Chandu Lal

Not to be confused with Chandu Shah, who is sometimes referred to by the same name.

Chandu Lal Malhotra (1766 – 15 April 1845 ), better known as Maharaja Chandu Lal was the Prime Minister (1833–1844) for the 3rd Nizam of Hyderabad, Sikandar Jah. He was born in Hyderabad Deccan (now Hyderabad, India), and hailed from a Hindu family of the Khatri caste with origins in Lahore. He was also a poet of Urdu, Hyderabadi, Punjabi and Persian.^[1][2]

Maharaja Chandu Lal
Prime Minister of Hyderabad
In office 1833–1844
Monarch	Sikandar Jah
Personal details
Died	15 April 1845

Family

Chandu Lal Sadan was born in a Hindu Malhotra family of Punjabi Khatri background.^[3][4] His father was Rai Naryen Das, who migrated from Rai Bareilly to Hyderabad State.^[5] His ancestors had served in the Mughal courts.^[6][5] His family is the founder of the Dafter-e-Mal (Department of Finance) in Hyderabad Deccan during Nizam ul Mulk Asif Jah I. The future Prime Minister, Maharaja Sir Kishen Pershad, was his great-grandson. The family was famously known as Malwala Family in Hyderabad.^[6]

View of Baradari Chandulal in 1890s

In Sikh Darbar

Chandu Lal was a Minister within the court of Maharaja Ranjit Singh under the Sikh Empire. They both had good relations and Chandu Lal Malotra became a General in the Sikh Khalsa Army. He then converted and became a devout Sehajdhari Sikh.

In an agreement between Maharaja Ranjit Singh and the Nizam of Hyderabad for the construction of a Gurudwara in the spot where Guru Gobind Singh Ji died and the Nizam of Hyderabad making it 4 acres large made of marble, Ranjit Singh would give him 24,000 Nihang Sikhs as private unpaid soldiers to quell rebellions.^{[citation needed]}

Chandu Lal may have considered himself a Nanakpanthi, as he was devotee of the Udasi saint, Baba Priyatam Das.^[4]

In Nizam Darbar

He started his career as a subordinate in the customs department of Kingdom of Hyderabad.^[7] Later he received the title of Raja Bahadur from Nawab Sikandar Jah. Sikandar Jah selected him as accounts officer of his army. British historian states "Due to the ladting effect of Chundoo Lal the dominions of the Nizam seem to look like a Sikh one rather than a Mohhamedan." The Nihang forces refused to be paid and said they would only be paid by the Akal Takht. Later after the Anglo Sikh Wars Nihangs fled to the South, where they battled against revolt earning respect by many. It is even noted by historians that Nihangs were used as bodyguards.^{[citation needed]} In 1819 Chandu Lal received the title of Maharaja from Sikandar Jah and a cash award of one crore rupees. In 1822 he was made the head of seven thousand horsemen with the title of Raja e Rajagan from Nawab Nasir ud dawlah. After the death of Monir-ul-Mulk in 1833, Chandu Lal succeeded him as a prime minister.^[5]

Prime minister

Chandu Lal was made prime minister of Hyderabad Deccan twice. First in the year 1808 then in 1832 AD and he held the office until 1843 AD.^[5]

Maharaj Chandulal's Temple

View of Maharaja Chandulal’s Temple as seen in 1929

As per legends, a saint returning from a pilgrimage to Tirumala, stopped at Alwal. During his stay, the saint who was carrying an idol of Lord Balaji, sat meditating under a tamarind tree. Chandulal Bahadur, along with his family paid a visit to the saint to seek his blessings. The saint told Chandulal that Lord Venkateswara had appeared in his dreams and told him that a temple should be built at Alwal for devotees who could not afford to go to Tirumala. Chandulal built a small temple and installed the idol of Lord Venkateswara.^[8] The temple has been declared as an heritage structure. ^[9]

Poet

Chandu Lal (who used the pen name "Shaadan" (شادن) ) as a learned man, was a patron of Urdu poetry and literature. His patronship attracted Urdu poets to his court. He even invited poets from Northern India like Zauq and Baksh Nasikh and Mirza Ghalib from Delhi to Hyderabad State but they couldn't turn up for some reasons.^{[citation needed]} Despite the responsibility of his prime ministerial office he used to regularly organize and attend Mushaira.^[5]

See also

• Vitthal Sundar
• Prime Ministers of Hyderabad State

References

1. McAuliffe, Robert Paton (1904). The Nizam; the origin and future of the Hyderabad state, being the Le Bas Prize essay in the University of Cambridge, 1904. Robarts - University of Toronto. London C.J. Clay. pp. 39.
2. Law, John. "Chapter III : The Nizams and their Ministers". Modern Hyderabad (Deccan). p. 30.
3. Leonard, Karen (25 November 2011). "Indo-Muslim culture in Hyderabad: Old City Neighbourhoods in the 19th century". In Patel, Alka; Leonard, Karen (eds.). Indo-Muslim Cultures in Transition. BRILL. p. 170. ISBN 978-90-04-21209-1.
4. Fenech, Louis E. (2014). Historical Dictionary of Sikhism. W. H. McLeod (3rd ed.). Lanham: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 80. ISBN 978-1-4422-3601-1. OCLC 881607325.
5. Qasemi, Sharif Husain (15 December 1990). "Chandu Lal Sadan: Maharaja, statesman and poet in Persian and Urdu". Retrieved 11 December 2014.
6. Leonard, Karen (May 1971). "The Hyderabad Political System and its Participants". The Journal of Asian Studies. 30 (3): 569–582. doi:10.2307/2052461. JSTOR 2052461.
7. Buckland, Charles Edward (1906). Dictionary of Indian biography. S. Sonnenschein.
8. Mungara, Sunil (13 November 2017). "Ancient Alwal temple in blind spot, choultries crumbling". The Times of India. Retrieved 4 April 2024.
9. "Hyderabad Heritage Audit 2023". The Deccan Archive. 2024-04-04

Further reading

• Qasemi, Sharif Husain (1990). "Čandū Laʿl Šādān". In Yarshater, Ehsan (ed.). Encyclopædia Iranica, Volume IV/7: Calendars II–Cappadocia. London and New York: Routledge & Kegan Paul. pp. 756–757. ISBN 978-0-71009-130-7.