Inside Hyderabad

Historic Hyderabad, now over 400 years old, is a curious combination of the ancient and the starkly modern. The two predominant religions, Hinduism and Islam, have for the most part coexisted in harmony, producing a unique culture, the Deccani, that has survived to this day.

Hyderabad was founded by Quli Qutb Shah after he defeated the reigning Bahmani rulers in 1512 and made the fortress, Golconda, the seat of his administration. To accommodate the burgeoning population he set up a new city, Hyderabad, a few miles off Golconda. The iconic Charminar or 'Four Minarets', the most famous landmark of Hyderabad, became the epicentre of this flourishing city, with four roads lined with stone-faced arcades leading off it.

Hyderabad's strategic location in the Deccan plateau and its prosperity and wealth (mainly from the famous Golconda diamond mines) had attracted the evil eye of many a marauder. The chief of these, the powerful Mughal Aurangzeb, laid siege to the once impregnable citadel and, in 1687, after a long and bloody battle, the Qutb Shahis accepted defeat. The Mughal Viceroys, the Asaf Jahis were to rule Hyderabad until 1948, when Princely India was merged into the new entity, the Indian Union.