HYDERABAD: The elaborate Nizam-era emblem above the entrance to Hyderabad’s Health Museum remains remarkably intact. Inside, however, the building is in a deteriorated state, with repairs needed to its ceiling, a badly rusted chandelier and exhibits that have been damaged or disappeared. The contrast between the ornate entrance and the neglect within is a reminder of how much of Hyderabad’s institutional heritage has survived only in fragments.
The museum stands in the Bagh-e-Aam, or Public Garden, at Nampally, in a building that was once the Ajanta Pavilion. During the Nizam’s rule, the pavilion housed reproductions of paintings from the Ajanta caves. The Health Museum, established in 1948, was later moved into the building.
Above the faded blue, four-language signboard is a large sculptural emblem associated with Hyderabad State. It carries the Arabic motto “Al-Azmatu lillah”, meaning “Greatness belongs only to Allah”, with a stylised royal headgear above the central device and two big-cat figures on either side. The precise heraldic variant requires further archival verification, but its connection with the Nizam’s Hyderabad is clear.
The signboard itself reflects another feature of the former Hyderabad State’s public institutions, with Telugu, Hindi, English and Urdu used together. The Telugu and Hindi inscriptions describe the institution as a health exhibition or museum, while the English and Urdu identify it as the Health Museum.
From Chikkadpally to Ajanta Pavilion
According to the Museums of India database, the Health Museum was initially located at Chikkadpally. It was shifted to Trophy Hall in the Public Garden, the present Jawahar Bal Bhavan, in 1952 and subsequently moved to the Ajanta Pavilion.
The institution was conceived as a centre for public-health education. Its exhibits dealt with nutrition, anatomy, immunity and diseases such as tuberculosis, leprosy and malaria. There was also a section on childbirth and motherhood, while films were screened for visitors.
For generations of Hyderabad schoolchildren, the museum offered lessons about the human body and disease through models, charts, preserved specimens and visual displays. Former prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru reportedly wished that other cities had similar institutions, while former president Dr Rajendra Prasad described it as an “instructive institution”.
The building’s earlier identity adds another layer to its history. In 1915, Hyderabad’s archaeological department commissioned Syed Ahmad to make eye-copies of Ajanta paintings. The copies were produced with “greater fidelity to the originals”. Around 37 are now on display in the Ajanta Gallery of the Telangana State Museum.
The paintings themselves had a troubled history. After the change in government, they were moved from the Ajanta Pavilion and later transported to Nagarjunakonda, where some were reportedly damaged by water and termites. A portion was eventually restored and placed in the State Museum.
The Health Museum is also part of a cluster of historic buildings in the Public Garden. The nearby State Museum, established in 1931 under the seventh Nizam, Mir Osman Ali Khan, houses archaeological and artistic collections, including copies of Ajanta frescoes. The Jubilee Pavilion, built for celebrations marking the seventh Nizam’s Silver Jubilee, is another surviving structure.
Yet the Health Museum’s present condition stands apart from the history it represents. Human-body models, preserved snakes and skeletons have been reported missing or damaged, while material once displayed inside has been moved elsewhere. The ceiling requires repairs and the chandelier has badly rusted.
The ornate emblem above the entrance therefore acquires a poignancy of its own. It survives as a fragment of the Hyderabad State’s visual and institutional past, even as the building beneath it continues to deteriorate.
The Health Museum is more than an ageing public-health institution. Its walls connect the Nizam’s court, Hyderabad’s early public-health efforts and the city’s attempts to document India’s artistic heritage. Its condition also records another chapter: the gradual neglect of some of the city’s historic institutions.