HYDERABAD:On the 500th anniversary of the legendary Qutb Shahi dynasty Hyderabad Youth Mirror organised a talk in Lamakaan recently. It centered on the legacy of Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah. Andrew Fleming, the British Deputy High Commissioner (TS and AP) and media-personality Mir Ayoob Ali Khan were the invited speakers.
Andrew talked about his heritage walks in the city especially to dargahs in Nampally while Ayoob delved deep into the history of the royals. He talked about the interfaith marriages in the Deccan region as to how Bahmani kings married Vijayanagara princesses.
He narrated the much-famous anecdote of Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah and Bhagmati saying, “There are different views if the lady in question existed or not. While historian Haroon Khan Sherwani said that she didn’t exist, Narendra Luther says that she did! The story goes that Bhagya Nagar was named after her and later was renamed Hyderabad as she was honoured with the title of Hyder Mahal.”
And while he was talking about the legend, some people in the audience got flared up which started a chain of discussions. While some claimed that her grave still exists, some negated it saying it was someone’s fantasy tale. After several minutes finally they cooled to agree that ‘we all love and believe in legends.’