Page:The Nizam.djvu/28

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THE COUNTRY OF THE NIZAM.

Jagheerdar in 1788, the Guntoor Circar. The authority of the founder of the State of Hyderabad is said to have extended from the Nerbudda to Trichinopoly, and from Masulipatam to Beejapoor. Orme makes it still larger—"in a line nearly north and south from Burhanpoor to Cape Comorin, and eastward from that line to the sea." *[1]

The area of the country The Nizam now holds is computed to be 95,337 square miles. It lies between the 15th and 21st degrees of north latitude, and the 75th and 82nd degrees of longitude, forming a lateral square of more than 450 miles each way. This tract is washed by the Krishna with its feeders, the Beema and Tumboodra, the Wurda and its tributaries, and the great Godavery with its contributary streams of the Doodna, Manjera, and Pranheeta.

This country of The Nizam, called Hyderabad after ^he capital, is three times larger than either Mysore or Gwalior—the next two large powers with whom we have subsidiary treaties; ten times larger than Holkar's country—Indore; and almost as large as both Nepaul and Cashmere together—the two independent powers in alliance with the British. Deccan, from the Sanskrit Duxun, signifies south, and was originally applied to the country lying south of the Nerbudda and Mahanuddee rivers, consisting of the five principal divisions called Drawed, Carnatic, Telingana, Gondwana, and Maharashtra. "Europeans," writes Grant Duff, "have adopted the Mahommedan definition, and the modern Deccan comprises most of Telingana, part of Gondwana, and that large portion of Maha- rashtra which is above the western range of Ghauts, and which extends from the Nerbudda to the Krishna." †[2]

  1. * Orme's Hindoosthan, i. 158.
  2. † Grant Duff's Mahrattas, i. 73.