Bhagamati (Hyder Mahal) was a queen of Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, in whose honour Hyderabad was supposedly named. [1] She is also known by the name Bhagyawati [2] There exists debate among scholars about whether there existed any Bhagamati at all and whether she influenced the naming. [3] [4]
Bhagmati was born in 'Chichlam' (place not identified with certainty) in a Hindu family; she was a local nautch-girl. [3] Qutb Shah met her whilst riding out, fell in love to the extent of having constructed the bridge known as Purana Pul as a means of meeting her regularly, and entered into a marriage. [3] [5] Accordingly, the sultan founded a city around her birth-place and named it "Bhaganagar" or "Bhāgyanagar" in her honor. [4] After she converted to Islam and adopted the title Hyder Mahal, the city was renamed Hyderabad . [5]
That Purana pul was completed in 1578 after 2 years of construction; Qutb Shah (b:1566) was romancing Bhagmati as young as ten years. [3] Furthermore, no tomb was built over her last remains unlike other leading female figures of the court; no inscription or coin of that period mentions her name. [3] [4] The chroniclers who mentioned of her were either from North of the Sultanate, who did not visit Hyderabad or foreigners, who arrived long after her death; contemporary Deccani sources including Qutb Shah himself don't mention of her at all. [4] [5] The conferral of 'Hyder', an immensely sacred Islamic attribute on a nautch-girl has been doubted as well. [3] [5] All these cast significant doubts on the authenticity of Bhagmati's existence. [4]
Some however assert that the historicity of multiple sources can't be rejected as hearsay due to their foreign nature, sources exist in that the State Museum in Public Gardens has a portrait of her commissioned around 1750, and that her conspicuous absence from Deccani sources were a result of damnatio memoriae. [4] [5] Others believe Bhagnagar (which was indeed named after her) was a separate village which has nothing to do with today's Hyderabad. [4]
Hyderabad is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana. It occupies 650 km2 (250 sq mi) on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River, in the northern part of Southern India. With an average altitude of 542 m (1,778 ft), much of Hyderabad is situated on hilly terrain around artificial lakes, including the Hussain Sagar lake, predating the city's founding, in the north of the city centre. According to the 2011 census of India, Hyderabad is the fourth-most populous city in India with a population of 6.9 million residents within the city limits, and has a population of 9.7 million residents in the metropolitan region, making it the sixth-most populous metropolitan area in India. With an output of US$74 billion, Hyderabad has the fifth-largest urban economy in India.
The Deccan sultanates were five late-medieval Indian kingdoms—on the Deccan Plateau between the Krishna River and the Vindhya Range—that were created from the disintegration of the Bahmani Sultanate and ruled by Muslim dynasties: namely Ahmadnagar, Berar, Bidar, Bijapur, and Golconda. The sultanates had become independent during the break-up of the Bahmani Sultanate. The five sultanates owed their existence to the declaration of independence of Ahmadnagar in 1490, followed by Bijapur and Berar in the same year. Golconda became independent in 1518, and Bidar in 1528.
The Charminar is a monument located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. Constructed in 1591, the landmark is a symbol of Hyderabad and officially incorporated in the emblem of Telangana. The Charminar's long history includes the existence of a mosque on its top floor for more than 425 years. While both historically and religiously significant, it is also known for its popular and busy local markets surrounding the structure, and has become one of the most frequented tourist attractions in Hyderabad. Charminar is also a site of numerous festival celebrations, such as Eid-ul-adha and Eid al-Fitr, as it is adjacent to the city's main mosque, the Makkah Masjid.
The Qutb Shahi dynasty was a Persianate Shia Islamic dynasty of Turkoman origin that ruled the Sultanate of Golkonda in southern India. After the collapse of the Bahmani Sultanate, the Qutb Shahi dynasty was established in 1512 AD by Sultan-Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk, better known in English, though less correctly referred to, as "Quli Qutb Shah".
Abul Hasan Qutb Shah, also known as Abul Hasan Tana Shah was the eighth and last ruler of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, sovereign of the Kingdom of Golconda in South India. He ruled from 1672 to 1686. The last Sultan of this Shia Islamic dynasty, Tana Shah is remembered as an inclusive ruler. Instead of appointing only Muslims as ministers, he appointed Brahmin Hindus such as Madanna and Akkanna brothers as ministers in charge of tax collection and exchequer. Towards the end of his reign, one of his Muslim generals defected to the Mughal Empire, who then complained to Aurangzeb about the rising power of the Hindus as ministers in his Golconda Sultanate. Aurangzeb sent a regiment led by his son, who beheaded Tana Shah's Hindu ministers and plundered the Sultanate. In 1687, Aurangzeb ordered an arrest of Tana Shah, who was then imprisoned at the Daulatabad Fort. He died in prison in 1699.
Hyderabadi Muslims, also referred to as Hyderabadis, are a community of Deccani people, from the area that used to be the princely state of Hyderabad in the regions of Marathwada, Telangana, and Kalyana-Karnataka.
Delhi has been an important political centre of India as the capital of several empires. The recorded history of Delhi begins with the 8th century Tomar Rajputs kingdom. It is considered to be a city built, destroyed and rebuilt several times, as outsiders who successfully invaded the Indian subcontinent would ransack the existing capital city in Delhi, and those who came to conquer and stay would be so impressed by the city's strategic location as to make it their capital and rebuild it in their own way.
Purana Pul, built in 1578 AD is a bridge over river Musi in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It is the first bridge ever constructed in Hyderabad and among the oldest in South India.
The Old City of Hyderabad is a walled city of Hyderabad, Telangana, India, located on the banks of the Musi River built by Qutb Shahi sultan Muhammed Quli Qutb Shah in 1591 AD. There used to be a wall surrounding the Old City, most of which is destroyed. Mubariz Khan, the Mughal governor of Deccan Subah, had fortified the city in 1712 and was completed by Nizam of Hyderabad.
Syed Mohiuddin Qadri Zore was an Indian writer, scholar, poet, literary critic, historian, and social reformer. He is best known for his pursuit of the rejuvenation of Urdu language and literature, writing 61 books in his lifetime, generating a major foundation of the Urdu literature now taught in all schools throughout India. Recognized as the first Urdu linguist, his writing ranged from short stories to novels to poetry, social commentary, scholarly criticism, and linguistic analysis. Along with his written legacy, one of his greatest contributions to revitalizing Urdu was his establishment of the organization Idare Adabiyaat e Urdu dedicated to the recovery, restoration, and digitalization of aging and disintegrating texts, books, and manuscripts, which are used in research of the ancient language. He also helped to found the Abdul Kalam Azad Oriental Research Institute, and a still-published Urdu magazine, known as Sabras.
Mian Mishk Masjid is an old mosque located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It is located near Purana Pul.
The culture of Hyderabad, also known as Hyderabadi Tehzeeb or Dakhini Tehzeeb, is the traditional cultural lifestyle of the Hyderabadi Muslims, and characterizes distinct linguistic and cultural traditions of North and South India, which meet and mingle in the city and erstwhile kingdom. This blending was the result of the geographic location of the region and the variety of historical dynasties that ruled the city across different periods—its inception by the Qutub Shahi dynasty in 1591 AD, the occupation by the Mughal Empire and its decline, and the patronage under the Asaf Jahi dynasty.
Hyderabad was the capital of the Indian states of Telangana. It is a historic city noted for its many monuments, temples, mosques and bazaars. A multitude of influences has shaped the character of the city in the last 400 years.
Deccani architecture, particularly the architecture of the Bahmani and Deccan Sultanates, is the architecture of the Deccan Plateau, and is a regional variant of Indo-Islamic architecture. It was influenced by the styles of the Delhi Sultanate and later Mughal architecture, but sometimes also influenced from Persia and Central Asia. Hindu temple architecture in the same areas had very different styles.
The Deccanis or Deccani people are an Indo-Aryan ethno-religious community of Deccani-speaking Muslims who inhabit or are from the Deccan region of Western and Southern India. The community traces its origins to the shifting of the Delhi Sultanate's capital from Delhi to Daulatabad in 1327 during the reign of Muhammad bin Tughluq. Further ancestry can also be traced from immigrant Muslims referred to as Afaqis, also known as Pardesis who came from Central Asia, Iraq and Iran and had settled in the Deccan region during the Bahmani Sultanate (1347). The migration of Muslim Hindavi-speaking people to the Deccan and intermarriage with the local Hindus whom converted to Islam, led to the creation of a new community of Hindustani-speaking Muslims, known as the Deccani, who would come to play an important role in the politics of the Deccan. Their language, Deccani, emerged as a language of linguistic prestige and culture during the Bahmani Sultanate, further evolving in the Deccan Sultanates.
Deccan painting or Deccani painting is the form of Indian miniature painting produced in the Deccan region of Central India, in the various Muslim capitals of the Deccan sultanates that emerged from the break-up of the Bahmani Sultanate by 1520. These were Bijapur, Golkonda, Ahmadnagar, Bidar, and Berar. The main period was between the late 16th century and the mid-17th, with something of a revival in the mid-18th century, by then centred on Hyderabad.
The localities and neighborhoods of Hyderabad have unique oral histories, dating to the time of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, over 400 years ago, and are named after various people and things. Some are named after a major building or structure in the locality, others named for individuals. The names are mostly in Telugu and Urdu, the major languages of the city. This is a list of localities, neighborhoods and streets of Hyderabad and their etymology.
The City Wall of Hyderabad was a city wall surrounding Hyderabad, although the city has expanded significantly beyond the wall. The wall used to enclose the area of present Old City of Hyderabad. The wall was around 6 miles (9.7 km) long and covered an area of 4+1⁄2 miles. made of large granite blocks which were abundantly available around the city.
Qutb Shahi architecture is the distinct style of Indo-Islamic architecture developed during the reign of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, also known as the Golconda Sultanate.