HYDERABAD: Some two centuries ago, a Frenchman, adorned in a sherwani and speaking in the local Dakhni language, was revered by the locals as a saint. Commonly known as ‘Moosa Rehmu,’ the extent of his popularity can be gauged by the fact that the Nizams observed his ‘Urs’ or death anniversary every year. The Nizams would lead a procession with great pomp and show, offering prayers at his tomb.
This revered Frenchman was Michel Joachim Marie Raymond (1755 – 1798), popularly known as Monsieur Raymond, a general in the Nizam’s military, heading the troops called the ‘Raymond Corps.’ He arrived in Hyderabad in the mid-18th century as part of General Debussy’s military regiment. During the second Nizam’s reign, he became so popular that the Nizam offered him the largest piece of land as jagirs, on the outskirts of the city of Hyderabad near Malakpet.
At this location, Monsieur Raymond built his gardens. When his beloved horse passed away, its tomb and a memorial on top were erected. Presently, one encounters this memorial first when visiting Monsieur Raymond’s tomb at Moosarambagh.
“This is not the only place in Hyderabad where we have a grave dedicated to a horse. In the Begum Bazar area, there is a place called ‘Ghode Ki Kabr.’ The entire area is named after the grave of a horse, built like a statue of a horse itself. In Secunderabad too, there is a tomb of a horse and a dog belonging to a British soldier who was stationed there. Here, we have the tomb of the horse of Moosa Rehmu, which was alive when he died,” said Sibghat Khan, founder of the Deccan Archive.
Khan mentioned that instead of asking the locals to change, Monsieur Raymond started observing the customs of the locals to blend well with them. “He would attend local mushayaras (poetry sessions), celebrate local festivals, and gradually came quite close to the locals. His name, Monsieur Raymond, was quite difficult to pronounce for the locals, so it slowly got corrupted down to ‘Moosa Rehmu.’ And since he had his gardens in this area, it came to be known as ‘Moosa Ram Ka Baagh,’” he said.
His own death, caused by poisoned wine, was seemingly a plot set up by the British. Desperate to root out French influence from the region, the British quickly offered a subsidiary alliance to Sikandar Jah, the third Nizam, to gain collective power over Tipu Sultan of Mysore, another influential figure in the region.
His obelisk now stands on top of a hillock, with the initials ‘JR’ carved on a black stone plaque on one of the four sides of the memorial. The other sides, being empty, have been subjected to vandals imprinting their own names on it. His body organs are buried in a pot right opposite the obelisk, highlighted with a neo-classical structure supported by long cylindrical columns.
In this weekly section, we look at various elements drawn from the history and heritage of Hyderabad, the city’s interconnections with other places and historical events and art and artefacts that hold imprints of the past