Qutub Shahi Tombs

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A little away from Golconda fort are a cluster of tombs, the most authentic evidence of the Qutub Shahi architectural traditions. Ensconced amidst picturesque and landscaped gardens, known as Ibrahim bagh, is the grandeur of these tombs dedicated to the memory of the seven Qutub Shahi kings who ruled Golconda for nearly 170 years. These constitute the most eloquent specimens of Indo-Persian architecture influenced by Deccani structural perceptions. The total impact of this fusion is the emergence of a distinct Qutub Shahi school marked by ostentation of arches, domes, minarets and columns. These architectural tendencies began surfacing in the time of Ibrahim Qutub Shah and reached their climax in the reign of Muhammed Quli Qutub Shah. The tombs are also an unequivocal manifestation of the structural engineering talent of the Qutub Shahi period.

The tombs still retain their original glory despite the combined assault of time, weather and man. The mausoleums of the rulers of Golconda and the founder of Hyderabad city are a standing tribute to their artistic fervour and constitute a storehouse of history. In the complex known as the Qutub Shahi tombs are buried others too who were either the close relatives of the rulers or nobles who served them faithfully. Prominent among these other tombs is the one erected in the memory of Hayath Bakshi Begum, daughter of the illustrious Muhammed Quli Qutub Shah, founder of Hyderabad city and the man who built the masonry colossus Charminar.

Most of the larger tombs are double storeyed while the smaller ones have single storeys. This large and close group of royal sepulchres stands on a raised plateau, each one of them erected on a wide quadrangular terrace reached from all sides by flights of steps. From the plinth to the peak, the mausoleums are marked by symmetry in arches and arcades. At the centre of each tomb is a sarcophagus crowning the burial vault and the crypt below. Several of the green and blue tiles adorning the many domes are missing now, a sad commentary on our sense of history.

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