HYDERABAD: Do the arrangement of the tombs in the Qutb Shahi Tombs complex have a deeper meaning to it? A heritage enthusiast certainly thinks so. Mohammed Habib, a Paigah family member, is claiming to have discovered a link between the placement of the major tombs inside the premises of the complex with the Ursa Minor constellation.
Habib’s claim goes against the popularly known theory that the tombs of Muhammed Qutb Shah, Hayat Baksh Begum and Abdullah Qutb Shah were constructed far from the other four tombs because the area had become crowded.
“Built in a garden that was known as “Bagh-e-Safa” (Garden of Purity), it was generally believed that the garden was too small. In my research, I was able to discover that this wasn’t the case. It was something much more surprising,” Habib said.
Habib was able to map the seven stars of Ursa Minor — Polaris, Kochab, Pherkad, Epsilon Ursae Minoris, Akhfa al-Farkadain (dimmer calf), Yildun and Anwar al Farkadain (Brighter calf) — on each of the major tombs.
He mapped the tomb of Abdullah Qutb Shah VII with Polaris, Hayat Baksh Begum with Yildun, Epsilon Ursae Minoris with Mohammed Qutb Shah VI, Sultan Qutb Qutb-ul Mulk with Anwar al-Farkadain, Mohammed Quli Qutb Shah with Akhfa al-Farkadain, Ibrahim Qutb Shah with Kochab and Jamshed Qutb Shah with Pherkad.
The unfinished tomb of the eighth sultan Tana Shah does not find a mention. Habib feels it may be because the Shah was adopted.
Although his ‘findings’ were well received in the heritage community, there were many who looked at it with scepticism and scoffed it off as science fiction. An expert said, “It is curious that the Polaris mapped on the tomb of Abdullah Qutb Shah points slightly towards the east, when Polaris as everyone knows always points towards the north.”