# Modern Hyderabad (Deccan)/Chapter 18

CHAPTER XVIII.
Miscellaneous.
Mahomedan and English Rule.
Needless to say, the things that interested me most, while travelling in the districts, were the differences that I noticed there between Mahomedan and English rule. I came to the conclusion that the former is the most popular with Hindus, and chiefly so because it interferes the least with their customs and habits. In British India, Hindus are always being hustled by energetic young English civilians and "chartered hands," who want to have everything done in a hurry and done according to their own customs. But in His Highness's Dominions, Hindus are not interfered with, unless they do something very flagrant.
Now I feel sure that in British India the Irregular Forces, which are of little use and which cost His Highness's government annually 23! lakhs of rupees, would long ago have been abolished, and that the jagirdars would, many years before this, have been ​shorn of such privileges as their own Law Courts and prisons. The small jagirdars are, it seems to me, the white elephant of the Hyderabad State at the present time, for they retard general progress and, in most cases, take no interest in the education of their ryots.
And I am not at all sure that an excessive regard for privileges conferred in by-gone ages is good for the masses. In fact I noticed in the districts an inertia that I have not found anywhere in British India. In vain I looked for modern Hindu temples. The ruins of old ones I found, but I saw few, if any, Hindu temples that have been built during the time of the Nizams. Even in religion the Hindus appear to be apathetic under Mahomedan rule. Mosques I saw everywhere, but when I asked : — "Where do the Hindus worship?" I was shown ruined temples on hills outside cities, or I was told : — "The Hindus go to the Godavari — their sacred river — to say their prayers."
Perhaps it is good for the Hindus to be hustled. I do not know. Bombs are unpleasant. I cannot imagine a Nizam riding alone to meet a Wat Tyler, like Richard the Second of England; yet without such ​people as Wat Tyler where would England be now?
The Purdah System.
English people are wont to say that the purdah system is at the root of all backwardness in India, and that, "the hope of India lies in educating its women." I do not care to argue this point, more especially in the case of the Hyderabad State, where all women — both Mahomedans and Hindus — of the higher classes (with a few notable exceptions), live behind the curtain. We have seen in the new census that Hindu working-women in the Dominions are engaged in almost every kind of business, and that they show a marked aptitude for trade and possess a keen money-making instinct. And we have read in the education reports that the schools for girls of the upper classes in Hyderabad city are as good, if not better, than similar places in British India. No doubt, there is in the districts a very strong prejudice against female education; and the census suggests that one reason for this is the jealousy of Hindu and Mahomedan men. "If a woman can write a letter, then she may write a love-letter," says the census. ​One would like to hear what such people as "Taj," the gifted authoress of "Zorah," and Mrs. Sarojini Naidu, the well-known Hindu poetess of Hyderabad, think on these subjects. At any rate, there is in the Hyderabad State no great army of prostitutes, such as one finds all over Europe.
The Missionaries.
There are many missionaries in the Hyderabad State, more, I think, than can be found in any similar area in British India. The greater number of them come from America, and are in consequence, pushing and energetic people. That missionaries are doing good work in raising the lowest classes in the social scale throughout His Highness's Dominions there can be no doubt, and more especially by their hospitals do they reach the hearts of the so-called "outcasts" and gain a lasting influence. There is in the Hyderabad State no Missionary Year Book, and Methodists, Baptists and Wesleyans seem to know little about anything further than their own particular mission. So I will briefly describe the largest mission in the State, namely, the Wesley an Methodist Evangelistic Mission at Medak. This mission began ​its work in 1887, when Medak was fifty miles from any railway station, and its remarkable success is due to the three pioneer workers, the Rev. Charles Posnett, his sister, Miss Posnett, and her friend, Miss Sara Harris. When Mr. Posnett in 1887 applied for a piece of land at Medak on which to build " an outcast church," the government of that period gave him the city dung-hill ! Now he is a person whom the government of to-day fully appreciates. And even among the people whom he desired to help, Mr. Posnett met with much opposition until the doctor, Miss Posnett, and the hospital nurse, Miss Sara Harris, had won the confidence of the women of Medak by their medical and surgical treatment. In 1903 a large Zenana Hospital was built, chiefly with the help of Mr. Posnett's relations and friends in England, and last year (1913), 831 in-patients and 13,800 out-patients were treated in this hospital and 2,660 in the village dispensaries round Medak. There are now in the boarding schools of the Mission 113 boys and 125 girls, and in the 51 village schools 701 children, and in the Theological College, 41 students. A great deal of famine relief work has been done by this mission, ​and most of the large buildings in the mission compound were built during famines.
Among Mahomedans the missionaries do not work, but among the lowest classes of Hindus they make in the Hyderabad State a yearly increasing number of converts.
And it is not generally known that the Indian Protestant bishop, who, two years ago, was consecrated with so much pomp in St. Paul's Cathedral, Calcutta, lives in His Highness's Dominions. Most people think that Bishop Azariah resides in British India, but as a matter of fact he is at Dornakal, in the Hyderabad State.
An impatient and zealous young American missionary made not long ago some foolish remarks on His Highness's government because he could not obtain, in hot haste, a piece of land on which to build a church. So it may be well to state that all religions are treated alike in the Hyderabad State, that churches, as well as mosques and temples, there receive donations, and that the delay in granting permission to erect a religious edifice has its root in the fact that His Highness's government makes no religious favourites. ​
The Nizamiah Observatory.
This observatory began with two large telescopes and other instruments which were presented to His Highness the late Nizam by the late Nawab Zaffer Jung Bahadur; and owes its development to Mr. A. B. Chatwood, B.SC, F.R.A.S., A.M.I.C.E., who was appointed State astronomer in 1908. Having built, organised, and equipped an observatory, Mr. Chatwood undertook, with the consent of His Highness's government, a portion of the vast piece of astronomical work that is known as the Carte Photographique du Ciel, or the "Astrographic Chart;" : and with this work he is busy at the present time.
The Astrographic Chart consists of a catalogue of all stars to the eleventh magnitude — about ten millions — and a map of 22,054 sheets showing, also, very much smaller stars, two hundred millions in all, perhaps.
The Post Office.
The Hyderabad State has its own postal service and issues stamps, and the government has managed this department since 1869, when important reforms were introduced into it by Sir Salar Jung I. ​ In 1321 Fasli (1911-1912 A.D.), the number of postal articles carried totalled 13,333,618, the mileage over which mails were carried by rail was during that time 1,195 and the mileage by road was 4,976.
There is a British Post Office in Hyderabad city (Chadarghat), and small British Government Post Offices are scattered throughout the State, and letters bearing English postage stamps are conveyed free from the State Post Offices to the nearest British Post Office or railway mail service section.
The Railways.
The Great Indian Peninsula Railway in the south and west, and the Madras and East Coast Railways in the south and east, are united by the Nizam's Guaranteed State Railway, which runs from Wadi in the west to Bezwada in the east. This railway is owned and worked by a company under a guarantee from the Hyderabad State, and the same company works the metre-gauge line which connects the capital with Manmad, in the Nasik district of Bombay. There are also branch lines from Husain Saugar to Hyderabad, Dornakal to Singareni, and Purna ​Junction to Hingoli; and a line is now being constructed from the capital to Gadag, via Mahbubnagar and Raichur. In the Barsi Light Railway the government has no financial interest.
During 1320-1321 Fasli (1910-1912 a.d.), the whole of the interest guaranteed by government was reimbursed by the company, and the government also received £25,440 as their share of the surplus profits towards the liquidation of the Contingent Liability Account. The total sum outstanding against the company in the Contingent Liability Account at the end of 1912 was £2,102,961 including simple interest at five per cent.
Having travelled much on the State Railway, I may say that it is slow but safe, and one need never be afraid of experiencing a railway accident on it. People do not travel as much in the Nizam's Dominions as they do in British India, consequently one can sleep at night. But electric fans there are none, and water runs short during hot weather, and rules concerning the conveyance of luggage in the van do not exist. Thus, on one occasion I saw the "traps" of a missionary Sahib removed from a first-class carriage, and they consisted of two steel ​trunks, one portmanteau, two tins of kerosene, four lamps, a small bundle of sticks and umbrellas, a large bundle of bedding, a zinc bath filled with kitchen utensils, a tennis racket, two hats, and a tiffin basket.
In the Districts.
In conclusion, I would like to say how much interested I was in all that I saw in the districts. There one can learn more in six weeks than during six months spent in the capital; and chiefly so, I think, because government officials in the districts are much less reticent than is the case in Hyderabad city and its suburbs. Having read of the bribery and corruption that existed among talukdars and tahsildars in the time of Sir Salar Jung I, I was not prepared to find these gentlemen so up-to-date and so efficient. The Subedars of the four divisions I did not see, because I visited Warangal, Medak, Gulbarga and Aurangabad during the cold weather, and they were all on tour. But among talukdars and tahsildars I moved freely, and although I had no introductions, I was made welcome and shewn everything.
And this is what I noticed. Everywhere the machinery of administration is excellent, ​but so far the people in the districts cannot live up to it. They lag, and when I asked the reason for this sluggishness, I was generally told that the small jagirdars and the fat sowcars are at the root of the slow progress that is being made at present. Things familiar to me in British India I found everywhere, but not so highly developed as they are under English rule.
And I may add that some of the ancient customs in the capital were sharply criticised by the Mahomedan talukdars and tahsildars; in fact, the Mahomedan gentlemen who administer the districts appear to be in advance of much that now goes on in the capital, and if His Highness the Nizam desires to quicken the speed of the State coach, and remove some of its ancient fittings, I am sure that he will find support among the up-to-date government officials in the districts. And with these hopeful remarks I will close this little book, adding all good wishes for His Highness's government, which has, no doubt, the true interests of the people in the Dominions at heart, and wishing for H. H. the Nizam a long and prosperous reign, during which he may see the Hyderabad State prosper and develop.