Page:Historic Landmarks of the Deccan.djvu/228

2l6 immediately above which each minaret terminates in a dome. This mosque, though its minarets have the galleries which are characteristic of Qutb Shahi architecture,, is distinguished from most other buildings in that style by being of stone undisfigured by stucco or by any of the tawdry and paltry decoration to which stucco so readily lends itself. Next to the Char Minar it is the most conspicuous object in Haidarabad. In the courtyard before the mosque are the tombs of the later Nizams of Haidarabad. It is commonly believed that this mosque is called the Mecca masjid owing to its design having been copied from that of a mosque at Mecca, but this is not. the case. It has been called the Mecca masjid because, like the holy places of Mecca, it is said to never to be empty of worshippers.

After the annexation of the kingdom of Golconda by Aurangzib succeeding subahdars attempted to administer the new province of Haidarabad, but were unable to keep in check the plunderers who wasted the country and devoured the substance of its people. The first was Jan Sipar Khan, and the next his son Rustam Dil Khan, who was followed by Muzaffar Khan. Then came Yusuf Khan, more successful than the others, who died and was succeeded by Ibrahim Khan, during whose term of office the Dad MahaU,oe of the finest buildings of the Qutb Shahi kings, was burnt down without an effort being made to save it. Mubariz Khan, who was appointed in the place of Ibrahim Khan, was originally on friendly terms with the great Asaf Jah Nizam-ul-Mulk, one of the most powerful nobles of the empire, who, in 1723, held the governorship of the province of Malwa; but when the amirs in power at Delhi intrigued to overthrow Asaf Jah they succeeded in detaching Mubariz Khan from his interest by promising to him, in the event of his overthrowing their enemy, the viceroyalty of the Deccan, which was well known to be the object of Asaf Jah's ambition. Mubariz Khan accordingly marched northwards from Haidarabad to meet Asaf Jah, who endeavoured to dissuade him from an appeal to arms, but failing in his negotiations met him at Shakarkhelda in Berar, where he defeated and slew him in October 1724. By this victory Asaf Jah became ruler of the Deccan, and scarcely acknowledged even a nominal dependence on Delhi. His descendants succeeded him and the present ruler of Haidarabad, Mir Sir Mahbub Ali khan Bahidur, is the ninth of his line to occupy the masnad of Haidarabad.