HYDERABAD: Most of the names of places in the city are derived from the name of the most significant person or character of the place. Sometimes, for instance, certain names of places, Jambagh or Moosa Rambagh, serve to indicate, by abbreviation, the principal garden.
But, at least a score of suburbs in the city are named after people — Hayathnagar, Khairatabad, Masab Tank, Nampally, Musheerabad, James Street, Hyderguda and many others are named after people. CE visits the maps exhibition from pioneering French cartographers such as Guillaume Delisle, Phillipe Buache, Joseph Tiefenthaler and Anquetil-Duperron among others, that are showcased in a maze-like setup at Birla Science Museum and digs into the etymological history of places and names in Hyderabad.
Guillaume Delisle’s map, published in 1745, showcasing Hyderabad and its suburbs is what drew most visitors to the museum. “Cartographers have no restrictions when the places are unnamed. But most places in the city had a name which was given by the locals,” says Historian Dr Mohammed Safiullah. “The names were given because of prominence of the influence of the given person or a heritage monument. Charminar, Lal Darwaza and Errummanzil were named not after a person but a building.”
“Sometimes, the names of the places were denoted to gardens, or baghs we have many baghs in the city and the reason for that is we had many gardens, now. Even though there is no Jambagh (Gauva Garden) the name remains,” says Anuradha Reddy, Anuradha Reddy, INTACH (Indian National Trust for Art and Cultural Heritage) convenor for the Hyderabad chapter. “It’s the people who gave places their names, sometimes rulers, but mostly people,” she added.
The exhibition features stories of maps across mathematics, medicine, nuclear science, biodiversity, aviation, physics, visual analytics, locomotives, astronomy, cartography and more. It can give us a gist of what might have lead to the birth of the name of the place, across the world.
Moosarambagh:
Named after French military commander Monsieur Raymond who served the Nizams He use to live near a bagh which refers to ‘a garden’ as the area was once covered by huge greenery.
Ameerpet
In the year 1900, the Asaf Jah VI gave a piece of land to one of his jagirdars Amir Ali who built a small summer palace for himself since the area was full of vegetation and flowing water bodies. This place became Ameerpet.
Punjagutta
Literally means ‘hand mountain’ in telugu. It was named after the boulder that has a hand print which supposedly belongs to Imam Ali.
Begumpet
Named after Bahshir-ul-Nisa Begum, daughter of Sikander Jah, Asaf Jah III.
Nampally
Named after Nekhnam Khan, an Iranian migrant who served in both Mughal and Deccani court during the Qutb Shahi era.
Somajiguda
Named after Sonaji, an employee of the revenue department of Roy Ryan Sham Raj.
Malakpet
Named after Malik Yaqoub, a servant of Abdullah Qutb Shah, where he used to reside.
Malkajgiri
Named after Lord Mallikarjuna.
Koti
Named after the Koti Residency, which used to be located here.
Lal Darwaza
Named after a Red Gateway that used to exist in the area.