

“The Nizam’s funeral procession was the biggest non-religious, non-political meeting of people in the history of India till that date.”

Millions of people of all religions from different parts of the state entered Hyderabad in trains, buses and bullocks for a last glimpse of their king in a coffin in the King Kothi Palace Camp in Hyderabad. The crowd was so uncontrollable that barricades were installed alongside the road to enable people to move in a queue. D. Bhaskara Rao, chief curator, of the Nizam’s Museum stated that an estimated one million (1 million) people were part of the procession

The titles given in his life time:

1886–1911: Nawab Bahadur Mir Osman Ali Khan Siddqi.

 1911–1912: His Highness Rustam-i-Dauran, Arustu-i-Zaman, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VII, Muzaffar ul-Mamaluk, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Sir Osman ‘Ali Khan Siddqi Bahadur, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Nizam of Hyderabad, GCSI

1912–1917: Colonel His Highness Rustam-i-Dauran, Arustu-i-Zaman, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VII, Muzaffar ul-Mamaluk, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Sir Osman ‘Ali Khan Siddqi Bahadur, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Nizam of Hyderabad, GCSI

1917–1918: Colonel His Highness Rustam-i-Dauran, Arustu-i-Zaman, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VII, Muzaffar ul-Mamaluk, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Sir Osman ‘Ali Khan Siddqi Bahadur, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Nizam of Hyderabad, GCSI, GBE

1918–1936: Lieutenant-General His Exalted Highness Rustam-i-Dauran, Arustu-i-Zaman, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VII, Muzaffar ul-Mamaluk, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Sir Osman ‘Ali Khan Siddqi Bahadur, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Faithful Ally of the British Government, Nizam of Hyderabad, GCSI, GBE

1936–1941: Lieutenant-General His Exalted Highness Rustam-i-Dauran, Arustu-i-Zaman, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VII, Muzaffar ul-Mamaluk, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Sir Osman ‘Ali Khan Siddqi Bahadur, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Faithful Ally of the British Government, Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar, GCSI, GBE

1941–1967: General His Exalted Highness Rustam-i-Dauran, Arustu-i-Zaman, Wal Mamaluk, Asaf Jah VII, Muzaffar ul-Mamaluk, Nizam ul-Mulk, Nizam ud-Daula, Nawab Mir Sir Osman ‘Ali Khan Siddqi Bahadur, Sipah Salar, Fath Jang, Faithful Ally of the British Government, Nizam of Hyderabad and Berar, GCSI, GBE.