Last week, Hyderabadis suddenly woke up to the exciting news that a secret tunnel may have been discovered near the historic Golconda Fort. It wasn’t the first time, and it won’t be the last either. However, the entire episode turned out to be a dud after the Archaeological Survey of India clarified that the structure was a small cave or chamber, not a tunnel.
In 2015, a structure discovered at a construction site near Charminar was similarly said to be a tunnel, but was demolishedby the Hyderabad police before it could be verified. This obsession with tunnels exists because many believe that the founders of Hyderabad built tunnels connecting Golconda Fort to the Charminar area in the Old City.
I visited the spot a day after the euphoria had died down. But instead of looking for tunnels that may or may not exist, what Hyderabadis should be more concerned about is the absolutely pitiful state of the historic Golconda Fort.
The history of Golconda Fort
The fort was developed as a walled city by the Qutb Shahi or Golconda rulers (1518-1687), who established their kingdom there before Hyderabad was founded.
Sultan Quli, the founder of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, originally came to India as a refugee in the late 15th century and settled in Bidar, then the capital of the Bahamani Empire (1347-1518). He eventually rose to become the governor of Golconda in the early 1500s, and it was under him that the fort began to develop into a proper city. Sultan Quli and the other governors of the Bahamani Empire became independent in 1518 after the death of its last sovereign king.
The important point is that after Sultan Quli, the fort continued to be built and was eventually completed, although the exact date is not known. It is believed to have been during the reign of his youngest son, the third king, Sultan Ibrahim. At its height, Golconda Fort had a circumference of about 6.5 kilometres, with 87 bastions and eight gates.
It was a massive fort, which is why it was never breached throughout its history. Hyderabad was founded in 1591 by Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the fourth king, and the fort was eventually abandoned. However, its importance was renewed when the sixth king, Sultan Abdullah, moved back to the fort after the first Mughal attack, during Shah Jahan’s reign, in 1656.
The last battle between the Mughals and the seventh and last Qutb Shahi king, Sultan Abul Hasan, was fought from Golconda Fort in 1687. It lasted about eight months, from January to September, as the Mughals under Aurangzeb were unable to breach the fort despite employing all sorts of tactics. Eventually, one of the fort’s gatekeepers was bribed, allowing the Mughals to enter and end the Golconda kingdom.
It’s about Hyderabad’s heritage
One would think that such an important site would be well protected. But there is barely any effort on that front. Since the 1980s, thousands of homes have been built within the fort’s walls, between its gates and the main palace complex, called Bala Hisar.
Only Bala Hisar, where there is ticketed entry, or the palace complex, is properly protected by the ASI. The rest of the fort is basically up for grabs, with parts left to their own devices, with only God as their protector. In fact, believe it or not, the area where the ‘tunnel’ or cave was discovered is close to one of the fort’s gates, called the Patancheru Darwaza.
The Patancheru Darwaza today lies in disrepair and, ironically, until a year ago had retained the old moat along the fort’s boundary. But even that has disappeared now, and the area keeps changing each time I visit. The area had remained virtually empty until a few decades ago, but as the city grew, people began moving into it.
Similarly, the fort eventually became a garrison, which is why, after the annexation of Hyderabad to India in 1948, whatever remained of the military garrison was taken over by the Indian Army. Today, the ASI barely says anything to the Army in terms of jurisdiction because, even though it is the rightful custodian of the fort, it more or less looks the other way when anything happens, especially when it comes to encroachments by civilians.
What many don’t understand is that when we talk about Golconda Fort, it has to be seen in its entirety, not just in terms of the main palace. What has been lost has been lost. But the ASI should, at this point, at least secure whatever remains, because people living in the area don’t care about its history but see it only in terms of real estate.
So it’s about time the ASI stepped up and protected the areas outside the main fort. Otherwise, soon there will be irreparable damage to what remains of Hyderabad’s heritage.
Yunus Lasania is a Hyderabad-based journalist whose work primarily focuses on politics, history and culture. He tweets @YunusLasania. Views are personal.
(Edited by Prashant Dixit)