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Previous: Gwalior
Thirty one hours later, I surfaced here in Hyderabad, 1400 kilometers south of Gwalior. It had been a long train ride but I did not mind is for it had given me the opportunity to enjoy significant conversations, first with two officials of the Indian Railways who are sharing my compartment and later with an officer from the Hyderabad Air Force Academy.
I gathered from these and other privileged conversations that there is a profound disillusionment about the central and state governments among the educated Indian people who are not directly involved with the corruption that has completely destroyed the tradition of impartial efficiency that was the pride of the Indian Civil Service when the British were still in control.
Hyderabad is the capital of Telegu speaking Andhra Pradesh. This is the South, the people are of Dravidian stock, smaller and darker than the Aryans in the North.
Here is a street scene on Sadar Patel Road just north of the city's most famous monument, Char Minar, built by Quli Qutb Shah in 1591, which can be seen below.
Just south of Char Minar stands Tibbi College, one of the "English Schools" built by the British to train the Indian cadres they needed to administer the country.
Hyderabad's hinterland once formed part of the Mauryan Ashoka's Buddhist Empire in the 3rd century BC. It was disputed by Hindu kingdoms passing into the hands of the Chalyukas from the Deccan plateau in the 7th century and into those of the Cholas from the south in the 10th. The region then became the scene of Hindu-Muslim power struggles after the 14th century until Sultan Quli Qutb Shah established his capital at Golconda.
On the western side of the street across from Tibbi College, Mecca Masjid is one of the largest mosques in the world. It was built in the 17th century by Sultan Abdulla Qutb Shah to accommodate 10 000 worshippers.
The Moghuls took over the region in 1687 and Aurangzeb's viceroys (later the Nizams) ruled it from Hyderabad.
Further west, behind Mecca Masjid is Lad Bazaar, the heart of the Muslim part of the city.
The ancient Golconda Fortress, 10 kms west of Hyderabad, was the capital of the Qutb Shahi kings from 1507 to 1687. The only way in is by the Bala Hisar Gate which is protected from cannon fire by the curtain wall shown here.
The outside ramparts, which have a perimeter of 7 kilometers, enclose the Shah's palaces and the fortress proper constructed on a 130 meter granite hill. Here is the north stairway leading up to the inner fortifications.
Below, another view of the northern stairway overlooking the surrounding plain and one of the inner ramparts on that side.
This stairway leads to the mosque built by the third Shah of the dynasty, Ibrahim Quli Qutb Shah and to the small temple dedicated to the Hindu goddess Mahakali (Durga Devi), shown below.
The Durbar Hall at the very top of the hill is where the Shahs held their audiences and the general assemblies of the kingdom.
There is a great view from the top gallery of Durbar Hall. Hyderabad and Secunderabad can both be seen.
This plunging view from Durbar Hall shows the southern stairway and the ruins of the Shah's palaces below.
Below, views of Durbar Hall and of the inner ramparts.
The impressive inner ramparts can be seen behind the Taramati Masjid on the right.
Durbar Hall on the summit of Golconda Fortress.
Abu Hasan, the last of the Qutb Shahs held out here for seven months against a huge Moghul army commanded by Emperor Aurangzeb before losing the fort through the treachery of one of his generals in 1687.
As I was leaving Golconda, I met a Scottish retired doctor, Michael Ramage, who was also planning to visit the Salar Jang Museum so we went there together. It's a pity we had to deposit our cameras, otherwise I might have had a few exhibits to show you...
The next day, I took a bus to Secunderabad to catch the overnight train to Bangalore 14 hours away. On the train, I met a group of 32 high school girls and had an interesting conversation with some of them under the watchful surveillance of their male escorts who visibly did not appreciate my probing questions about the role of women in the Hindu society.
