Toli Masjid - Hyderabad

Toli Masjid or Damri Masjid is a mosque built in the year 1671 in the Karvan area of Hyderabad. It is between Golkonda Fort and the Charminar. This is a protected monument and declared as a heritage monument by Archeological Survey of India. After Mecca Masjid this mosque is considered as a grand architectural structure at Hyderabad.

They say that when the royal architect was building Mecca Masjid, he was given one damri/damdi (coin) out of every rupee spent on it. The sum of money thus collected was used by Musa Khan to construct the Toli Masjid. Hence, this masjid is also called Damri Masjid.

The mosque is on a raised platform. It has a series of steps on the east, north and south. The prayer hall of the mosque is located to the west of the courtyard. The Masjid is decorated with beautiful stuccowork. On the south east of the courtyard, there is a tomb of Musa Khan. The mosque is also a prominent landmark of this region owing to its location close to the road and is one of the major landmarks in Karwan region of old city.

Megnificient Mosque of Hyderabad, India

Standing between Chowmahalla Palace and the iconic Charminar, Mecca Masjid is equally a magnificent structure as its neighbors! It is the biggest and the most spectacular mosque in Hyderabad and one of the biggest mosques in India. It is so big that it can accommodate ten thousand people at a time for prayer. 

The entire mosque is built of granite stones. It was built by Muhammad Quli Qutub, the fifth ruler of the Qutub Shahi family. This is named after the Grand Mosque of Mecca at Saudi Arabia. 

According to history, Sultan Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah began the construction of Mecca Masjid in Hyderabad under the guidance of Choudhary Rangaiah and Daroga Mir Faizullah. The construction was completed by Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb in 1694 after 77 years and seven thousand workers were involved in the construction of this mosque. They say that some of the stones were brought from the Holy land of Mecca for its construction and hence the name.

The prayer hall is decorated with most expensive crystal chandeliers imported from Belgium. They are kept covered on normal days and the covers are removed on special occasions only.  

This mosque has two ablution ponds one at the front and the other at the northern side of the mosque. There is a separate entrance on the southern side of the mosque for Nizams to enter the mosque. It is believed that a strand of Prophet Mohammed’s hair is preserved in a room in the mosque courtyard.  

Inside the mosque, there are 5 passageways and tombs of the rulers belonging to the ‘Asaf Jahi’ dynasty. Ancient and rare artifacts and relics are treasured in a room located in the courtyard. 

Reclaimed temple

The main temple at Alampur - a small town about 23 Km from Kurnool Telangana is very unique. Unique because this temple has the distinction of being built TWICE from the foundation! 

During 7th – 8th century, the Chalukya Kings built this temple for Lord Shiva and called it Sangameshwar temple on the banks of the river Tungabhadra. This temple is a wonderful collection of some outstanding sculptures. 

When the Srisailam Dam was about to be built across Tungabadhra river, it was certain that this 7th century temple would be submerged in the waters of the catchment area of the dam. It was then the Archeological Survey of India came out with the brilliant idea of uprooting the entire temple from its original place of construction and rebuilding it far away in a safer place so that this wonderful temple could be saved for posterity! 

This was a herculean task for ASI. Whole temple was divided into several thousand blocks and each block was systematically marked. Then each block was carefully cut and all these blocks were marked and then transported to the new site. Superb care was taken to see that nothing was damaged during the cutting process or during the transportation. After extensive documentation of each block they were transported to the new site – the present one – which is 25 kms from its original place. Elaborate planning and care was involved in the transportation of these pieces. 

Once the entire temple was transplanted to the new site the reconstruction work began. It was now the extensive documentation they have made was put to its best use. Again piece by piece the entire temple was reconstructed from the foundation. Today what we see as Sangamesvarasvami temple was actually the one reconstructed by ASI. 

This involved work of gigantic proportions very similar to that carried out to Abu Simbel in Egypt! Thus the entire temple was reconstructed which was exactly same as it stood in its original place. After the reconstruction work was over they chemically washed all the markings and nothing is visible today.

Today Alampur Sangamesvarasvami temple stands as a testimony to the great skill and expertise that is available with our Archeological Survey of India.

A EUROPEAN MOSQUE IN HYDERABAD!

Called as “Spanish Mosque” it is an architecturally different kind of Mosque, which you can see in Hyderabad, India. This mosque stands out as a solemn testimony to a glorious past in an area where concrete structures now overshadow everything. A flyover, an over-head water tank and many other concrete buildings have submerged the mosque into the modern man made jungle!

After Viqar-ulUmra returned from his European tour, being the personal guest of Queen Victoria, he wanted to leave a mark of his own in Hyderabad. The architectural splendor of the monuments of Europe inspired him so much that he set out to build the most beautiful palace in the world ¬ Falaknuma Palace and a mosque in a very different style. Both the palace and the mosque were built during 1891 and 1904! Although he started the construction of Spanish Mosque, it was completed by his successor Nawab Sultan-ul Mulk Bahadur.

The mosque proper comprises of a main prayer hall, two rooms in front of it and a central corridor for entering the hall. An octagonal dome caps the central corridor with a perforated screen. The roof is of Jack arch type on iron girders with brick and lime concrete. The main roof is pointed and topped by two octagonal domes and four minarets.

 

Inside Charminar

This post is for those of you who have not visited Hyderabad!

I am sure many of you would have seen the picture of this Iconic structure of Hyderabad.  Once you go inside you would realize how awesome this structure is!

The best thing is that they allow you to climb up to the first floor of this monument.  This monument is more than 400 years old. Recently various agencies have come together and a big renovation work is in progress.  Here are few pictures taken inside the Charminar.

 

 

 

 

 

Another post of mine on Charminar: http://vgopalan.blogspot.in/2010/06/charminar.html

India Gate

India Gate is at the centre of New Delhi, which almost resembles “Arc-de-Triomphe” of Paris. It is 42 meters tall and commemorates the 70,000 soldiers who lost their life fighting for the British Army during the First World War. This memorial bears the names of more than 13,516 British and Indian soldiers killed in the Northwestern Frontier in the Afgan war of 1919. 

The foundation stone of India Gate was laid by the Duke of Connaught in 1921 and it was designed by Edwin Lutyens. The monument was dedicated to the nation 10 years later by the then Viceroy, Lord Irwin.

The entire arch stands on a low base of red Bharatpur stone and rises in stages to a huge molding. The cornice is inscribed with the Imperial signs while both sides of the arch have INDIA, flanked by the dates MCMXIV (1914 left) and MCMXIX (1919 right). The shallow domed bowl at the top was intended to be filled with burning oil on anniversaries although it is rarely done.

When India got its independence another memorial was added to India Gate. It is called Amar Jawan Jyoti. Here an eternal flame burns day and night for the entire year as a mark of respect to those soldiers who laid down their lives in the India-Pakistan war of December 1971. The Amar Jawan Jyoti is made up of black marble and has a gun and a soldier’s cap on top of it.

During nightfall, India Gate is dramatically floodlit while the fountains nearby make a lovely display with coloured lights. India Gate stands at one end of Rajpath, and the area surrounding it is generally referred to as 'India Gate'. 

 

Temple for formless God!

 Avudaiyar Koil or Kovil (Koil or Kovil in Tamil language = Temple) is a small village in Pudukkottai district of Tamil Nadu in southern part of India. The town itself is called by the name of the temple. The basic structure of this temple was built by Tamil poet Manickavasagar under the Pandian Kingdom during the 9th century and it was then called as Thiruperunthurai. Subsequently many additions were made to this temple by other Kings including the Cholas who ruled this region. What stands today as Avudaiyar Koil is a cumulative effort of various builders over time! This temple houses some of the grandest workmanship of Hindu temples in Tamil Nadu, even referred to as an untouched treasure by some.

The entire temple is decorated with breathtaking sculptures. Overtime the sculptors from these parts of Tamil Nadu considered the sculptures of this temple as a benchmark in carving! 

Many of the things which we normally see in a Shiva temple are missing in this temple! First the God here is formless! Only base of the lingam (Avudaiyar – hence the name) is seen in the sanctum sanctorum. There is no Nandhi in this temple or for that matter Kodimaram (pole in which the temple flag is hoisted). Shiva temple normally faces northward but this one is facing south! The navagraha statues are carved on the pillars itself.  Only the feet of Parvathi are seen and not the entire figure! 

The striking granite sculptures in the Avudaiyar Koil temple are the many carvings, stone chains and the pillars! Each pillar in this temple is a collection of sculptures. 

This temple’s highlights are the two statues of a Kuravan and a Kurathi (hunter and his wife). The figures are examples of the attention to intricate details shown by the sculptors. The minute details from the toe nails to the hairstyles with every strand of hair delineated, to the veins and bones of the body lovingly recreated makes the visitor wonder at the dedication and skill of the sculptors of that era.

A unique statue: There is a statue in this temple which depicts the process of child birth using gravitational force! Many people who have visited this temple would not have seen this statue. This statue is carved at the base of a pillar which is very difficult to identify! I was able to see this statue thanks to my guide who is extremely knowledgeable about this temple!  

Avudaiyar Kovil was best described by The English professional photographer Captain Edmund David Lyon (1825-1891). Here it is - “It is quite impossible to give any idea of the beauty of the work here to be found. Each pillar is of itself worthy of the closest investigation, and hours might be spent in this one outer porch, and still not half its wonderful carving be discovered. The pillars are so close together, and the light is so very obscure, that to photograph it properly would be impossible, more especially as whitewash and paint have done their worst to obscure and destroy what was originally so perfect. There is not, however, one spot in the whole porch that is not exquisite; and when we consider the nature of the stone and the quantity of the pillars, it is doubtful if there is anything so beautiful, on a small scale, in the whole of Southern India. The whole of the outer pillars in front of the portico have been carved into different incarnations of the gods, which, in point of execution, far exceed almost any to be found elsewhere, for though at Peroor and Tinnevelly, perhaps, the figures are equally good in appearance, but when the nature of the stone is considered, these must be pronounced much more wonderful”.

 

Another post on this temple: Awesome roof