Let me put out a question to you. What is the first thing that comes to your mind when you hear ‘Hyderabad’? Oh except for their world famous Biryani😍. I’m sure your mind must have stumbled upon the charming ‘Charminar’ for sure. Well why won’t it? The glorious monument of Charminar in the south Indian state of Telangana stands as a symbol of the grand architecture that runs throughout the city of Hyderabad.
When I happened to visit Hyderabad in 2019, I was stunned on the architecture and the rich glorious history the state has. Charminar is a huge stunning part of this artistic influence.
I love reading about any historic monument before visiting it, it helps me in connecting to the place better, but most often the things I hear out there–the facts, some random fun stories, the legends and the myths stuns me the most. So here are some interesting things I came across about Charminar which captivated my attention and has stuck along.
Let’s begin with the story of its construction shall we? Charminar was constructed in 1589 by king Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah to celebrate the end of the cholera epidemic which had badly hit the city, this may be fact but I thoroughly enjoyed listening to an interesting folk story which goes that Charminar was constructed by the king as a memoir of love on the exact same location where he first set his eyes on his future queen Bhagmati. How romantically interesting isn’t it?😀
When I was walking towards it, what surprised me was the overly crowded place this glorious monument was constructed at, only to later learn that Charminar was constructed on an important intersection and the whole city of old Hyderabad was planned and constructed around it. Hence you’ll find some markets all around it. Well I had a great street shopping experience there.
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As a child, the though of Charminar always gave me an idea of a simple decorative structure with nothing much inside, but when I visited finally it I was awfully and gladly surprised that it is a fully fledged monument and has four storeys with the topmost one giving out a stunning view of the whole area. What held my attention was that the topmost storey also houses a mosque which has been there for more than 400 plus years.
You may have heard of secret passages and tunnels in ancient monuments for sure. Charminar is said to have one such secret tunnel which connects it to the Golconda fort. It was constructed as an escape route for the king, but till date no one has been able to locate it.
One last interesting thing that made a place in my memory was that one of the intricately designed minarets of the monument was once struck by lightning and was destroyed but hopefully it was constructed again, Cannot tell the difference now though.
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These were a few interesting things that left me bedazzled but one thing which makes me love such places is how they have stood the test of time, proudly standing heads up wavering the flags of its makers and the great technology it stands as a proof of from centuries.
Igniting Horizons 