HYDERABAD - WHERE LOVE LIVES ON.....
When a poet, architect and an aesthete supervises the
building of a city, beauty, balance and symmetry are to be expected. What
leads romance to the city of Hyderabad, is the love story of a young prince
and a village belle that resulted in its very foundations being laid.
THE
LEGEND..... There is a love story related to the founding of the
city of Hyderabad. As a young prince, Muhammad Quli fell passionately in
love with a maiden from Chichlam village across the river Musi. He would
even venture to cross the river in spate to keep his tryst with his beloved.
Ibrahim Qutb Shah, his father, built a bridge on the river so that the crown
prince did not endanger his life. When he ascended the throne, Muhammad Quli
built a grand structure, the Charminar, at the site of the village. The city
was called Bhagnagar to appease his beloved, Bhagmati. Later on it was
called Hyderabad. Bhagnagar means city of good fortune. Farkhunda Buniyad,
the Persian chronogrammatic name of the city yields the same meaning.
HISTORICAL
FACTS...... Hyderabad was modeled after Isfaan in Iran and
built under the supervision of the prime minister Mir Momin, a poet,
architect and an aesthete-like his master. He tried to create a replica of
Paradise itself to suit Muhammad Quli’s status as the greatest of the
Qutb Shahi rulers. The city was completed in 1592. It has a grid plan of two
broad intersecting streets with the Charminar as a kind of triumphal arch at
the center. The French traveler, Tavernier in 1652, compared Hyderabad to
Orleans ‘well built and opened out’ and in 1672, Abbe Carr was
much impressed by the city as the center of all trade in the East.
THE
NIZAMS OF HYDERABAD...... Aurangzeb died in 1707, seven years after
the death of the last Qutb Shahi ruler, Abul Hasan Tana Shah in prison in
1700. The Mughal governor of Hyderabad, Mir Kamruddin Khan, titled
Nizam-ul-Mulk, declared independence and started the Asaf Jahi dynasty. The
waning Mughal power found itself helpless against forces of disintegration.
But the Nizams were fabulously rich and stories of
their hordes of
gold, diamonds and pearls spread far and wide. Mir Osman Ali Khan, the last
Nizam before Hyderabad merged into the Union of India, was among the world’s
wealthiest individuals. Prior to their treaty with the British, the Nizams
had good relations with the French. Monsieur Raymond, a French adventurer
and commander of the Nizam’s troops, earned great respect of the
people. A 23-feet-high granite obelisk inscribed JR stands on a hill in
Saururnagar in memory of this trusted lieutenant of the Nizams, who couldn’t
stand the growth British influence.
SITES
TO VISIT IN HYDERABAD..... . The Charminar - Charminar, the hub of
the city, has four wide roads radiating in the four cardinal directions. The
four minarets command the landscape for miles. The structure is square, each
side measuring 100 feet, with a central pointed high arch at the center. The
whole edifice contains numerous small decorative arches arranged both
vertically and horizontally. The prominently projected cornice on the first
floor upholds a series of six arches and capitals on each façade,
rising to the double-story gallery of the minarets. The projected canopy,
ornamental brackets and decoration in stucco plaster add graceful elegance
to the structure. On the upper courtyard, a screen of arches topped by a row
of square jall or water screens lends a fragile charm to the sturdy
appearance of Charminar. This courtyard was used as a school and for prayers
at the mosque. The minarets, their domed finials rising from their
lotus-leaves cushion, rise to 180 feet from the ground. An interesting
17th-century description of the monument comes from Thevenot: “That
which is called the four towers, is a square building, of which each face is
ten fathom broad and about seven high. It is opened on the four sides by
four arches…”.
The Galleries Of
Charminar - There are two galleries in it, one over another, and all
over a terrace that serves for a roof, bordered with a stone balcony. At
each corner of the building there is a tower about ten fathom high, and each
tower has four galleries with little arches on the outside. It is vaulted
underneath and appears like a dome. There is a large table raised seven or
eight feet from the ground with steps to go up to it. All the galleries of
that building serve to make the water mount up, that so being afterwards
conveyed to the kings palace, it might reach the highest apartments. Nothing
in the town seems so lovely as the outside of that building; nevertheless it
is surrounded with ugly shops made of wood and covered with straw, where
they sell fruit which spoils the prospect of it. The thriving market still
lies around the Charminar attracting people and merchandise of every
description. In its heyday, the Charminar market had some 14,000 shops, a
unique conglomeration of a grand oriental bazaar. The whole market around
the Charminar is crowded with shops which sell glass bangles in rainbow
colors. Red, blue, green, yellow, orange, mauve and pink-or whatever shade
of fancy.
The Arches Of Charminar - Near the
Charminar stand four magnificent arches called Char Kaman, which served as
the gateway to the Zilu Khana (ante chamber) of the royal palace and are
named Machli Kaman, Kali Kaman, Sher Gil Ki Kaman and Char Minar ki Kaman.
The Char-su-ka-hauz, a cistern with a fountain in the center of the arches
is now called Gulzar Hauz. The royal residential palaces stood around the
Charminar. Of the Qutb Shahi royal palaces in Hyderabad nothing of
importance has survived; not even the Qutb Mandir, the pleasure of which
admitted only Muhammad Quli and his female companions. The gardens have
simply vanished. The mosques have been however spared.
The
Mecca Masjid - Near the Charminar stands the Mecca Masjid, begun by
Muhammad Qutb Shah in 1617 and completed by Quranzeb in 1693. It is a grand
edifice with a huge courtyard which can accommodate nearly ten thousand men
at prayer. Tavernier has provided a graphic description of the mammoth
boulders cut to size and carted for use in the building of the mosque. The
minarets look rather stunted in comparison with the grandeur of the whole
massive structure. But it looks more Mughal then Qutb Shahi in its perfect
granite finish and vast courtyard. A particular stone brick in the mihrab is
believed to have been brought from Mecca.
Other
Mosques - The other two mosques—-the Jami Masjid and the Toli
Masjid—are small and modest structures. Muhammad Quli Shah built the
Jami Masjid in 1592, after founding Hyderabad. Musa Khan, a supervisor of
works at the Mecca Masjid, levied a damri for every rupee spent on the
building of the Mecca Masjid. With these collections he built the Toli
Masjid, near the Purana Pul. Two buildings, the Badshahi Ashur Khana and
Darul Shifa—built in 1594—are much dilapidated and in need of
large scale repair.
Other
Sites Of Interest - The Nizams did not build any great mosques or
palaces. The last Nizam built the Falakuma palace which housed the most
expensive art objects, tapestries and carpets, in addition to the largest
single-man collection of diamonds. Here the Nizam had received their
Majesties, the late King George V and King Edward VIII of England. The
Chowmukha palace, built after the Shah palace of Teheran, is closed to
visitors. The Regency Mansion, built in 1803 by James Kirkpatrick, married a
Hyderabadi girl and built for her Rang Mahal, a suite of rooms in the
native style.
Of much interest to visitors is the Husain Sagar
Lake, a large artificial lake lying between Hyderabad and Secunderaad. It
was built by Ibrahim Qutb Shah around 1550, in gratitude to Husain Shah
Wali, who had cured him of a disease. A tourist spot affording lovely views
of the city is the Naubat Pahad, a hilltop crowned by the Birla temple. In
old days royal firmans (announcements) were read to the people to the beat
of drums. The Bagh-I-Aam stretches below this hillock where stands the State
Legislative Assembly building. Among the newer additions to Hyderabad’s
grand buildings are the Osmani University, the high court and the Osmania
General Hospital.
The city straddles the Musi river which, in
1908, had caused much destruction by flooding the city. Under the
supervision of India’s greatest engineer Sir M.Vishweshvarayya, two
large reservoirs, Osman Sagar and Himayat Sagar were constructed to save the
city from devastation by floods in the future. If there is some time left, a
visit to the Nehru Zoological Park is recommended for a short lion safari
and observing the wild beasts moving about freely in their expansive
compounds. The crocodile hatchery is very informative for the young and the
curious. One of the most visited places in the city is the
Salar Jung
museum.
SHOPPING IN HYDERABAD......
Pearls - Hyderabad’s chief claim to international fame
rests on two things, the Charminar and the pearl market. Both the Qutb Shahi
rulers and the Nizams loved pearls and diamonds. They patronized this trade
in a big way. The Asaf Jahi Nizams not only wore ropes of pearls studded
with diamonds as part of state regalia but also used paste for crushed
pearls as beauty aids. The princesses were covered with pearls and weighed
against pearls on their birthdays. Osman Ali, the richest of the Nizams
stored pearls and diamonds in sacks in basement chambers. At one time pearls
were imported from Basra; now Japan is the chief supplier of raw material.
The flourishing trade in pearls at Hyderabad attracts tourist and
connoisseur alike.
Bidriware - Hyderabad is also famous
for Bidriware, a type of encrusted metalwork where one metal is inlaid or
overlaid on another metal. It looks similar to damascene work (koft gari)
with gold or silver. Originating from Bidar, this art achieved perfection in
Hyderabad. The design is inlaid by hammering in strands of wire in engraved
grooves in linear design or pieces of chiseled out pattern in metal are
inserted in exact cut out surface and then hammered in. Later, a permanent
black color is imparted to the alloy surface by chemical process which
leaves the inlaid designs brilliant and unaffected. Lastly the object is
washed, dried and given an oil massage for finish. Bidriware derives its
beauty from the contrast created by the inlaid metal-gold silver or brass
against the black background.
Kat Saris - For women,
Hyderabad holds yet another shopping opportunity—those irresistible
late saris in striking colors. The patterning is done by resist-dyeing or
tie-dyeing the yarn before it is put on the loom for weaving. It requires
precise measurement of designs and patterns-birds animals or diamonds cut
motifs. The other popular variety of saris is from Siddipet, Dharmavaram,
Narayanpet and Gadwal. These forms of weaving require experience since
patterns are created by changing the color of the yarn during weaving and by
elaborate forms of placement of the warp and weft for creating different
motifs. Also typical of the state is Kalmakari—the hand painted fabric,
and Nirmal painting, using dyes to create memorable scenes from the
Mahabharat and the Ramayana.
HYDERABADI
CUISINE...... Hyderabad has a typical cuisine which
combines the tastiest recipes of the south with the northern Mughlai. The
most popular is the birani or pulao. It is the aromatic long grained basmati
rice cooked with mutton or chicken pieces. These meat pieces add a flavor of
their own to the preparation. The kababs are barbecued meat, hot and
succulent, they are irresistible in taste and do not require a well laid
table for fear of spilling the curry on one’s clothes. One can also try
haleem —a preparation of pounded wheat with tender portions of meat,
garnished with crispy fried onion rings. Nahari sheep trotters and spices
stewed overnight over a slow charcoal fire, and eaten with hot bread cakes,
is yet another of Hyderabad delicacies. Two dessert items deserve special
mention-the rich creamy sheer birinj flavored with crushed almonds and
garnished with rose petals and Shahi Tukre topped with a fine sheet of
edible silver foil. Of course, one can never forget that Hyderabadi grapes
have a taste of their own.
