imported>KMV123: /* Subahdars (governors) */

2021-05-19T22:46:38Z

Subahdars (governors)

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[[File:SouthIndiaBetweenCarnaticWars.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The Mughal province of Sira shown in a map of South India at the time of the Anglo-French Wars in the Carnatic, 1746–1760]]
The '''Province of Sira''' in [[southern India]] was a [[subah]] (imperial first-level province) of the [[Mughal empire]], that was established in 1687 by conquering emperor [[Aurangzeb]] (like Bijapur in 1686 and Golkonda in 1687) and lasted until 1757. The province, which comprised the [[Carnatic region]] south of the [[Tungabhadra river]],<ref name=igimc-175-176>{{Harvnb|Imperial Gazetteer of India: Provincial Series|1908|pp=175–176}}</ref> had its capital in the town of [[Sira, India|Sira]].<ref name=igimc-166>{{Harvnb|Imperial Gazetteer of India: Provincial Series|1908|p=166}}</ref> Known also as '''Carnatic-Balaghat''', it was composed of seven ''[[pargana]]s'' (districts): [[Davanagere district|Basavapatna]], Budihal, [[Sira Taluk|Sira]], [[Penukonda]], [[Doddaballapura|Dod-Ballapur]], [[Hoskote]] and [[Kolar]]; in addition, [[Harpanahalli]], Kondarpi, [[Anegundi]], [[Shimoga|Bednur]], [[Chitradurga|Chitaldroog]] and [[Kingdom of Mysore|Mysore]] were considered by the Mughals to be tributary states of the province.<ref name=igimc-19>{{Harvnb|Imperial Gazetteer of India: Provincial Series|1908|p=19}}</ref>

== Subahdars (governors) ==
Qasim Khan (also, Khasim Khan or Kasim Khan) was appointed the first ''[[Subahdar]]'' (governor) of the province in 1686.<ref name=rice-1897b-166>{{Harvnb|Rice|1897b|p=166}}</ref> After successfully "regulating and improving" the province for eight years, he died in 1694 under mysterious circumstances, either during an assault by [[Maratha empire|Maratha]] raiders,<ref name=rice-1897b-166/> or by his own hand in disgrace after the raiders seized a treasure in his care.<ref name=rice-1897b-521>{{Harvnb|Rice|1897b|p=521}}</ref> Most ''subahdars'' who came after him lasted only a year or two,<ref name=rice-1897b-166/> and the frequent changes at the helm continued until the appointment of Dilavar Khan in 1726, whose term, which lasted until 1756, finally brought some stability to the province.<ref name=rice-1897b-166/> In 1757, Sira was overrun by the Marathas, only to be restored to the Mughals again in 1759.<ref name=rice-1897b-166/> Two years later, [[Haidar Ali]], whose own father had been the Mughal military governor (or ''Faujdar'') of [[Kolar district]] in the province, captured Sira, and soon conferred on himself the title of "Nawab of Sira."<ref name=rice-1897b-166/> However, the defection of his brother, a military governor, in 1766 caused the province to be lost again to the Marathas, who retained it until Haidar's son, [[Tipu Sultan]], recaptured it for his father in 1774.<ref name=rice-1897b-166/>
{| cellspacing="4"
| valign="top" |
{| cellpadding="3" border="1" class="wikitable"
! bgcolor="#DDDDDD" colspan="4" | The ''Subahdars'' of Sira<ref>{{Harvnb|Imperial Gazetteer of India vol. IV|1907|p=335}}</ref>
|-
! Name !! Period of tenure !! Name !! Period of Tenure
|-
| align="center" | Qasim Khan|| align="center" | 1686–1694 || align="center" | Ghalib Khan|| align="center" | 1713–1714
|-
| align="center" | Atish Khan || align="center" | 1694–1697 || align="center" | Darga Quli Khan || align="center" | 1714–1715
|-
| align="center" | Murad Mansur Khan|| align="center" | 1697–1704 || align="center" | Abid Khan || align="center" | 1715–1716
|-
| align="center" | Dliakta Masnur Khan|| align="center" | 1704–1706|| align="center" | Mulahavar Khan|| align="center" | 1716–1720
|-
| align="center" | Pudail Ulla Khan|| align="center" | 1706–1707 || align="center" | Darga Quli Khan|| align="center" | 1720–1721
|-
| align="center" | Daud Khan || align="center" | 1707–1709 || align="center" | Abdul Rasul Khan || align="center" | 1721–1722
|-
| align="center" | Sa'adatullah Khan|| align="center" | 1709–1711 || align="center" | Tahir Muhammad Khan || align="center" | 1722–1740
|-
| align="center" | Amin Khan|| align="center" | 1711–1713|| align="center" | Dilavar Khan|| align="center" | 1740–1756
|}
|}

== The capital and its monuments ==
[[File:Lal bagh gardens1794.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The ''[[Lal Bagh]]'' gardens in [[Bangalore]], which were commissioned by [[Haidar Ali]] and designed after the ''Khan Bagh'' gardens in [[Sira, India|Sira]]. They are shown here in a 1794 etching.]]
The capital of the province, Sira town, too, prospered most under Dilavar Khan and expanded in size to accommodate 50,000 homes.<ref name=igimc-175-176/> Palaces and public monuments of Sira became models for other edifices.<ref name=igimc-175-176/> Both Haidar Ali's palace in Bangalore and Tipu Sultan's in Seringapatam were modeled after Dilavar Khan's palace in Sira.<ref name=igimc-175-176/> Moreover, according to the {{Harv|Imperial Gazetteer of India: Provincial Series|1908}}, Bangalore's [[Lal Bagh]] as well as [[Bangalore Fort|Bangalore fort]] may have been designed after Sira's Khan Bagh gardens and Sira fort respectively.<ref name=igimc-175-176/> Sira's civil servants, however, could not be as readily reproduced: after Tipu Sultan had succeeded his father as Sultan of Mysore in 1782, he deported 12,000 families, mainly of city officials, from Sira to Shahr Ganjam, a new capital he founded on Seringapatam island.<ref name=igimc-175-176/>

There are Mughal-era buildings that still stand in the town. Among them are the Juma Masjid.

== The other towns ==
[[File:Kolar mausoleum1794.jpg|thumb|right|250px|A 1794 [[aquatint]] of the mausoleum at [[Kolar]], where [[Haidar Ali]]'s father, Fateh Muhammad, the military governor (''faujdar'') of [[Kolar district]], is buried.]]
Different towns and regions fared differently during the eventful seventy-year history of the province. In [[Bangalore district]], for example, [[Bangalore|Bangalore town]] was sold to the ''wodeyar'' Raja of Mysore for [[Rs.]] 300,000.<ref name=rice1897b-68-70>{{Harvnb|Rice|1897b|pp=68–70}}</ref> The rest of the district was divided in the following fashion: the north was made a part of [[Chik Ballapur]], other parts were added to [[Sira Taluk|Sira ''taluk'']] (district), and the remainder, which included the town of [[Dod Ballapur]], was constituted into a ''[[jagir]]''.<ref name=rice1897b-68-70/> This was first gifted to a general named A. H. Khuli Khan, who, however, died shortly thereafter.<ref name=rice1897b-68-70/> The ''jagir'', which was to yield an annual revenue of 54,000 [[Pagoda (coin)|pagoda]]s, then passed on to his son, Darga Khuli Khan the ''subhahdar'' of Sira during 1714–1715, who too retained it for a mere year.<ref name=rice1897b-68-70/> It was then "attached to the government of Sira" for 49 years until it was seized by the [[Qamar-ud-din Khan, Asaf Jah I|Nizam-ul-Mulk]] of Hyderabad, and eventually captured by Haidar Ali.<ref name=rice1897b-68-70/>

== Administration ==
[[Image:Jamia Masjid Sira 1.jpg|thumb|right|250px|The Mughal-era Juma Masjid in Sira Town, as seen in 2007]]
After the [[Moghul Empire|Moghul]] armies overran the region of the Mysore table-land, 12 [[pargana]]s were annexed to the newly formed province (''subah'') of Sira.<ref name=rice1897a-589>{{Harvnb|Rice|1897a|p=589}}</ref> The remaining region was allowed to remain under the rule of the [[Poligar]]s, who were required to pay tribute to the provincial government in Sira.<ref name=rice1897a-589/> In the annexed regions, in which tax assessment on cultivation was under ''amāni'' or ''Sarkār'' (''i.e.'' provincial government) management, several types of officers collected and managed revenue.<ref name=rice1897a-589/> Most offices had existed in the region under the previous [[Adil Shahi|Bijapur Sultanate]] administration, and consisted, among others, of ''Deshmūks'', ''Deshpāndes'', ''Majmūndārs'', and ''Kānungoyas''.<ref name=rice1897a-589/> The ''Deshmūks'' "settled accounts" with the village headmen (or ''patels''<ref name=rice1897a-574-575>{{Harvnb|Rice|1897a|pp=574–575}}</ref>); the ''Deshpāndes'' verified the account-books of the village registrars (or ''kārnāms''<ref name=rice1897a-574-575/>); the ''Kānungoyas'' entered the official regulations in the village record-books and also explained decrees and regulations to the village governing officers and residents.<ref name=rice1897a-589/>
Lastly, the ''Majmūndārs'' prepared the final documents of the "settlement" (''i.e.'' the assessment and payment of tax) and promulgated it.<ref name=rice1897a-589/>

Until the mid-seventeenth century, both village- and district (''taluq'') accounts had been prepared in the language and script of [[Kannada language|Kannada]], the region's traditional language.<ref name=rice1897a-589-590>{{Harvnb|Rice|1897a|pp=589–590}}</ref>
However, after the Bijapur invasions, [[Maratha Empire|Maratha]] [[chiefdom|chieftains]] came to wield authority in the region and brought in with them various officials who introduced the [[Marathi language]] and script into the "public accounts."<ref name=rice1897a-589-590/> The new language found its way even into lands ruled by some [[poligar]] chiefs.<ref name=rice1897a-589-590/> These chieftains had brought in [[Marathi language|Marathi]]-speaking horsemen from the northern Bijapur realms for their newly formed cavalry units; consequently, they resorted to hiring Maratha accountants for the benefit of these cavalrymen.<ref name=rice1897a-589-590/> After the province of Sira was created, the official language of the [[Moghul empire]], [[Farsi language|Persian]], came to be used.<ref name=rice1897a-589-590/>

== See also ==
* [[Sira, India|Sira town]]
* [[History of Mysore and Coorg, 1565–1760]]
* [[History of Mysore and Coorg, 1761–1799]]

== Notes ==
{{reflist}}

== References ==
*{{Citation|last=Imperial Gazetteer of India: Provincial Series|title = Mysore and Coorg|year=1908|publisher=Calcutta: Superintendent of Government Printing. Pp. xvii, 365, 1 map.|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=lgO2AAAAIAAJ}}
*{{Citation|last=Rice|first=Lewis|authorlink=Benjamin L. Rice|title=Mysore: A Gazetteer Compiled for the Government, Volume I, Mysore In General|year = 1897a|publisher=Westminster: Archibald Constable and Company. Pp. xix, 834|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=kbQLAAAAIAAJ}}
*{{Citation|last=Rice|first=Lewis|authorlink=Lewis Rice|title=Mysore: A Gazetteer Compiled for the Government, Volume II, Mysore, By Districts|year = 1897b|publisher=Westminster: Archibald Constable and Company. Pp. xii, 581|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FR1CAAAAIAAJ}}

{{coord missing|India}}

[[Category:Mughal subahs]]
[[Category:1687 establishments in Asia]]

Sira Subah - Revision history

imported>KMV123: /* Subahdars (governors) */