Hyderabad: Visiting the city of Nawabs

Hyderabad: Visiting the city of Nawabs – Part 1

To Read Part-2, please click here

Overview: My friend in Hyderabad was requesting me to visit Hyderabad since long. And the time had come when he himself was shifting his base to Bangalore. So finally we decided to visit his house and do some touristy in Hyderabad. Though this was not my first visit to Hyderabad and definitely not my last either, my wife was visiting Hyderabad for the first time. My friend had purchased a new Ford Figo so a comfy ride around the city was assured.
We reached Hyderabad on Saturday morning. It was a rainy morning but didn't dampen our spirits. We went to the Buddha Vihar which was close to my friend's place. From there we picked up his wife on the way and then went to the necklace road and went to have some chats beside the Hussainsagar Lake. It was nice and cool and was drizzling a bit. We got a chance to catch up with one more friend at the food court.
We headed towards Gandipet which is around 20 kms from there. Gandipet, or Osman Sagar lake as it is also called is built over 45 sq kms of area with a garden and a dam built over the river Musi. Gandipet has become a main centre of attraction around Hyderabad. A couple of old structures built near the lake by the Nizam of Hyderabad Osman Ali.

From Gandipet we went to Taramati Baradari which is a sarai, which was built in 1625 AD during the reign of Qutub Shah. It is an open pavilion built of Granite stone using Lime Mortar. The terrace has 12 arched doorways while the base of the terrace has 9 arches. The perfect acoustics of the fort enabled the ruler to enjoy Taramati's song even from the fort. As a tribute to Taramati, she was buried in the Qutub Shahi tombs. This ended our first day in Hyderabad.

To be continued. To read the next part, please click here

The forgotten story of a migration: Nacharamma of South India

This is a story of Nacharamma (fictionised by me to some extent), which is not documented in any inscriptions or ancient texts, but has been told by the ancestors of the community, and also been researched by some historians like M Keshavaiah, Dr Pranarthiharan and a few others.

Overview: Around the early 17th century, the Pilgrims set to sail across the Atlantic to become the first settlers of America. Much before this, a small but no less interesting migration took place in the Southern India of a community called the 'Sankethis'.
It was the summer of 1420 CE, in a place called Sengottai, in Tamil Nadu, along the foothills of the Western Ghats bordering Kerala. The place was flourishing with knowledge of the Vedas where Agraharams were set up. One of the prominent communities of learned people was the Sankethi Iyer community, also known as Sangeethi, derived from the name of the place- Sengottai or Shankotta. Another theory says that they were The group followed Adi Shankara…

Clock Towers of Bangalore

Overview: In the middle of the 18th century, when home clocks and watches were not so common, there was the practice of having huge clocks on top of iconic buildings or religious places having visibility from all the corners. Clock towers were in fashion all across the globe in the 18th to 20th centuries, and some of them had bells as well, which used to ring at every hour. Bangalore too, has had its share of clock towers, though the city has never been known for its clock towers. The iconic Clock tower once stood at the Russell Market in Shivajinagar, which no longer stands today as it was brought down sometime during the middle of the 20th century.
A few standing clock towers can be seen at the City Market, Baldwin Boys school, Jayachamarajendra Polytechnic, Central College, Police training grounds, St John's Church, Corporation office and the newly constructed towers at South End circle and Omkar Hills. Most of these clocks have been provided by HMT.

Know your neighbourhood-3: Madivala, Agara, Koramangala, Bellandur

Overview: Now famous for high rises, branded showrooms and startups, the villages of Madivala, Agara, Koramangala and Domlur are the villages which have seen an ancient past.

Madivala village was a flourishing agrahara under the Cholas and Hoysalas. There is an ancient Chola era temple, which was later expanded by the Hoysalas behind the road opposite to the Silk Board. This Someshwara temple is of high historical importance, with Tamil inscriptions all along the outer walls of the temple. The most important being the 1247 CE inscription which talks about the grants of some lands near the big tank of Vengalur (2nd inscription of the city name after the one in Begur). This inscription is by an official Pemmataiyar of Veppur (Begur) for the deity Sembeshwaram (Someshwara) at Tamaraikkirai (Tavarekere).

Agara is situated at the junction of the ORR and Sarjapura Road, and is in existance since the Gangas. A 870 CE Ganga inscription mentions about the fixing of sluices to 2 tanks (Agara Lake…

the light baggage

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