Saturday, November 01, 2008
The story of Bhagmati, Hydermahal and Hyderabad
The story of Bhagmati, Bhagyanagar, Hyder Mahal and Hyderabad
Long back I started telling the story of Bhagmati, Bhagyanagar, Hyder Mahal and Hyderabad. But like many of my other promises, I failed to complete the story. This Dusserah season I had spent a complete week at Hyderabad and the charming lady again came back in my dream urging me to tell her story. This time let me complete it.
Where did I end in the last episode? Anyway forget it, let me start anew.
The problem is; from where should I start? Actually the love story of Bhagmati and prince Muhammad Quli Qutub Shah of Golconda has quite a few mythical lines. Over four centuries, the story has become more and more romantic. Let us meander through the scenes one by one:
Scene I
It starts with a fairy tale encounter; our heroine, village belle Bhagmati of village chichlam, on her way to temple and the young prince on his favorite horse.
Imagine the innocent girl, on her way to temple, suddenly hears the sound of approaching horses. She hides herself behind bushes knowing fully well that the horse mounted sultan’s warriors can only mean doom for a beautiful girl like her. She heaves a sigh of relief seeing the riders pass without noticing her. But as soon as she comes out, there comes one single rider and stops in front her. The young rider, though frightens her, also charms her. On enquiry he learns that the village beauty is on her way to the temple to offer her puja. He waits outside while Bhagmati worships her deity with her melodious songs mesmerizing the prince even more. She offers Prasad to the prince on her way back and binds the prince in her love forever. The fifteen year old prince does not have any chance. It is love at first sight for him. What about Bhagmati? Well, it does not take her long to fall for the charming prince.
The love blossoms at its own speed. The young prince is a frequent traveler to the small village Chichlam to meet his ladylove.
Scene II
The scene of a year of great storm and rain. Golconda and its surroundings are flooded by river Musi. The young prince is worried about his love and sets out to find her. He can not proceed much. The river Musi is fully swollen and the horse is unwilling to move an inch. But who can stop the young prince mad in love? He plunges in the swollen river along forcing his reluctant horse into the river. Both escape miraculously and reaching Chichlam rescues Bhagmati, brings her back to Golconda much to the anguish of the reigning sultan, his father Sultan Ibrahim. Sultan Ibrahim is not amused by the dangerous adventure of his offspring. But as he realizes how madly the prince is in love, he does the only sensible thing he can do; he constructs a bridge over Musi so that the prince can visit his ladylove without risking his life.
Scene III
Like any other love story here also all is not well always. Once the prince charm stops coming to her lover. Rumors start floating around. Bhagmati comes to know that her prince charm has become the Sultan of Golconda on the demise of his father. There are also rumors that the newly crowned sultan has married the daughter of his prime minister. Bhagmati spends sleepless nights but her prince never comes back. After two months, when Bhagmati started believing that she lost her lover prince in the Sultan of Golconda, the Sultan arrives. But for what? Like any other affronted lady Bhagmati spurns the advances of the Sultan. What for did he come? Is he not satisfied with his newly wed bride? Does he realize how humiliating is this to be left out by her lover without even a single message? Could not he even send her a message at least?
The Sultan shows his patience for his lady love. Explains the intricacies of a noble life. Explains that he had to agree to this marriage of convenience to keep his sultanate. It is a question of the life of her beloved sultan.
Like any other lady, Bhagmati falls for the charm of her love. She agrees to accompany the Sultan, but only on her conditions. The young Sultan is ready to do anything for his ladylove. A great marriage is arranged. It is said the level of celebrations were unparalleled in the history of Qutb Shahi era.
Young Sultan also is a poet or maybe the beauty of Bhagmati brought out the poet in him. He composes number of poems praising her beauty, which off course delights the lady to no end. The lovers knit their own lives, the sultan composing poems for her and the lady singing and dancing for him.
Scene IV
The Sultan wants to give something worthy to his ladylove. And what he does? He builds a new city. He names it Bhagyanagar. In the year 1591 he laid the foundation stone of the new city. Under direct supervision of his prime minister Mir Momin, the new city is built with the grandeur of heaven.
Scene V
The entrance of Bhagmati in the new city named after her is worth noting. She comes in a palanquin carried by eight men. The entourage consist one thousand ‘ghor shaowars’ – horse riders. As her entourage approaches the palace, the Sultan comes running to welcome her. He shows her the inscription on the new palace ‘Hyder Mahal’. As the eyebrows of Bhagmati raises in question, Sultan clarifies that from that very day Bhagmati is renamed as ‘Hyder Mahal’ and to be known as the queen and that will be her palace. It’s anybody’s guess how Bhagmati reacted, how she responded to the love of her Sultan and how she rewarded the Sultan in return.
Scene VI
After twelve years of their marriage Bhagmati conceives. A girl is born in due course of time. Sultan celebrates her birth fit for a royal prince. All the palaces of the new city including charminar are illuminated for seven days. There are feasts all over the city for days together. The nobles of the Sultanate vie with each other in arranging feast for all and sundry to celebrate the birth of Sultan’s favorite child. On the fortieth day the child is named Hayath Bakshi and is taken away from Bhagmati to be groomed as a successor of the Sultan.
Scene VII
Numerous malicious stories are floating around about the Sultan and his Hindu queen. Conspiracies continue to be hatched in and around the palace. Even Sultan’s own brother joins the conspiracy. One Faizi, regent of Mughal emperor Akbar the great at Ahmednagar, sends a disparaging report on Sultan to the emperor, in which he describes Bhagmati as an ‘old hag’, on whom the Sultan is mad. The secret message is widely circulated. The repeated attacks take its’ toll. Bhagmati falls ill and even before her fortieth birthday she breaths her last. The sultan is inconsolable but somehow recovers after a couple of months. Around that time Hayath Bakshi reaches the age of thirteen. A new era of Qutb Shahi rule is about to start.
Curtain falls.
Let me clarify now. The love story of Bhagmati and Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the 5th ruler of Qutb Shahi dynasty, is woven around fact and fiction. Though everyone agrees that the name of the city is derived from Bhagmati, there is no concrete historical evidence of the existence of Bhagmati. Here I have described her as a village belle, but some other stories depict her as a danseuse.
If you want to go back to earlier narrations go to http://lionbikash.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/01/a-virtual-tour-to-hyderabad.htm
Long back I started telling the story of Bhagmati, Bhagyanagar, Hyder Mahal and Hyderabad. But like many of my other promises, I failed to complete the story. This Dusserah season I had spent a complete week at Hyderabad and the charming lady again came back in my dream urging me to tell her story. This time let me complete it.
Where did I end in the last episode? Anyway forget it, let me start anew.
The problem is; from where should I start? Actually the love story of Bhagmati and prince Muhammad Quli Qutub Shah of Golconda has quite a few mythical lines. Over four centuries, the story has become more and more romantic. Let us meander through the scenes one by one:
Scene I
It starts with a fairy tale encounter; our heroine, village belle Bhagmati of village chichlam, on her way to temple and the young prince on his favorite horse.
Imagine the innocent girl, on her way to temple, suddenly hears the sound of approaching horses. She hides herself behind bushes knowing fully well that the horse mounted sultan’s warriors can only mean doom for a beautiful girl like her. She heaves a sigh of relief seeing the riders pass without noticing her. But as soon as she comes out, there comes one single rider and stops in front her. The young rider, though frightens her, also charms her. On enquiry he learns that the village beauty is on her way to the temple to offer her puja. He waits outside while Bhagmati worships her deity with her melodious songs mesmerizing the prince even more. She offers Prasad to the prince on her way back and binds the prince in her love forever. The fifteen year old prince does not have any chance. It is love at first sight for him. What about Bhagmati? Well, it does not take her long to fall for the charming prince.
The love blossoms at its own speed. The young prince is a frequent traveler to the small village Chichlam to meet his ladylove.
Scene II
The scene of a year of great storm and rain. Golconda and its surroundings are flooded by river Musi. The young prince is worried about his love and sets out to find her. He can not proceed much. The river Musi is fully swollen and the horse is unwilling to move an inch. But who can stop the young prince mad in love? He plunges in the swollen river along forcing his reluctant horse into the river. Both escape miraculously and reaching Chichlam rescues Bhagmati, brings her back to Golconda much to the anguish of the reigning sultan, his father Sultan Ibrahim. Sultan Ibrahim is not amused by the dangerous adventure of his offspring. But as he realizes how madly the prince is in love, he does the only sensible thing he can do; he constructs a bridge over Musi so that the prince can visit his ladylove without risking his life.
Scene III
Like any other love story here also all is not well always. Once the prince charm stops coming to her lover. Rumors start floating around. Bhagmati comes to know that her prince charm has become the Sultan of Golconda on the demise of his father. There are also rumors that the newly crowned sultan has married the daughter of his prime minister. Bhagmati spends sleepless nights but her prince never comes back. After two months, when Bhagmati started believing that she lost her lover prince in the Sultan of Golconda, the Sultan arrives. But for what? Like any other affronted lady Bhagmati spurns the advances of the Sultan. What for did he come? Is he not satisfied with his newly wed bride? Does he realize how humiliating is this to be left out by her lover without even a single message? Could not he even send her a message at least?
The Sultan shows his patience for his lady love. Explains the intricacies of a noble life. Explains that he had to agree to this marriage of convenience to keep his sultanate. It is a question of the life of her beloved sultan.
Like any other lady, Bhagmati falls for the charm of her love. She agrees to accompany the Sultan, but only on her conditions. The young Sultan is ready to do anything for his ladylove. A great marriage is arranged. It is said the level of celebrations were unparalleled in the history of Qutb Shahi era.
Young Sultan also is a poet or maybe the beauty of Bhagmati brought out the poet in him. He composes number of poems praising her beauty, which off course delights the lady to no end. The lovers knit their own lives, the sultan composing poems for her and the lady singing and dancing for him.
Scene IV
The Sultan wants to give something worthy to his ladylove. And what he does? He builds a new city. He names it Bhagyanagar. In the year 1591 he laid the foundation stone of the new city. Under direct supervision of his prime minister Mir Momin, the new city is built with the grandeur of heaven.
Scene V
The entrance of Bhagmati in the new city named after her is worth noting. She comes in a palanquin carried by eight men. The entourage consist one thousand ‘ghor shaowars’ – horse riders. As her entourage approaches the palace, the Sultan comes running to welcome her. He shows her the inscription on the new palace ‘Hyder Mahal’. As the eyebrows of Bhagmati raises in question, Sultan clarifies that from that very day Bhagmati is renamed as ‘Hyder Mahal’ and to be known as the queen and that will be her palace. It’s anybody’s guess how Bhagmati reacted, how she responded to the love of her Sultan and how she rewarded the Sultan in return.
Scene VI
After twelve years of their marriage Bhagmati conceives. A girl is born in due course of time. Sultan celebrates her birth fit for a royal prince. All the palaces of the new city including charminar are illuminated for seven days. There are feasts all over the city for days together. The nobles of the Sultanate vie with each other in arranging feast for all and sundry to celebrate the birth of Sultan’s favorite child. On the fortieth day the child is named Hayath Bakshi and is taken away from Bhagmati to be groomed as a successor of the Sultan.
Scene VII
Numerous malicious stories are floating around about the Sultan and his Hindu queen. Conspiracies continue to be hatched in and around the palace. Even Sultan’s own brother joins the conspiracy. One Faizi, regent of Mughal emperor Akbar the great at Ahmednagar, sends a disparaging report on Sultan to the emperor, in which he describes Bhagmati as an ‘old hag’, on whom the Sultan is mad. The secret message is widely circulated. The repeated attacks take its’ toll. Bhagmati falls ill and even before her fortieth birthday she breaths her last. The sultan is inconsolable but somehow recovers after a couple of months. Around that time Hayath Bakshi reaches the age of thirteen. A new era of Qutb Shahi rule is about to start.
Curtain falls.
Let me clarify now. The love story of Bhagmati and Sultan Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the 5th ruler of Qutb Shahi dynasty, is woven around fact and fiction. Though everyone agrees that the name of the city is derived from Bhagmati, there is no concrete historical evidence of the existence of Bhagmati. Here I have described her as a village belle, but some other stories depict her as a danseuse.
If you want to go back to earlier narrations go to http://lionbikash.sulekha.com/blog/post/2007/01/a-virtual-tour-to-hyderabad.htm
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