Masulipatnam, now known as Machilipatnam, lying between the mouth of the rivers Krishna and Godavari, is presently the district headquarters in Andhra Pradesh. But this is not the introduction that Masulipatnam deserves to be known for. It has been a historic port from the time of the Qutb Shahis up to the period of the second Nizam, Mir Nizam Ali Khan during the Asaf Jahi times.
Why is it that the Qutb Shahis nurtured this particular port and the Asaf Jahs carelessly gave it away without much thought? This is a crucial question as the port of Masulipatnam had the potential to become the linchpin in rewriting the history of Hyderabad State during the period 1947 – 1948. It remains yet another important link that has not received much attention in understanding Hyderabad State’s incorporation into the Indian Union.
Until the mid sixteenth century, the Masulipatnam port was handled at times by the Vijayanagar State, Qutb Shahis of Golconda and the Gajapatis of Orissa. It was only in Ibrahim Qutb Shah’s regnal period from 1550 to 1580 that Masulipatnam was brought under his administrative control around the 1560s.
From then onwards, as Pius Malekandathil in his book The Indian Ocean and the Making of Early Modern India says close links developed between the capital of Golconda and the port of Masulipatnam that was to last more than 100 years. The port at that time was trading with Aceh, ports in Malay Peninsula, Pegu and Arakan. Coastal trade linked it to Pipli in Orissa as well. Hence, by the early seventeenth century, under the Qutb Shahis, Masulipatnam had earned the reputation of being an international port on the Coromandel Coast.
Catherine Asher and Cynthia Talbot in their book India before Europe trace the rise of Masulipatnam as the only port on the Coromandel Coast to become a preeminent trading centre in international markets and for transport and redistribution of goods from other areas to Golconda. Under the Qutb Shahi sultans of Golconda, Masulipatnam also became a dominant port city on the eastern coast with a population in 1650 equalling that of Golconda Haidarabad or Surat. Perhaps it was the highway built by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah connecting Masulipatnam to Golconda Haidarabad, that an overland route was created leading up to Surat via Golconda. This dynamic development also led to a new sea route between Masulipatnam and the Middle East which was hitherto operating via the west coast either through Gujarat or the Malabar. The Shia rulers of Golconda wanted to have close ties with the Safavids in Iran and wanted to provide pilgrims safe passage to Mecca. Thus, the Persians who were coming into Qutb Shahi Haidarabad invested heavily in shipbuilding and trade in Masulipatnam.
It was the minimal Portuguese presence on the eastern side that allowed Masulipatnam to prosper compared to the ports of the Adil Shahis and Nizam Shahis on the western side that faced a lot more Portuguese interference. After all there was no other port like Masulipatnam up to the Cape Comorin that could handle 800 tons vessels.
J. F. Richards in his book Mughal Administration of the Deccan records the jama from the 8 parganas of Masulipatnam in 1712 as 448,000 rupees and that of Nizamapatnam as 314,000 rupees. This was during the period of Mughal occupation of the Deccan. Then in 1733 Asaf Jahi times, the sarkar of Masulipatnam yielded 491,000 rupees and Nizamapatnam yielded 246,000 rupees. Which means a combined stable jama was a whopping 750,000 to 800,000 rupees that the Asaf Jahis must have inherited. On top of that, lucrative trade in diamonds, pearls, textiles, muslin, punjum cloth, chintz, salempores, pepper, spices, and the list goes on.
Should we not be bothered about the reason why Nizam Ali Khan officially the second Nizam gave away to the English East India Company the rich region of the Northern Circars located south of Orissa that was accruing such bounty? It is believed that Hyderabad gained internal stability during Mir Nizam Ali Khan’s reign with the nobles of the court and their retainers returning to Hyderabad from Aurangabad along with other government officers, and Hyderabad registering an increase in power and wealth as well as rapid development and expansion which facilitated economic development as it is he who re-shifted the capital of the Deccan from Aurangabad to Hyderabad in 1763. Then what were the compulsions that did not allow him to retain the Northern Circars under the Asaf Jahi’s jurisdiction?
Between 1765 and 1800, Nizam Ali Khan concluded several treaties with the English, which diluted his power. After the Anglo-French wars in the Carnatic, when Nizam Ali Khan joined the peace negotiations in May 1767 the agreement that was signed turned out to be advantageous for Hyderabad, Marathas and Haidar Ali so much so that the British were isolated. But the treaty of Masulipatnam signed by the British in 1768 with Nizam Ali Khan had humiliating clauses and was equally disadvantageous for the other Deccan powers. Nizam Ali Khan had to transfer the Northern Circars of coastal Andhra to the British. In return, the British agreed to keep a subsidiary military force at the disposal of Mir Nizam Ali Khan which could be used as and when required. They agreed to pay Rs 9 lakh per annum to him, later this payment was reduced to Rs 7 lakh.
In 1779, the Nizam conspired with Haidar Ali of Mysore and the Peshwa of the Marathas to drive away the British. When they learnt about his designs, the British marched against the Nizam who had to sue for peace. Through yet another treaty, the Nizam was compelled to disassociate from Haidar Ali and another treaty made him surrender the Guntur Circar in 1788. The British gained their authority over the Nizam by compelling the latter to sign six treaties, the most important one being the Subsidiary Alliance of 1798 which brought Hyderabad and its foreign affairs under the control of the British.
Through all this political drama, Masulipatnam came under British domination although the Nizam was not prevented as such to use the port. But the organic relationship that was established during the Qutb Shahi times between Hyderabad and Masulipatnam started diminishing as Hyderabad no longer supplied the raw material or remained a ready market for the weavers of Masulipatnam. Once the British received Vishakhapatnam, Godavari and Masulipatnam from the Nizams they tried to regulate the production process of the weaving industry in the century old textile economy basically by eliminating the middlemen. But the traditional structure of the weavers was so complex and resistant to change that the British had to recognise the intermediaries as P Sudhir and P Swarnalatha, leading authorities on the textile trade in Masulipatnam from 1750 to 1850 say. Thus the link between Hyderabad and Masulipatnam was broken which gradually also impacted Masulipatnam’s importance in Hyderabad’s political eco system.
As a fallout of these political and economic developments, Hyderabad State lost a very important outlet to the sea and remained a landlocked region during its most critical period of 1947 and 1948 when the future of Hyderabad had to be decided regarding their internal government and their relationship with India.
The writer is Director, H.K.Sherwani Centre for Deccan Studies, Maulana Azad National Urdu University, Hyderabad.
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