Page:Historic Landmarks of the Deccan.djvu/31

Rh from breaking the peace, but Mubariz Khan refused to listen to his counsels and pressed onwards. His plan was to turn Asaf Jah's flank and thus interpose his army between Delhi and Asaf Jah. This movement nearly succeeded, but not quite, and though Mubariz Khan passed Asaf Jah the latter turned and overtook him at Shakarkhelda in the present Buldana district of Berar, where, in October 1724, a battle was fought in which Mubariz Khan was defeated and slain. Asaf Jah renamed the village Fathkhelda, to commemorate his victory, and took possession of the prize of the war, the viceroyalty of the Deccan. The present representative of his line is Mir Sir Mahbub Ali Khan Bahadur, Nizam of Haidarabad

The Nizams of Haidarabad never paid more than a nominal allegiance to Delhi, and the progress of the Maratha power, which drove a wedge between Hindustan and the Deccan, separated them entirely from northern India. Their wars with the Marathas, the part which they took in the struggle between the British and the French for supremacy in India, and later, in the wars against Haidar Ali of Mysore and his son Tipu Sultan, and their loyalty to the British Government in the dark days of 1857 are passages of history too well known to call for detailed treatment here.