Qutb Shahi Tombs · Telugu History

Old photograph looking down from the fort over rocky ground and ruined walls to the domes of the royal tombs on the plain. · Unknown photographer (British Library, Photo 19 series), via Wikimedia Commons (opens in a new tab) · Public domain

The tombs of the Qutb Shahi kings stand about half a mile north of Golconda Fort.¹ The Imperial Gazetteer of 1909 counted them among the most remarkable examples of Muslim architecture in the Nizam’s dominions.² The tombs of all the kings except the last are identified here, two of them by tradition rather than by inscription. The last king, Abul Hasan, died a prisoner at Daulatabad and was buried at Khuldabad.³

The buildings

The Imperial Gazetteer describes the tombs as square or oblong, built of granite.¹ The lower part of each is an arcade of pointed arches on a raised terrace, crowned by a dome.¹ The sarcophagi (stone coffins) are of black basalt or greenstone, “beautifully carved”.¹ It adds that the tombs had suffered from time and from Aurangzeb’s siege guns.¹ Their enamelled tiles had been stolen.¹

Bilgrami describes it as the custom of the time for a king to build his own tomb in his lifetime.⁴ The domes of ruling kings were marked by golden crescents on their spires.⁵ Those of other members of the family stood on lower terraces without that sign.⁵

The royal tombs

Sultan Quli (d. 1543). The earliest dome stands on a square terrace 100 feet each way.⁶ It is octagonal (eight-sided) inside and holds three graves.⁶ Outside on the terrace lie 21 uninscribed basalt graves.⁶ The founder’s sarcophagus carries Shia prayers and the Throne Verse in three bands.⁶ At its foot an inscription names him “the Martyr”.⁶ It gives the date of his death, 2 Jumada II AH 950 (September 1543; AH is the Islamic way of counting years).⁶

Beside it is a mortuary bath.⁷ The bodies of the royal dead were brought out of the fort through the Banjara gate and washed there before burial.⁷

Jamshid (d. 1550) and Subhan Quli. Bilgrami identifies Jamshid’s tomb by its closeness to his father’s, as the Qutb Shahi histories describe.⁸ Yet its sarcophagus is not of black basalt and its form differs from the others.⁸ An uninscribed dome between the two is known as that of “Chhote Malik”.⁸ It is said to hold Subhan Quli.⁸

Ibrahim (d. 1580). His dome is larger than his father’s.⁹ It once had Persian enamelled tiles, traces of which survive on the south wall.⁹ It stands on a terrace 117 feet square.⁹ The inscription gives the date of his death as Thursday, 21 Rabi II AH 988 (June 1580).⁹

On the same terrace is the tomb of his son Mirza Muhammad Amin (d. 1596).¹⁰ Its sarcophagus carries the 112th chapter of the Quran in Kufic script.¹⁰ Bilgrami calls it the only specimen of Kufic in Golconda or Hyderabad.¹⁰

Muhammad Quli (d. 1612). The founder of Hyderabad has one of the grandest tombs.¹¹ It stands on a double terrace whose upper level is 200 feet square.¹¹ The burial chamber lies in a vault below the terrace.¹¹ In Bilgrami’s time it was the only royal vault that was open.¹¹

Sultan Muhammad (d. 1626). His tomb is a square hall 63 ft 4 in each way with a colonnade (row of pillars).¹² It once had enamelled tiles on its front.¹² His sarcophagus records three dates:¹²

his birth in Rajab AH 1001 (1593)¹²
his accession on 17 Zi’l-qada 1020 (January 1612)¹²
his death on 13 Jumada I 1035 (February 1626)¹²

Hayat Bakhsh Begam (d. 1666). She was the daughter of Muhammad Quli, wife of Sultan Muhammad and mother of Abdullah.¹³ She was a powerful figure through three reigns.¹³ Her mausoleum copies her husband’s.¹³

Next to it stands the largest mosque of the burial ground, with fifteen cupolas (small domes).¹⁴ It was built in the same year, AH 1077 (1666–67).¹⁴ The calligrapher Taqiuddin Muhammad of Bahrain wrote the Quranic inscription in its prayer niche.¹⁴ It copies the lettering of the niche of the Jami Masjid in Hyderabad, carved seventy-one years earlier.¹⁴

Abdullah (d. 1672). His mausoleum stands outside the main enclosure on a platform 237 feet each way.¹⁵ It is in the style of his parents’ tombs.¹⁵ Its inscription gives his death as 3 Muharram AH 1083 (April 1672) and a reign of 48 years.¹⁵

Other tombs

Nearby stands a large unfinished tomb, popularly called that of Abul Hasan Tana Shah.¹⁶ Bilgrami says the king began it but could never be buried there.¹⁶ It holds the grave of his rival Mirza Nizamuddin Ahmad, who died in AH 1085 (1674).¹⁶

Other domes in the burial ground include the twin domes popularly called those of Pemmati and Taramati.¹⁷ Bilgrami describes these two women as royal concubines.¹⁷

A place of charity

The site was known in Qutb Shahi times as the Langar-i-Faiz Athar, a place of bountiful entertainment.¹⁸ Tavernier visited in the mid-17th century.¹⁹ He saw bread and pulao given every afternoon to all the poor who came.¹⁹ He wrote that “when you wish to see something really beautiful” one should visit on a festival day.¹⁹ On such days the tombs were covered from morning to evening with rich carpets.¹⁹

Bilgrami adds that the tombs were treated as a sanctuary, where a fugitive criminal could find amnesty (pardon).⁵ Copies of the Quran were kept there and recited at fixed hours.⁵

Conservation

According to Bilgrami, years of neglect had left the tombs in a poor state.⁵ Then the minister Sir Salar Jang had them repaired.⁵ He also laid out a garden, built an enclosing wall and posted a guard.⁵ In 1927 the Nizam’s private estate department, the Sarf-i-Khas, looked after them.⁵