CHAPTER XII.
THE CAPITAL OF THE DECCAN.
The city of Haidarabad lies among the trees on the south bank of the Musi river, a city, "the like of which for beauty and cleanliness, is not to be found in the whole of Hindustan, east, west, south or north. Its compass is near five leagues, and its bazars, unlike those of other cities of India, are laid out on a fixed plan and are spacious and clean, and through them run water channels beside which grow shady trees."
Firishta's description of Haidarabad is somewhat highly coloured, but the situation of the city is undeniably beautiful. Of its aspect from the hill on which the Falaknuma Palace now stands, the Kuh-i-Tur, or Mount Sinai, of Qutb Shahi days, Colonel Meadows Taylor writes : "From one favourite point of view of mine the city lies stretched before you, the graceful Char Minar or gate*[1] of the four minarets in its centre; the gigantic Mecca mosque standing out nobly; while the large tank Hes at your feet, and the bold rock of the fort of Golconda rises in the distance. From hence, a rising sun gradually lighting up every object in the clear morning air, and the glowing, glittering landscape terminating in the tender blue of the distance, (the scene) is inexpressibly beautiful."
The city owes none of its interest to antiquity, for it is little more than three centuries old. In 1591 Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the fifth king of the Qutb Shahi dynasty of Golconda, grew weary of his fortress capital, which was then so overcrowded with habitations as to be both unhealthy and unpleasant as a place of residence. While hunting one day on the south bank of the river Musi he was attracted by the fresh and green appearance of the site on which the city of Haidarabad now stands, about six miles from the fortress of Golconda, and selected it as the cite of his new capital. He called his city at first Bhagnagar, after a favourite Hindu mistress, Bhag Mati, to whom he was much devoted, but, in later years, after her death, he grew ashamed of the infatuation which had led him to name his capital after a light o'love, and in an access of piety re-named it Haidarabad, or the city of Ali, the Lion of God; but the name of Bhagnagar is not yet forgotten.
- ↑ * The Char Minar building is not, however, a gate.
