 ADMINISTRATIVE OFFICES OF THE NIZAMS OF HYDERABAD (DAFTARS)
“Daftar” means administrative unit, an office (Persian and Urdu Language) As in the case of today’s systems of government, the administration of the Nizams also rested on a network of Dartars in the early Asaf Jahi period had its roots in the era of Mughal rule in the Deccan. After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 Mughal empire declined. Nizam-ul- Mulk Asaf Jah became the viceroy of the Deccan for the third and last time in 1724A.D., and held the post till his death in 1748. During this period , the supremacy of the centre was at its lowest ebb, and provincial administrations had begun to detach themselves from what was left of the centralised administrative system. Even though central influence over the provinces was paling rapidly, the Mughal administrative systems based on the infrastructure of the Daftars continued in the Deccan. There were fourteen Daftars during the early Asaf Jahi period. The records of Daftars consist of administrative and executive orders, correspondence, files, compilations of official information, sanads (certificates) etc. The records of old daftars are mostly in Persian, some are in Urdu. These were in the custody of certain Jagirdar families in Hyderabad. These families received solid grants of Jagir ( the government revenues of a tract of land assigned with powers to administer), cash for the maintenance of records. The posts of Jagirdars were designated as Daftardars and were hereditary.
1. DAFTAR - i - DIWANI
Daftar – i- Diwani, was the first Daftar of the Asaf Jahi period, came into existence in 1721 A.D., and was entrusted with the civil and military administration of the provinces of Aurangabad, Berar, Bijapur and Burhanpur. This Daftar exercised supervision over all such matters related to finance, revenue, settlement, accounts, police and judicial affairs, marketing, grants of cash or lands, appointments, postings, transfers and the dismissal of government personnel. The treaties concluded between the Nizams and the Marathas and Nizams with the English are also available. This Daftar, which formed the pivot of the administration and were in consonance with the principles of the devolution of the administrative functions, were assisted by a number of other ancillary and subordinate Daftars which were established for specific purposes. The documents of this Daftar were transferred to the newly created Government Office in 1303 F/ 1893 A.D. for their perpetual preservation. It was the foundation of Record Office or Archives in the former State of Hyderabad.
2. DAFTAR – i- MAL
Daftar – i – Mal was created in 1721 during the period of Nizam- ul Mulk Asaf Jahi. It continued till 1925. It is one of the oldest daftars, and it transacted all the official business relating to the Jurisdiction over the two subas, Hyderabad and Bidar, in the same manner as Daftar – i Diwani which held jurisdiction over the remaining four subas of the Deccan, viz., the subas of Aurangabad, Berar, Bijapur and Burhanpur. Between them, the two daftars controlled the administration of the entire State of Hyderabad. This daftar contains the original sanads and copies of sanads, ahkams relating to jagir, inam, yaumiya, saliyana, tafwiz, awarja and kaifiyat of jagirdaran, inamdaran (inam- holders), madakhil – wo- makharij(income and expenditure), qaulnama jat and qubuliyat namas etc. They all are in Persian.
3. DAFTAR - i -DAR - UL - INSHA
The Daftar - i- Dar- ul- Insha was the personal office of the Nizam Ali Khan, Asaf jah II and his successors. This daftar entered into correspondence with the Mughal Emperors, the Marathas, the British Governor Generals and the Governors of the Birtish presidencies and provinces. From the beginning of 1762 A.D. The formal and ceremonial correspondence with the contemporary Indian princes are also available even after 1858 A. D. In addition to it, it dealt with matters relating to the issues of sanads pertaining to jagirs, etc. Fair copies of all the orders issued under the seal of the rulers were granted to the parties by this office. This office was under the charge of an officer called Mir Munshi. The records of this daftar were transferred to Daftar- i- Diwani in the year 1938.
4. DAFTAR � i -ISTIFA
The word Istifa means accomplishment of work. Daftar-i-Istifa was one of the old daftars of the Asif Jahi period which preserved sanads and other papers relating to grants. The grantee presented his original sandas to the Daftar-i-Istifa, which prepared the duplicate and retained the same under its custody after giving the original to the grantee. In this way, the function of this Daftar was to prepare the duplicate copies of the original sandas and maintain them. These duplicates were also useful for attesting the copies of the sandas and ahkams as issued by the Daftar-i-Diwani and Daftar-i-Mal and verifying the original papers as well.
In compliance with the farman dt. 2nd Ramazan 1323 H/31st Oct,1905 A.D, the records of this Daftar were transferred to the Daftar-i-Diwani. All the records are in Persian and Urdu.
5. DAFTAR –i –MANASIB –o-KHITABAT
Nizam –ul- Mulk Asaf Jah I established a Daftar during his period for the maintenance of the records of the titles were conferred and robes of honour were bestowed to the nobles and eminent personalities on recognition of their meritorious services which were rendered by them. The records of this Daftar are in Persian and Urdu languages. The Records of this Daftar records were transferred to Daftar -i-Diwani in 1925 A.D.
6. DAFTAR-i-BAKHSHIGIRI
Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah I was the Subadar of the Mughal Deccan from 1724 – 1748 A.D. and therefore the Mughal regional administration existed in the province of the Deccan. There might be slight variations in the administration of the provinces due to circumstances and requirements of the respective regions. Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jahi divided the military administration of the suba into sarishtas and every sarishta functioned under a Sarishtadar.
The records of this Daftar are very important so far as the military history of the Asaf Jahi period is concerned. These records consist of descriptive rolls, casuality lists of soldiers and horses, petitions, pay bills, diaries and other papers. The records of this Daftar are in Persian and Urdu. The records of this Daftar were transferred to Archives in 1939 A.D
7. DAFTAR -i- SADARAT -UL- ALIYA
Sadarat-ul-Aliya was created during the period of Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf Jah I. The head of the office was known as Sadr-us-Sudur. The functions of the office were to issue the fatwas i.e. decrees in respect of ecclesiastical matters, to conduct examinations and to issue sanads to religious functionaries, qazis and muftis also. The religious grants, appointments of muslim religious functionaries and the other matters relating to religious affairs of muslims also dealt in this daftar. All the records of this Daftar are in Persian and Urdu.
8. DAFTAR -i- MAWAHIR
Daftar-i-Mawahir was established during the period of Asaf Jahi. The functions of this old office were preserved i.e. the seals of the rulers, government officials, title holders, noble men and Jagirdars. The seals were made in different types, particularly official badges, buttons of police and military uniform. This daftar records transferred to Daftar-i-Diwani in 1925.
9. DAFTAR -i- PESHKARI
In 1806 Maharaja Chandulal become the Peshkar, his personal office which had consisted of personnel for attending to the correspondence of the Prime Minister, continued (official correspondence) and obtained the popular name of peshkari, after the designation of the office Chandulal held. On the resignation of Chandulal in 1843 AD Ram Bakhsh succeeded to the office. The functions of daftar peshkari continued during the period of Maharaja Kishan Pershad (1901-1911 and 1926-1937).
This department possesses in its custody original daftars of sanads, ahkams and qualnama jats issued during the period of Maharaja Chandulal and Ram Bakhsh (1806-1843 and 1843 to 1846A.D.) with the endorsement of the two Rajas. In this daftar several papers relating to Chandulal's family are also available. All the records of this daftar are in persian.
Under the farman dated 24th Ziqada 1360H / 14th December 1941 the Daftar of Peshakari was transferred and amalgamated with Daftar-i-Dawani.
10. DAFTAR -i- QANUNGOI
The exact date of the establishment of Daftar-i-Qanungoi has not been conformed but its records available from 1221 H. /1806 A.D. There had been two officers of Qanungoi - one for the Hyderabad Suba and other for the Bidar Suba. The functions of this daftar were to solve the boundary disputes of villages and agricultural lands. Wherever disputes arose a Qanungo (high official ) handled all the disputes matters during the early Afaf jahi period.
The Daftar-i-Qanungoi records pertaining to the files regarding the decisions made in referred cases of lands and boundary disputes, the files consist of sanads, ahkams, qabalajats, bainamjat, chakbandi, razinamajat. This Daftar records are in Persian.
11. DAFTAR -i- MULKI
Daftar-i-Mulki was established in 1846. Iit was the personal Daftar of Nawab Siraj-ul-Mulk Bahadur (1846- 1853 A.D.) and Salarjung Bahadur (1853 – 1883 A.D.) who were the Prime Ministers of the Nizam. It was the Peshi Office of the Prime Minister of former Hyderabad State. The records of this Daftar are available from 1259 H. / 1842- 1928. The records consist of treaties and enactments, correspondence with the government of India and the British Resident at Hyderabad, orders issued to the government departments and officials of the state. Actually, Daftar-i-Mulki had dealt the Jagir and inam matters, issued by the Prime Ministers. The language of the records of this daftar is Persian, and a large number of documents are available in English also. The records of this daftar were transferred to Central Record Office in the year 1921.
12. DAFTAR -i- MUNSHI KHANA
The Daftar of Munshi Khana (correspondence office) was established during the period of 1853. The functions of this daftar were official correspondence and issued the orders to Subedar and Taluqdars, regarding throughout the administrative matters relating to the provinces and districts. All the papers of this Daftar are in Persian and Urdu. The records of Daftar-i- Munshi Khana were transferred to Daftar –i-Diwani in 1935.
13. DAFTAR - KHIZANA -i- AMIRA
The Daftar-i- Khizana-i-Amira was established in 1855 A.D. Its function was to keep the account of the cash payment and maintaine the Account. After the formation of Andhra Pradesh on 1st April 1958, the Directorate of the treasury and accounts was established and District Treasury, the Sub-Treasuries and Pension Payment Office came under its direct control. The records of this Daftar were transferred to Daftar-i-Diwani in 1942. All the records of this daftar are in Persian and Urdu
14. DAFTAR -i- NAZM -i- JAMIYAT
The Daftar of Nazm-i-Jamiyat was establish in 1274 F./1864 A.D. for the proper conduct of the business, related with the Regular Forces and Irregular Forces also. The Secretary looked all the matters connected with expenses, enlistment promotions, appointments, transfers, dismissals, removals and pensions matters etc. Besides these, this daftar has in its custody, the work of the branding of the horses and their maintenance charges also. The records of this daftar are in Persian and Urdu.[1]
A. DAFTAR - i - DIWANI
B. DAFTAR - i - MAL
C. DAFTAR - i - DAR - UL - INSHA
D. DAFTAR - i - ISTIFA
E. DAFTAR - i - MANSIB - o - KHITABAT
F. DAFTAR - i - BAKHSHIGIRI
G. DAFTAR - i - SADARAT - UL - ALIYA
H. DAFTAR- i - MAWAHIR
I. DAFTAR- i - PESHKARI
J. DAFTAR - i - QANUNGOI
K. DAFTAR - i - MULKI
L. DAFTAR - i - MUNSHIKHANA
M. DAFTAR - i - KHIZANA - i- AMIRA
N. DAFTAR - i - NAZM - i - JAMIYAT
“Daftar” means administrative unit, an office (Persian and Urdu Language) As in the case of today’s systems of government, the administration of the Nizams also rested on a network of Dartars in the early Asaf Jahi period had its roots in the era of Mughal rule in the Deccan. After the death of Aurangzeb in 1707 Mughal empire declined. Nizam-ul- Mulk Asaf Jah became the viceroy of the Deccan for the third and last time in 1724A.D., and held the post till his death in 1748. During this period , the supremacy of the centre was at its lowest ebb, and provincial administrations had begun to detach themselves from what was left of the centralised administrative system. Even though central influence over the provinces was paling rapidly, the Mughal administrative systems based on the infrastructure of the Daftars continued in the Deccan. There were fourteen Daftars during the early Asaf Jahi period. The records of Daftars consist of administrative and executive orders, correspondence, files, compilations of official information, sanads (certificates) etc. The records of old daftars are mostly in Persian, some are in Urdu. These were in the custody of certain Jagirdar families in Hyderabad. These families received solid grants of Jagir ( the government revenues of a tract of land assigned with powers to administer), cash for the maintenance of records. The posts of Jagirdars were designated as Daftardars and were hereditary.