The Hindu : Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : The name is ‘Shamsabad’

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Thursday, Feb 28, 2008
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Andhra Pradesh

Andhra Pradesh - Hyderabad

The name is ‘Shamsabad’

J.S. Ifthekhar

Village named after Shams-ul-Umra, title of Paigah nobles

-Photo: Mohd. Yousuf

Shining: Shamsabad over the years came to be called Shamshabad.

Hyderabad: Everybody seems to have got it wrong. The new destination where the Hyderabad Airport is heading is not Shamshabad but ‘Shamsabad’.

One may argue what is in a name. But there is plenty in this particular case. This place, which is going to emerge on the aviation map of the world next month, has a history of its own.

The sleepy village on the city outskirts is actually named after Shams-ul-Umra, the title conferred by the Nizam on Paigah nobles. In Arabic ‘Shams’ means sun and the title denoted the importance Nizam attached to the Paigahs. As happened with other locality names, Shamsabad too got corrupted and over the years came to be called Shamshabad.

Wrongly spelt

Many old Hyderabadis are upset with the way a wrong name is being associated with the first Greenfield airport. They are particularly concerned that the official machinery as also the English media is spelling the name wrong and there is no attempt to correct it.

The Shams-ul-Umra title was originally bestowed upon Abul Fateh Khan Tegh Jung who founded the Paigah nobility during the Nizam II, Mir Nizam Ali Khan’s reign (1762-1803).

He was entrusted with the security and defence of the State, a task which subsequently became the hereditary function of the Paigah nobles. For maintenance of the troops the Paigahs were granted jagirs all over the State. Nawab Moin-ud-Daula Bahadur, a leading Paigah noble, was very found of hunting and sport.

“Even now his shikargah can be seen on a hillock in Shamsabad,” says M.A. Qaiyum, former Assistant Director, Department of Archaeology and Museums.

“The whole of Shamsabad was our property”, says Abul Faiz Khan, great great grandson of Shams-ul-Umra. Interestingly, the present airport at Begumpet too belongs to the Paigahs. Named after Jahandar-un-Nisa Begum, daughter of 5th Nizam, the entire area was intended to defray her ‘paan’ expenses.

In fact several places in the State are named after some Nawab or the other. Zaheerabad gets its name from Zaheer Yar Jung, a Paigah noble. Vikarabad is named after Vikar-ul-Umra, another Paigah member, who constructed the beautiful Falaknuma Palace which was subsequently acquired by the sixth Nizam, Mir Mehboob Ali Khan.

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