Perhaps the best example of #AmalgamationArchitecture and the cultural inclusiveness of #Hyderabad under the Nizam is #OsmaniaUniversity Arts College founded in 1918. It's the 1st Indian university to have Urdu (a modern language) as medium of instruction (as opposed to Persian). 
Under the last Nizam, Osman Ali Pasha, #Hyderabad was thriving as a center of learning, innovation and technological advancement, free from the dark shadow of colonialism that gripped most of the Subcontinent. Hyderabad was quite insulated from India...
...and developed its own culture, architectural styles, cuisine, and most importantly, language. People from India were referred to as Hindustani and so was their language. The language of Hyderabad was Dakhani (of Deccan), which is very distinct from Hindi or Urdu...
spoken up North and is still alive today. You may find it peculiar or funny because of its wrong and humorous usage in Bollywood, but it's not just an accent or dialect, it's an evolved language with its own syntax. #Dakhani is a mixture of many different languages...
...and most people are still multi-lingual here. Under the Nizam's Dominion, being the largest princely state, Hyderabad included parts of current-day #Maharashtra and #Karnataka which were later partitioned by India on the basis of language...
...Cities like #Aurangabad, #Bidar and #Gulbarga were a part of Hyderabad and vestiges of similar architecture can be seen there. In fact, the conservation and restoration of the Ajanta caves was done by the Nizam’s Archaeological Department...
...It's easy for a Deccani to identify people from different parts of the Deccan just by hearing them speak Dakhani. It's also cool that a group of friends each speaking Dhakhani Urdu, English, Telugu and Hindi can have a conversation even if they can't speak all the languages...
There have been many poets&writers of Dakhani starting from Quli Qutb Shahi and his courtiers to Maha Laqa Bai "Chanda" in the 18th cent, the 1st woman poet to have diwan or anthology of her work,Gulzar-e-Mahlaqa. Hyderabadi theater group #Sutradhaar have performed a play on her.
As I'm no expert in literature, here's some mildly risqué humorous shayeri (poetry) by Khamakha Hyderabadi in Dakhani:
Apart from locals, Hyderabad has been home to many communities from the world over and from India: Europeans, Armenians, Turks, Africans, Arabs, Marwaris, Gujaratis, Sindhis, Parsis, Lodhis, etc. Their descendents all speak perfect Dakhani as a first language!
Dholak ke Geet are popular folk songs in Dakhani (sometimes deliberately mispronouced), usually sung by women, that describe strange and hilarious situations. Here's a taste:
Marfa is a folk dance by men in streets using swords (talwar), daggers (jambiya), cash and at times fire. It originated from Yemen (see the band uniform) and is seen at weddings, Bonalu and Ganesh Chaturti processions, even Independence day festivities:
More recent Hyderabadi music is this ode to biryani by Hyderabad Diaries:
And this immensely popular rap:
All rulers and monarchs were patrons of music, poetry, literature, art and architecture, as well as scientific research and invention in their own kingdoms. Osman Pasha, though, donated generously to Indian initiatives, universities and research centers as well...
He donated to #BanarasHinduUniversity (in the news now for protesting a Muslim professor teaching Sanskrit)at the request of Madan Mohan Malaviya, Aligarh Muslim University at the request of Sir Syed Ahmed Khan and the Indian Institute of Science at the request of Sir CV Raman...
...He also made donations to the Golden Temple,Amritsar and various Hindu temples. A request was made to the Nizam by Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute,Pune for the publication of the Mahabharata and he gave a yearly grant for 11 years and constructed the Nizam Guest House.
...The Nizam also donated 5,000 kg of gold to the National Defence Fund of India in the aftermath of the Indo-Pakistani War of 1965, after he was requested to contribute by Minister Lal Bahadur Shastri...
HEH The Nizam of #Hyderabad on the (real) cover of TIME Magazine in 1937 as the richest man in the world.
...Hyderabad under the Qutb Shahis as well as the Nizam made many strides in various fields. Sir Ronald Ross made his landmark discovery of the cure for malaria in Secunderabad in 1897, for which he was awarded the Nobel Prize for Medicine...
...Apart from #HussainSagar the heart-shaped lake built by the QutbShahis to dam the River Musi, the Asaf Jahis added many more reservoirs for water management & flood prevention. The best known one is #Gandipet or Osman Sagar that used to be the main water supply for the city...
...Though Hyderabad was not ruled by the British, the Nizam Asaf Jah II had signed a subsidary alliance in 1806 allowing them to establish Secunderabad as a British cantonment north of Hussain Sagar. They built the Secunderabad Railway station and most of the architecture...
...in Secunderabad is Neoclassical and more recent buildings have Art Deco influences...
Read more about the origins of #Secunderabad here (it's a whole nother world!):
It's the British that brought the trend of clocktowers and adding clocks to building faces to Hyderabad. That's Secunderabad Clock Tower on the left and Mahboob Chowk clocktower on the right, in Turkish style...
...this blending of architectural styles and inventing of a new eclectic style is particularly evident in #OsmaniaUniversity Arts College, and has come to be known as Osman Shahi or Osmanian Architecture.
The Arts College is blend of Qutb Shahi and Indo-Saracenic elements...
The Arts College is blend of Qutb Shahi and Indo-Saracenic elements...
...with some Mughal influences and rockcut elements inspired by Buddhist temples of Ajanta and Ellora caves. The ornamental pillars in the central Durbar hall are a representation of Kakatiya Architecture...
...It is said that "Hindu" elements such as heavy stone columns are at the base, representing a strong foundation of society, and "Islamic" elements like arches above representing Muslims taking support from the columns. Some have also tried to read this composition negatively...
...saying that "Hindu" elements have been placed lower and "Muslim" elements up high, and they have tried to portray by way of this urban legend that this is how society was set up. Of course, there is no such thing as Hindu or Muslim elements, only structural members...
...Unfortunately, peace in Hyderabad was disrupted after Indian independence, doing almost irreparable damage to secular society. As you may know, almost all princely states joined either India or Pakistan after the Partition, except #Hyderabad and #Kashmir...
...Hyderabad was the wealthiest and most powerful principality and the Nizam chose independence. But Hyderabad was landlocked and with the British moving out the army was insufficient to resist India. An ad hoc army of Razakars was assembled to prevent Indian occupation...
...under Kasim Razvi. The peasants of Telangana at this time were uprising against the feudal order and used guerilla warfare to overthrow or kill landlords and redistribute land. Their ideals aligned with communism and they wished to overthrow the Nizam as well and join India...
...as they were terrorized by the Razakars who had gone rogue. There was a standoff between India and Hyderabad that wasn't going anywhere. India couldn't allow a landlocked independent Muslim-led state to grow within it, it was impractical...
...not to mention Hyderabad was a very rich state. In order to control the militant Razakars, India sent in troopsthrough police action to invade Hyderabad and annex it in 1948, which forced the Nizam to surrender. This was called Operation Polo, and led to communal riots...
...along religious lines, a first for Hyderabad. The riots turned into massive pogroms against the Muslim population, making it the single largest massacre in Indian history. Nehru ordered well-respected Hindu professor, Sunderlal, to prepare a report on this massacre...
...but the contents of the #SunderlalReport were suppressed & kept hidden until 2013.The report was supposedly leaked & published abroad but not allowed to become public in India.According to @DalrympleWill it “estimates that as many as 200k Hyderabadi Muslims were slaughtered.”
@DalrympleWill ...Lawyer and civil rights activist AG Noorani wrote The Destruction of Hyderabad, that unpacked the massacre and triggered the unearthing of the #SunderlalReport, which can now be viewed at the Nehru Memorial Museum and Library...
bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-…
bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-…
@DalrympleWill ...It's not a known story, and has only been heard from our grandparents, a generation we are losing one by one. At least now the truth won't be buried with them...
@DalrympleWill ...As Telangana got clubbed with Andhra and Rayalseema on the basis of a shared regional language, things didn't go as smoothly as expected. Hindi/Urdu was severely suppressed, but signboards changed to Telugu and removal of any Urdu signs from historical buildings...
@DalrympleWill ... and some places renamed, such as KBR National Park, named after Kasu Brahmananda Reddy, former CM of AP. The entire park was an Asaf Jahi property, formerly Chiran Palace, that's now shrunk to a small protected space within the park. It is now a public park...
@DalrympleWill ...As you know, the language camaraderie between Andhra and #Telangana didn't last. Telangana Agitation had started early on, but the separate state was only formed in 2014. The changes I have noticed since have been minor but meaningful to me...
@DalrympleWill ...#Urdu has made its way back onto signage, which goes a long way in terms of inclusiveness and making Hyderabadis feel at home...
thehansindia.com/news/cities/hy…
thehansindia.com/news/cities/hy…
@DalrympleWill ...A whole network of government schools for minorities all over Telangana has been put into place and I can personally vouch for the discipline and infrastructure of at least one school in my neighborhood...
@DalrympleWill ...The Anees-ul-Ghurba orphanage in Nampally is being reconstructed...
archive.siasat.com/news/anees-ul-…
archive.siasat.com/news/anees-ul-…
@DalrympleWill ...The Charminar Pedestrianization Project has finally been put into action after two decades of visualizing it!
@DalrympleWill Unfortunately, there are always new negative elements that crop up to create unrest. Recently, through an act of cybervandalism, many names in the Old City were changed on @googlemaps. River Musi was renamed Muchukunda, Salarjung Pul was renamed Chota Shivaji Bridge...
@DalrympleWill @googlemaps ...and Hussain Sagar was renamed Jai Shri Ram Sagar! Talk about broken records! 🙄 Thankfully, the labels were removed after the story made the news. But this just goes to show that it's become so much easier to vandalize public space... thehindu.com/news/cities/Hy…
@DalrympleWill @googlemaps ...you don't need a Molotov cocktail or a spray can anymore, you don't even need to leave the comfort of your home and you remain anonymous and safe. And it also goes to hint at just how deep negative forces are stirring hatred in our country today.
@DalrympleWill @googlemaps If you're falling in love with #Hyderabad, here are some more books you may like!
