Hyderābād and Berar (Telugu: హైదరాబాదు, Urdu: حیدر آباد) under the Nizams, was the largest Princely state in the erstwhile Indian Empire. The Berar region of present-day Vidarbha in Maharashtra was merged with the Central Provinces in 1903, to form Central Provinces and Berar.
Hyderabad state was in south-central India from 1724 until 1948. It was ruled by the hereditary Nizam. During the Partition of British India in 1947, the Nizam of Hyderabad declared his intentions of not joining either newly formed India or Pakistan. Sensing trouble, India launched Operation Polo which resulted in the absorption of Hyderabad into the Indian Union, in 1948.