HYDERABAD:Tucked away in the busy locale of King Koti, quite opposite the famous gateway of Nazri Bagh-King Koti Palace and surrounded by tall multi-storeyed buildings, is a narrow lane that leads to a neatly white-washed structure with a small green gate.
Many do not know that inside this unimposing mosque, masjid-e-judi, lies the grave of the last Nizam of Hyderabad, Mir Osman Ali Khan Bahadur, said to be the architect of modern Hyderabad.
In accordance with the Hijri calendar, floral tributes were paid at his grave there on Sunday after recitation of Quran on the occasion of his 49th death anniversary. The annual fatiha of the Asaf Jah VII was held with the participation of the members of the royal family as well as religious leaders and scholars at the Maqbira Shahi inside the Judi Masjid.
The mosque was built in 1936 by the Nizam in memory of his favourite son Jawad who had died as an infant. Apparently, it was on August 29 of 1911 that Osman Ali became the seventh Nizam of Hyderabad.
The Nizam VII, born in 1886 and ruled Hyderabad between 1911 and 1948, lived at the King Koti Palace and breathed his last on February 24, 1967. While the first Nizam was buried in Aurangabad and the successive five Nizams were laid to rest in the Mecca Masjid near Charminar, it was Osman Ali Khan’s will to be buried at the mosque opposite his residence where his mother Zehra Begum had been laid to rest.
The Nizam’s grave is towards the western end of the maqbira with his mother’s beside him. His wife Dulha Pasha Ijaz Begum, son Mir Jawad Ali Khan and daughter-in-law Amira Begum were all laid to rest in the same row to his left.
Besides, the graves of the last Nizam’s second wife Laila Begum, third wife Jani Begum and fourth wife Nizamunissa Begum are among the 36 graves in the maqbira that was built close to a hillock. Beside the maqbira lies the main masjid which is well-ventilated and maintained by the management of Awqaf Committee of HEH The Nizam.
Another 31 graves of the members of the royal family are also laid in two rows on the masjid premises.
TRIBUTES: Noted historian and managing trustee of Deccan Heritage Trust, Mohd Safiullah, calls the 5-ft-3-inch-tall Mir Osman Ali Khan as the greatest Hyderabadi ever for his far-reaching contributions that transformed Hyderabad from a medieval to a modern state. “He separated the judiciary from the executive and brought talent and expertise from the world over to build massive world-class infrastructure, be it underground sewerage or public buildings,” he said.
As India celebrates 50 years of the 1965 Indo-Pak war, he recalled that 5,000-kg gold worth Rs 3.50 crore donated by the Nizam in response to an appeal from the then prime minister Lal Bahadur Shastri was the single-largest contribution to the defence fund.
According to historian Narendra Luther, in one of his books ‘Legends and Anecdotes of Hyderabad’, an estimated crowd of 2 lakh people formed the procession of the gun-carriage of the last Nizam. People hung from their balconies and occupied every possible vantage point to be a witness to the historic moment.