Dar-ush-Shifa

The Dar-ush-Shifa (“house of healing”) is the hospital of the Qutb Shahi city of Hyderabad. The Golconda chronicle translated by John Briggs describes the new city of Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah.¹ It says that “The King also built baths, hospitals, and other colleges, all of which were suitably furnished”.¹ It adds that “the attendants for the two former, and learned doctors for the latter, were liberally paid by government”.¹

Syed Ali Asgar Bilgrami lists the Dar-ush-Shifa among the buildings of Muhammad Quli’s reign.² Sha Rocco (1929) says that the king “also built Dar-us-Shifa or hospital”.³ The Imperial Gazetteer of 1909 ascribes it to “Sultan Kuli Kutb Shah”.⁴ But it adds that, except the Mecca Masjid and the Gosha Mahal, the Qutb Shahi buildings it lists in the city “were constructed by Sultan Muhammad Kuli Kutb Shah”.⁵ Bilgrami’s survey entry gives its date as 1004 A.H. (1595 A.D.).⁶ The same entry records no inscription on the building.⁶

The building

The gazetteer places it “about 200 yards to the north-west of the Purani Haveli”.⁴ It describes “a large building consisting of a paved quadrangular courtyard, with chambers all round for the accommodation of the sick”.⁴ “A number of native physicians were formerly maintained to minister to the sick and to teach medicine”.⁴ But by 1909 the building was “used as a barrack for some of the irregular troops”.⁴ “Opposite the entrance is a fine mosque erected at the same time as the hospital.”⁴

Bilgrami calls it a “double storyed hospital which has a square courtyard”.⁶ It was “also used as a residential college for imparting Unani Medical education”.⁶ A caravanserai and a bath were attached, “but at present these are in a neglected and ruinous condition and require much restoration”.⁶ The Dar-ush-Shifa mosque, still in use in 1927, was built by Muhammad Quli.⁷ Bilgrami adds that “its style bears affinity to other Qutb Shahi mosques” (is like them).⁷ Rocco says that in 1929 the building was used to house offices.³

The standard of Zain-ul-Abidin

Bilgrami saw a large steel standard (alam) in the northern enclosure, kept in a small room.⁶ The trustee showed him copies of two royal deeds, which were undated.⁶⁷ They said that a Persian, Agha Mohsin, had brought from Damascus a piece of the fetters (chains) of the fourth Imam, Zain-ul-Abidin.⁷ This piece was fixed in the standard.⁷ One hun (gold coin) a day was allowed for its flowers and incense under the Qutb Shahis, and two under Aurangzeb.⁷

From the words at the head of the deeds, Bilgrami assigned them to the reign of Abdullah Qutb Shah.⁶⁷ In 1931–33 the Archaeological Department spent Rs. 1,000 on buying land attached to the building.⁸

Footnotes

1. Golconda chronicle, in Muhammad Qasim Ferishta, tr. John Briggs, History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India, Vol. III (1829), p. 452 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³

2. Bilgrami, Landmarks of the Deccan (1927), pp. 130–131 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

3. Sha Rocco, Golconda and the Qutb Shahs (1929), p. 14 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩²

4. Imperial Gazetteer of India: Hyderabad State (1909), p. 115 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶

5. Imperial Gazetteer: Hyderabad (1909), p. 116 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩

6. Syed Ali Asgar Bilgrami, Landmarks of the Deccan (1927), p. 25 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷ ↩⁸

7. Bilgrami, Landmarks of the Deccan (1927), p. 26 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩ ↩² ↩³ ↩⁴ ↩⁵ ↩⁶ ↩⁷

8. Annual Report of the Archaeological Department of H.E.H. the Nizam’s Dominions, 1341–42 F. (1931–33) (1935), p. 7 (archive.org↗ (opens in a new tab)). ↩