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Hyderabad Municipal Maps, City Area, Sheet No - 23 Front

Leonard Munn, A.F Chinoy, and A.T Mackenzie

Kalakriti Archives

Kalakriti Archives
Hyderabad, India

Aziz Jang Deorhi Street lane runs in a horizontal manner, both sides of it occupies a very thickly inhabited area, and many street lanes are also connected to it is visible on the map. At the north of the street, lies the picturesque vestibule of Aziz Jang covering an extensive area with flower garden and fountains are visible on the map. And, residential houses situate to the north of the street, are having many rooms and gardens along with, than mere single room buildings. Aziz Jang was one of the prominent personality better known as in his titles conferred upon him during various occasions such as Shams-ul-Ulema, Khan Bahadur, and Nawab Aziz Jang Bahadur. His father was the judge at Hyderabad City Civil Court, hence, receiving a good education and training, ultimately he became the district collector first and later secretary to Nawab Sir Vikar-ul-Umara, the latter was Prime Minister then. Later he had held the post of Commissioner of Paigah estate and accountant general of Sarf-i-Khas. Apart from these, he was proficient in literature, poetry, and law, thus contributed no less than 18 books in Law and 20 in History and General Science. His monumental work was a Persian dictionary in 60 volumes named Asif-ul-Lughat. In recognition of his contribution to the literature and culture, Nizam conferred on him the title of Nawab Aziz Jang Bahadur and a special pension too. Then the Government of India granted him the titles of Khan Bahadur and Shams-ul-Ulema along with a sword. Unfortunately, he passed away in 1924 at the age of 66 and left behind him, four sons.

To the south of the Aziz Jang Deorhi Street, within the inhabited area, lies the vestibule of Khande Rao, highlighted well. Khande Rao belonged to the prominent family of Nimbalkars, had the rank of Azim-ul-Umrah, and even counted as one of the 11 chief nobles of the state. The ancestors of Khande Rao were Kshatriyas of Suraj Bansi clan of Maharashtra, lived in Nimbala near Delhi, hence, subsequently Known as Nimbalkars. How this Nimbalkar family became successful at the court of Nizam was with the arrival of Raja Janoji Jaswant Rao, who accompanied Nizam-ul-Mulk Asaf to Deccan from Delhi due to the unstable succession crisis over there. The heroism and excellence of conduct impressed the Asaf Jah, and after his death his son Anand Rao, another brave soldier succeeded his father. Like one after one from the family became the part of the state of Nizam. But, there were many named Khande Rao from the same family served the Nizam, so it is difficult to identify that to which Khande Rao the vestibule belonged.

Details

  • Title: Hyderabad Municipal Maps, City Area, Sheet No - 23 Front
  • Creator: Leonard Munn, A.F Chinoy, A.T Mackenzie
  • Date Created: June, 1913
  • Provenance: These sets of maps were created by the Hyderabad Municipal Survey during 1912-1915. The devastation caused by the flood of 1908 in the river Musi, prompted the Nizam’s administration to devise a plan for urban Hyderabad. This was led by an engineer Leonard Munn (1878-1935). The other people, who were part of the survey under Munn, was A.F. Chinoy as the assistant and A.T. Mackenzie as chief engineer from the P.W.D. What makes these maps much more precious is that each and every thing are depicted in it. The names of streets, landmarks, and even residents appeared prominently on the map. The dominant opinion on the creation of the municipal maps is the 1908 flood, which took over many lives as well as even merged some areas into one. After the flood, Nizam decided to change the future of the Hyderabad city, who could realize the pitfalls of unplanned growth, resulted in the formation of a planning body called city improvement Board (CIB) in 1912 under the able guidance of M.Vishveshwarya from Mysore. The following years marked by the development activities by the CIB such as improvement of the Musi river banks, slum clearance, construction of houses, construction of bridges and lakes, road and sewerage, and stormwater drainage etc. Also, M. Vishveshwarya submitted a comprehensive planning and some recommendation for the future modification of the city in 1930. The net result also included the idea of Municipal Survey, because without survey modification of the city would be impossible. Thus, survey became inevitable and became the base for everything. The original survey which was started in 1912, done using trigonometric methods with reference to Global Telecommunication System (GTS) points, took over three years to complete it. The origin of the survey was the S.E minaret of Afzal Ganj Masjid. The survey divided the city into 848 parts, which were grouped into 16 sets and each map showing 1000 feet north to south and 1400 feet east to west. Since the maps are at a scale of 50 feet to 1 inch, showing each and every building that existed then.The survey divided the city into 848 parts, which were grouped into 16 sets (area). These 16 areas were Chadarghat & Residency; Mir Alam & Bahdurpura; Asaf Nagar; Falak Numa; Khariatabad, Karwan; Golconda; Chilkalgura; Lingampalli; Malakpet & Chanchalgura; North Hussain Sagar Tank; Begampet; Saifabad & South Hussain Sagar Tank; Hughes Town & Mushirabad; Phisal Banda, and City area. The number of sheets from each of these areas were more in number. Since the maps are at a scale of 50 feet to 1 inch, showing each and every building that existed then. The main roads along with streets and branch roads; building footprints like whether the building has one or more than one stories; bungalows, and gardens whether it is major or tiny like laid out along with homes or with graves, and finally even minute details. The minute details are interesting because it did not leave even to mark fire plugs, dust bins, letter box pillars, urinal, latrines, baoli, water trough, well, hills, cart tracks, drain channels, hedge, ponds, and lakes etc. The landmarks like the Temple, Mosque, Church, Dargah, Police Station, Dhobi Ghat, Brick Kiln, Tanneries, etc are also well depicted. The residents of prominent people in the form of vestibules along with stables always attached to it are also noted. Also, the graveyards are well marked based on the names given like cemetery, kabristan, masan, and samadh, which makes one easily understandable to which community it belongs. The nature of the soil is also marked well by indicating whether the land was wasteland or else hilly, marshy, and cultivable land etc. Another interesting thing is that the flood level of 1908 also marked by highlighting high and low water marks areas.The general index to the areas, those were the core places of the survey, are given on the back of the map. The index to the sheet numbers from the particular area is also given back of the map. And, it is even mentioned that some sheets have not been printed, because those were blank sheets and showing only water surfaces. Also, 60 symbols and abbreviations are listed on the back indicating whatever things and places come under the survey. Apart from these, the methods used to conduct the survey, Hyderabad Municipal Survey office seal along with reproduced sheet numbers, and even marked whether it is the special edition or not, are also showed clearly on the back of the map.
  • Subject Keywords: Itibar Chauk Road, Aziz Jang Deorhi Street, Ashur Khana, Kabristan, Deorhi Nawaz Aziz Jang Br, Sultanpura Road, Deorhi Khande Rao, Baoli, Masjid, Suleman-Yar-Jang Street, Raja Rao Rambha Lane, Nur Khan Bazar Lane, Masjid Makbul Badshah Street, Imam Bara Street, Rao Rambha Gara Lane, Jamal Khan Maidan Lane, Nizam Yar Jang Br.
  • Type: Map
  • Rights: Karen Leonard
  • Medium: Paper
  • Survey: 1912/1915
  • Publishing House: Hyderabad Minicipal Survey
  • Map Size: 69 x 102 cm
  • Creator's Lifetime: 1878/1935
  • Creator's Bio: Leonard Munn, an engineer, who was the chief inspector of the mines under the Nizam rule. Munn was born in Madresfield village in Worcestershire in England on May 31, 1878. He graduated as a mining engineer and had worked in the mines in Australia and Africa well in the 1890s. Munn arrived in India in 1902, worked first for a private firm as a gold prospector and then became the chief inspector of mines under the Nizam's government. He worked as a mining engineer with Municipal Survey Department during 1909-1919. Then he became the special officer in charge of Well-Sinking and Geological Department and even served as the Director of the Geological Survey in 1928. In 1929, Munn shifted his residence to the Lingsugur, a place in the northern Karnataka, was part of Nizam's dominion in those time. Munn died at Lingsugur on October 21, 1935, and buried in an old British cemetery. An inscription found from his gravestone about his achievement especially on supervising the construction of 1200 wells in the famine zone of Raichur district.
  • Commissioned by: 7th Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan
  • Collection: Kalakriti Archives_Karen Leonard's collction

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