Ghulam Husain Ali Khan (8 January 1748 – 15 July 1801) aka Ghulam Hussainy or Umdat ul-Umra, was the

Nawab of the Carnatic The Carnatic Sultanate ( Persian: ; Tamil: ; Urdu: ) also known as Carnatic State or Arcot State was a kingdom in southern India between about 1690 and 1855, ruled by a Muslim nawab under the legal purview of the Nizam of Hyderabad, until thei ...

state in the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...

from 1795 to 1801. He was actually named by his grandfather, Anwaruddin Khan, as "Abdul Wali". But he was subsequently renamed as "Umdat ul-Umara", after the name of the court of the

Mughal Emperor The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

Shah Alam II Shah Alam II (; 25 June 1728 – 19 November 1806), also known by his birth name Ali Gohar, or Ali Gauhar, was the seventeenth Mughal emperor and the son of Alamgir II. Shah Alam II became the emperor of a crumbling Mughal Empire. His power w ...

Early life

Umdat ul-Umara was the son of Muhammad Ali Khan Walahjah, a stern ally of the

British East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

. He was appointed Naib Subah of Nattharnagar (1759–1760), and Subah of

Arcot Arcot (natively spelt as Ārkāḍu) is a town and urban area of Ranipet district in the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Located on the southern banks of Palar River, the city straddles a trade route between Chennai and Bangalore or Salem, betwe ...

(1760), and raised to the title of Umdat ul-Umara by Emperor

, through the intercession of

Robert Clive Robert Clive, 1st Baron Clive, (29 September 1725 – 22 November 1774), also known as Clive of India, was the first British List of governors of Bengal Presidency, Governor of the Bengal Presidency. Clive has been widely credited for l ...

, 12 August 1765.

Reign

Umdat ul-Umara succeeded on the death of his father 13th and installed on the

musnaid A throne is the seat of state of a potentate or dignitary, especially the seat occupied by a sovereign (or viceroy) on state occasions; or the seat occupied by a pope or bishop on ceremonial occasions. "Throne" in an abstract sense can also refer ...

16 October 1795. He ruled from 1795 to 1801. During his reign, the

demanded pieces of land as gifts. Many members of the East India Company believed that Umdat ul-Umara, as the

Nawab of Carnatic The Carnatic Sultanate ( Persian: ; Tamil: ; Urdu: ) also known as Carnatic State or Arcot State was a kingdom in southern India between about 1690 and 1855, ruled by a Muslim nawab under the legal purview of the Nizam of Hyderabad, until thei ...

, had secretly provided assistance to

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (, , ''Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu''; 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799) commonly referred to as Sher-e-Mysore or "Tiger of Mysore", was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery ...

during the

Fourth Anglo-Mysore War The Fourth Anglo-Mysore War was a conflict in South India between the Kingdom of Mysore against the British East India Company and the Hyderabad Deccan in 1798–99. This was the last of the four Anglo-Mysore Wars. The British captured the capi ...

. On the fall of Tipu Sultan in 1799, immediately, the British accused the Nawab of collaborating with Tipu Sultan, and demanded the entire administration of the kingdom as indemnity. Umdat ul-Umara resisted the demands of the East India Company. He died, perhaps poisoned by the Company, soon afterwards. The British takeover of Umdat ul-Umara's domain occurred during the reign of his nephew and successor,

Azim-ud-Daula Azim-ud-Daula (1775 – 2 August 1819) was the Nawab of Carnatic from 1801 to 1819. He was the eldest son of Amir ul-Umara and nephew of Umdat ul-Umara. Treaty of 1801 He ascended the throne upon his uncle's death in 1801. As soon a ...

. As soon as Azim-ud-Daula ascended the throne, on 31 July 1801 he was compelled to sign a

Carnatic Treaty The Carnatic Treaty was signed on 26 July 1801. It is a treaty between the Nawab of Arcot and the East India Company. It is one of the treaties by which the British Empire acquired its rule over the Indian subcontinent or later known as Britis ...

handing over the civil and municipal administration of the Carnatic to the British East India Company. This document provided that Azim-ud-Daula ceded all his lands to British rule, including the territory of the

Polygar Palaiyakkarars, or Poligar, Palegara (as the British referred to them) in Andhra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were the holders of a small kingdom as a feudatory to a greater sovereign. Under this system, ''palayam'' was given for valuable military ...

References

External links

* 1748 births 1801 deaths Indian Muslims Indian Freemasons Nawabs of the Carnatic {{India-royal-stub

Early life

Reign

See also

References

External links