“The city disappears street by street as you enter it.”
Ian Seed
Charminar, Hyderabad, India
Wandering the streets from Dabeerpura with Google Maps in hand, I had my eyes set for the Malwala Palace. Imagery from the internet had enticed me. On reaching the spot where it was to be, I came to know they had razed this beauty in the year 2000! While I figured where next, a friendly khatoon (Muslim Lady) made me realise that I was very close to the famed city centre of Bhagyanagar, later renamed as Hyderabad.
The masterpiece from where the city radiated out in 1591 AD was Charminar (Four minarets). A design never seen earlier, it became an exemplar for Indo-Islamic architecture. It sits at the centre of the four-quarter design of the city, in a chaubara (Four-fold house) at the intersection of four streets, each with a Char Kaman (Four arched gateways).
The History and Conception
To commemorate the second millennia of the Hijri (Islamic calendar), Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah planned a new city and construction of Charminar.
Ancient Hindu cosmological traditions of chaubara merged with the Persian image of the cosmos, Chahar Taq (Four Arches). The ensemble of Char Kaman and Charminar was its symbol. The Chahar Taq imagines the universe as an infinite quadrangular domed structure and borne on four arches. At the apex, is the illumination by Sun, the light of heaven and earth. The ground floor of Charminar depicts this with a low compressed dome having a solar lotus at its apex.
The credit for its grand conception goes to Mir Momin Astrabadi, the first Prime minister of Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah. He modelled the city and the monument on Isfahan, a city in Iran where he hailed from. Isfahan-e-Nou (The new Isfahan) as he preferred calling it, had houses, palaces, monuments, gardens and squares around the Charminar. The Chief Engineer of the project, Shehryar, also came from Iran.
The Design
Arches and minarets alternate to create a pattern of empty and full spaces, a unique design, unlike any earlier structure. Attached to the main edifice are the flute-like minarets. Each of these minarets has a dome with delicate petal-like designs at its base.
The four grand arches lead into a small courtyard with a fountain used for wazu (ablution) that points to the solar lotus on the dome. 149 winding steps from the courtyard lead to the first-floor galleries.
Designs of the Alam in stucco and plasterwork adorn the inner walls of the four galleries. Delicate marble projections on the granite, limestone and mortar building bring the royal touch.
The second level, which is the main gallery of the monument, has a mosque on its western end, and its open area used to have the royal court during Qutb Shahi reign. The roof above, with stone railings, hosted the Friday prayers.
In 1889, the sixth Nizam brought from England, four British Era French design clocks. He got them added to the facade above each of the arches. Except for a brief period when they were not functioning, they have been Hyderabad’s time-keepers for over 125 years.
View from the Inspiration
From the galleries, awesome views overlooking the four royal streets leading out through each of the Kaman (arch) would have been the norm in those times. Now, one can see the crowded Lad Bazaar, Mecca Masjid, Nizamia Hospital, Jamia Masjid Shujaiya, and the Char Kaman.
The imprint of this novel architecture travelled to far-off Bukhara in Uzbekistan. In 1807, the city built a gateway similar in design. The Charminar of Bukhara is part of the UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Next week, let’s visit the recipient of ‘The UNESCO Asia Pacific Merit Award for Cultural Heritage Conservation’, a royal residence worth an ogle.
