Hyderabad Subah later began to secede in the 18th century as the Mughal Empire declined and became fully independent as part of the Nizam-administered Deccan.

[4] Over the next few decades, Shah Jahan maintained this tributary relationship, though under stress from a faction of the court to formally annex the sultanates.

Aurangzeb, a son of Shah Jahan and future emperor, was a key proponent of this, and events in 1656 led to him orchestrating an attack on the Sultanate, which was recalled by his father following a peace agreement.

[7][8] Aurangzeb initially retained many Qutb Shahi officers in their former positions across the province, mostly for propaganda effect, to make the Mughals' authority seem amicable to the old political order.

Kam Bakhsh served in absentee, though he maintained an active interest in Hyderabad Subah due to the several wealthy jagirs he owned in the region.

Rustam Dil Khan was unable to respond to these challenges to Mughal authority - this apparent weakness also led banditry to become a prevalent issue in the province.

Kam Bakhsh, who with the help of his father had been building authority in Hyderabad Subah, occupied the region and crowned himself independent king of Golconda.

Rustam Dil Khan was confirmed in his old position as governor; however, he had been building up vast sums of money in the province during Aurangzeb's reign.

[12][14] The Mughal hold on Hyderabad was generally tenuous as emperor Bahadur Shah paid more attention to the problematic provinces in the north.

The political instability of the previous year made local chiefs, zamindars, deshmukhs and the like to withhold the payment of taxes, leading to a breakdown in provincial administration.

The major campaign of his tenure was countering the notorious bandit Papadu (sarvai Papanna), who had risen to power and status during the war of succession following Aurangzeb's death.

Yusuf Khan went on to deal with other rebellious local chiefs; however, his tenure was financially unstable, as his military campaigns did not yield enough money to fund themselves, and payments to his troops remained in arrears.

As he brought stability to the region, he also began to sever its connections to the empire - he only paid occasional sums to the Mughal central treasury and appointed his own provincial officers.

In 1724, the Nizam returned to the Deccan with the intent of establishing an independent kingdom, and defeated Mubariz Khan in the Battle of Shakar Kheda with Maratha support.

The capital was home to the governor (subahdar), who was the highest-ranking official in the province; he directly represented the emperor and was responsible for political order.

[29] Many of these changes led Hyderabad Subah to economically recover from the Mughal conquest and become self-financing; however, it did not reach the amount of profitability it had during the Qutb Shahi era.