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Toli Masjid inscription (1671)

A Persian verse inscription in the prayer niche of the Toli Masjid, Hyderabad. It records that Musa Khan built the mosque and that it was completed in the reign of Abdullah Qutb Shah. Its chronogram (a phrase whose letters give the date) gives AH 1082 (1671). G. Yazdani edited it in 1921, in Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica for 1917–18, and Bilgrami again in 1927. A second slab in the courtyard, of AH 1043 (1633), belongs to another mosque.

Photograph of the corner of a mosque on a high plinth, its arcaded facade topped by a pierced parapet and small turrets, with two tall many-tiered minarets rising at the corners.
Photograph of the corner of a mosque on a high plinth, its arcaded facade topped by a pierced parapet and small turrets, with two tall many-tiered minarets rising at the corners. · Archaeological Department, H.E.H. the Nizam's Dominions (G. Yazdani, Superintendent) (opens in a new tab) · Public domain

The Toli Masjid stands on the road from the Purana Pul to Golconda, and its building record is in the prayer niche.1 G. Yazdani published the record in 1921 with a plate.1 It was one of thirteen inscriptions of the Qutb Shahi kings in Hyderabad city and its suburbs that he published together.1 He described it as Persian verse in two lines, in Naskh script.1

The text

Yazdani translated it:

“For whom is the Kingdom today? For God, the One, the All-powerful. Musa Khan built this mosque of his Which was completed in the reign of Shah Abdullah, As a chronogram of the mosque this was heard (from the Invisible Speaker): ‘Built the mosque in the name of God.’ 1082 A.H. = 1671 A.D.”1

Syed Ali Asgar Bilgrami, writing in 1927, gives the same reading and the same year in nearly the same words.2 Bilgrami identifies the builder as Musa Khan, the mahaldar (chamberlain) of Abdullah Qutb Shah.3 He calls him both a minister and a general of the king.3 According to Bilgrami, the same man built the Musa Burj of Golconda fort.34 There a Persian and Telugu inscription names him as the commander who held the fort against the Mughals in 1656.34 Bilgrami adds that he took part in the choice of Abul Hasan as Abdullah’s successor.34 See the Musa Burj inscription.

The second slab

Two loose tablets of black basalt lie in the courtyard near a grave.51 Each measures 3 ft 2 in by 1 ft 3 in.51 Their Persian verse says that in the reign of King Abdullah “This building was completed through the efforts of the Shaikh, the leader”.51 It gives the chronogram “This mosque was built by the order of King Abdullah”, that is AH 1043 (1633; AH is the Islamic way of counting years).51 The calligrapher was Lutfullah al-Husaini of Tabriz.51

Yazdani pointed out that this record “records the erection of a mosque in 1043 A.H.”5 He added that this mosque “is different from the Toli Masjid, which, according to the inscription set up in the niche, was built by Musa Khan in 1082 A.H.”5

Bilgrami agreed, and he identified the Shaikh as Shaikh Muhammad Ibn Khatun, Abdullah’s peshwa (chief minister).62 Yazdani had already given the text of the 1043 slab in the department’s report for 1916–17.7

What the record settles

The inscription dates the mosque to Abdullah’s reign.81 A. Claude Campbell had written in 1898 that the mosque was built in 1604 by order of Muhammad Quli.81 Neither Yazdani nor Bilgrami mentions that date, and the niche record contradicts it.81

Footnotes

  1. Yazdani, Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica 1917–18 (1921), p. 50 and pls. XIX (a), XX (a) (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7 ↩8 ↩9 ↩10 ↩11 ↩12 ↩13

  2. Bilgrami, Landmarks of the Deccan (1927), p. 66 and plates (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2

  3. Bilgrami, Landmarks of the Deccan (1927), p. 67 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5

  4. Bilgrami, Landmarks of the Deccan (1927), p. 165 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

  5. G. Yazdani, “Inscriptions of the Qutb Shahi Kings in Hyderabad City and Suburbs”, Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica 1917–18 (1921), p. 49 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3 ↩4 ↩5 ↩6 ↩7

  6. Syed Ali Asgar Bilgrami, Landmarks of the Deccan (1927), p. 65 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  7. Annual Report of the Archaeological Department of H.E.H. the Nizam’s Dominions, 1326 F. (1916–17) (1917), p. 4 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩

  8. A. Claude Campbell, Glimpses of the Nizam’s Dominions (1898), p. 211 (archive.org (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩2 ↩3

Photos

References

Sources (4)
  1. G. Yazdani, Inscriptions of the Qutb Shahi Kings in Hyderabad City and Suburbs, Epigraphia Indo-Moslemica 1917–18 (opens in a new tab), Government of India, 1921, pp. 49–50, pls. XIX (a), XX (a). G. Yazdani. [Public domain]
  2. Syed Ali Asgar Bilgrami, Landmarks of the Deccan: A Comprehensive Guide to the Archaeological Remains of the City and Suburbs of Hyderabad (opens in a new tab), Government Central Press, Hyderabad-Deccan, 1927, pp. 65–67, 165. [Public domain]
  3. Archaeological Department, H.H. the Nizam's Dominions (G. Yazdani, Superintendent), Annual Report of the Archaeological Department of His Exalted Highness the Nizam's Dominions, 1326 F. (1916-17) (opens in a new tab), H.E.H. the Nizam's Government, 1917, pp. 4. [Public domain]
  4. A. Claude Campbell, Glimpses of the Nizam's Dominions, Being an Exhaustive Photographic History of the Hyderabad State, Deccan, India (opens in a new tab), C. B. Burrows, Bombay, 1898. [Public domain]

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