Review Article The English Poetry of Nizamat Jung

Abstract

Nizamuddin Ahmad [1871-1955], known by his titles of Nawab Sir Nizamat Jung, was one of a remarkable collection of extremely talented nobles, scholars and civil servants that adorned the court of the Nizams of Hyderabad Deccan during the heyday of British colonialism in the South Asian subcontinent. Some indication of the vast reservoir of extraordinary abilities that existed in large princely states like Hyderabad Deccan has been given in a previous essay dealing with Syed Husain Bilgrami1 in which references to the latter’s attempts at writing English verse have also been examined. In this essay, Nawab Sir Nizamat Jung will, for brevity, be referred to simply as ‘Nizamat Jung’. Nizamat Jung had a brilliant academic career being awarded the degrees of B.A. and LL.B. from Cambridge, where he studied at Trinity College. He was called to the Bar from the Inner Temple – thus completing his education by 1896. His subsequent career as judge in the High Court of Hyderabad, the conferment of the titles of O.B.E. and C.I.E. by the British government, and his retirement in 1930 have been detailed in his life-sketch by Zahir Ahmed.