It affords me great pleasure in writing this foreword on the request of the Director, Cent Central Records, to the First Volume of the "Poona Akhbars" a collection of which is reposited with the Daftar-i-Diwani, now designated as the Central Records Office, Hyderabad State. The essential functions of a Record Office consist in the orderly preservation of the original records in its keeping and making them freely accessible to research scholars in suitable form. But it will be seen that in practice few Records Offices have escaped the duty of giving publicity to, at least, some of their Records. In my opinion a Record Office would serve a greater purpose if it stimulated the urge for research by conducting research on its own initiative, albeit on a limited scale. Example is better than precept, so goes the time-honoured saying, and I need hardly say that the opening of the Persian and Marathi historical research branches some time ago in the Central Records Office, Hyderabad, was in the wake of the recognition of this principle.
There was no Political Department as such in those old days. Diplomatic contact with the neighbouring States was maintained by deputing noblemen as and when required. This brought into existence a class of officials known as the WaqaeNigars, or the Akhbarnawis (i.e., newswriters) who were posted to the various neighbouring States and who sub-mitted regularly reports of events which took place in the court and elsewhere. This helped the Ruler to keep him-self posted with all the events and trends of thought.
The Central Records Office contains numerous news-letters sent by Haibat Rao Gopal and others posted at Poona by the Nizam. These Akhbars are full of valuable information and throw light on the Maratha-Nizam relations. These newsletters are couched in a language which, al-though written in the Modi script, is a curious blend of Marathi and Persian and requires a thorough knowledge of Persian to understand.
These Akhbars reveal a wealth of information which throws light on the conditions of the time, political, diplomatic, economic and social. The Marathi language of the time was much influenced by Persian. This influence of Persian is not only reflected in these Akhbars, but in the writings of the poets of the eminence of Shri Eknath of Paithan. These Akhbars reveal the social conditions of the Poona Darbar and its dignitaries. We get a clear probe into the efforts made to educate the child Peshwa into the various aspects of statecraft. This new information may go, to some extent, I think, to rebut the assertion of some scholars that the young Peshwa was not properly educated.
The Marathi Research Branch of the Central Records Office has so far issued "The Sanpuri Bakhar" as its first publication and I am now asked to introduce this First Volume of the "Poona Akhbars" to the scholars of Maratha history. I feel proud in doing so and I have no doubt that the present publication will be definitely a valuable addition to the source-books on Maratha history. It is not for me to dilate upon the merits of this book from the historical research point of view. Shri R. M. Joshi, M.A., Assistant Director, Central Records Office, who has edited the work, has written at length on these aspects in his able analytical preface. His efforts to make its study easy and illuminating both to the scholar and the general reader deserve appreciation. The Second Volume is in preparation and I hope it will follow soon.
Incidentally, I may mention that through the efforts of its officers the Central Records Office has been further enriched by the acquisition of a valuable collection of Persian and Marathi historical papers preserved in Raja Raghottam Rao's family and gifted to the Central Records Office by Shrimati Rani Seeta Bai of Gangakhed. I take this opportunity to appeal to the patriotic sense of the owners of ancient records to emulate the example of the Rani Saheba and loan or gift these for purposes of study and research. This will enrich the materials to be made available to the scholars.
The present Central Records Office of the Hyderabad Government was, until 14th December 1950, widely known by its earlier designation Daftar-i-Diwani and Mal, which by itself was an agglomeration of several administrative offices of an older period. The Diwani Daftar of which the Rai Rayans were the custodians formed a constituent part of the Daftar-i-Diwani and Mal and the Marathi papers now extant in the Central Records Office have come down to us principally from this nucleus.
The Hyderabad Government, having in view the compilation of f a complete History of of the the Deccan in three volumes, appointed Nawab Ali Yavar Jung Bahadur, B.A. (Oxon.), as General Editor of the scheme and Special Editor of the Modern Period commencing with the arrival of Nizam-ul-Mulk, Asafjah I, in the Deccan in 1724. The execution of such a work on scientific lines presupposed the collecting, sifting and careful reful marshalling of all available material on the subject from original sources. During the summer of 1942 I was deputed from the Archaeological Department to Kamshet in the Poona District, where I worked for three months in the historical laboratory of Rao Bahadur G. S. Sardesai on the printed Marathi source-books so copiously available there, and gathered from them a rich harvest of references to the Asafjahi rulers.
On my return, the Standing Committee, appointed by Government earlier to advise on the Preservation, Classifi-cation and Publication of the State Records, was reconstituted with added membership including me as member for Marathi records and at its instance research was initiated into the historical papers in the Daftar-i-Diwani and Mal. As the Marathi papers were being scrutinized a homogeneous collection of Akhbars (newsletters) was discovered among them which the news-writers have styled the Poona Akhbars. Work was at once started on them realizing that they would prove of great value to scholars interested in studying the history of the Nizam-Maratha relations. Earlier substantial editing work had been done on a small Bakhar (the Sanpuri Bakhar) which had been loaned to this Department by the Osmania University for purposes of study. As Nawab Ali Yavar Jung Bahadur, the then Vice-Chancellor of the University, was anxious to publish it early, this Department undertook its publication and issued it under acknowledgment to the University in June 1950. It is now being followed up by the present publication.
The reign of Nawab Nizam Ali Khan Bahadur passed through quieter times as compared with the reign of Asafjah I Nizamul-Mulk. He succeeded to a kingdom which had now definitely come to stay. No retributive action was to be dreaded from the Mughal Empire which had become effete on account of the unrelieved succession of a series of feeble-minded rois faineants. The English and the French were but playing for their self-interest and trying to consolidate their political gains. Their plans and policies, however, did not come into direct conflict with the interests of Nawab Nizam Ali Khan. The only formidable opponents who remained to be reckoned with were the Marathas. Their capital, Poona, was the scene of intense political activity. Nawab Nizam Ali Khan had to keep himself in touch with the day-to-day happenings there. He therefore constituted at Poona a regular establishment of news-writers. Its charge was held by Haibat Rao Gopal whose appointment was made by Nanaji Shankar Rai Rayan as is evidenced by the reference to this fact on page 40 of the Sanpuri Bakhar, our earlier publication.
These Akhbars were written from Purandar or from neighbouring places as long as Srimant Peshwa Madhav Rao II resided there but with the shifting of his headquarters to Poona on 14th May 1781 the news establishment also moved to this place. Obviously, therefore, the later Akhbars are despatched from Poona.
Another curious point to be noticed is that the Marathi Akhbar (the news-writers call it the Hindavi Akhbar) was usually accompanied by its Persian version. A clear refer-ence has been made to this practice in A.R. No. 21 dated 3rd March, 1777 wherein the news-writer requests that the Hindavi Akbhar may be got translated into Persian for being submitted to the Huzur as the Persian akhbarnavis was ill. It may be added that a small collection of the com-panion Persian Akhbars has been discovered from among the Persian papers extant in the Central Records Office.
Send as free online greeting card
Email a Friend
Manage Wishlist