HYDERABAD : The art of writing time includes a diverse range of practices. One of them is encoding dates in inscriptions on monuments in the form of chronograms — phrases or sentences used to convey a specific date or time. This is achieved by assigning numerical values to letters in the phrase and then adding up these values to derive the intended date. Chronograms were particularly popular in the past for inscriptions on buildings, monuments, coins, and other artefacts as a way to denote the date of their creation or dedication.
The key components of a chronogram include letters with numerical values. These letters are then arranged in phrases or sentences in a manner that the total value derived after adding up the numerical value of individual letters turns out to be the intended date. Used in various cultures and languages throughout history as a clever way to encode dates into texts or inscriptions, chronograms also serve as important documentation of historical events.
A young poet from the city, Riyasat Ali Asrar views the art of writing time as a genre of poetry. “Tarikh goi — the art of writing time is a genre of poetry, where certain verses or parts of verses are written, in which the numerical values of the alphabets used, give out the date of an event. An alpha-numerical system, known as Abjad System is used for this. The Abjad numerals, also called ‘Hisab al-Jummal’, are a decimal alphabetic numeral system or an alphanumeric code, in which the 28 letters of the Arabic alphabet are assigned numerical values,” he explains.
Riyasat illustrates how to read chronograms with the help of some examples:
For example, Charminar was constructed in the year 1000 Hijri. The Chronogram could be “Ya Hafiz” (O Protector!). When the numerical values of each alphabet are added, we get the year 1000 AH.
Similarly, on the Mughal emperor Jahangir’s death in 1036 Hijri:
“Jahangir az jahan raft (Jahangir - the world-take - has left from the world”)
(Jahangir = 289; az = 8; jahan = 59; raft = 680; total = 1036)
Heritage enthusiast Mohammed Habib provides another example from the city: In the case of Pul-e-Navras (Purana Pul) which was built by Ibrahim Qutub Shah, the translation of the chronogram is “The water flows under the bridge and we pass above it. 986AH (1578 AD)” The numerical value adds up to 986 AH (as per the lunar year) and 1578 AD as per the Gregorian calendar.