Hyderabad by Walk - Purana Pul Darwaza

The second Ashoor Khana Heritage walk by the Deccan Archives was to start at 8. Vasu decided to join me and we parked in my usual spot near Chowmohalla Palace and walked down from there. It was a 20 minute walk and we passed by many lovely old buildings. Walking in he old part of the city is always like walking in history. Everything has character.

We passed by old gates, kamans, buildings, dargahs, mosques, most of them centuries old and landed up near the Purana Pul Darwaza which is one of the two Darwazas of the walled city of Hyderabad that are still standing (the other being the Dabeerpura Darwaza). 

Purana Pul Darwaza

The Purana Pul Darwaza had its bastions and was constructed with all the design and craft of a kingdom that was used to war. Apparently there was a cannon on top of the Darwaza and we could see the hooks but no cannon exists now.

Another view

Now of course the Darwaza is cordoned off to enable smooth traffic around it and it has become like an island. Photos of Shivaji and Rana Pratap are painted on it.

Gate

Temple inside

Purana Pul Shivalayam

Sibgat first took us to the Shivalayam at the end of Purana Pul, across the road from the Darwaza. Apparently this was built by Raja Chandu Lal who was a Prime Minister during the time of the second Nizam, Nizam Ali Khan.

 Those were tumultuous times with the entry of the British. We walked around the Shivalayam and saw us the spot where the Alams are decommissioned in the Musi River. 

The green thing is where they decommission the Alams

I did not know that the Musi river had a tributary called the Isa river and that these two rivers are the only two named after Moosa and Isa in the world.

Purana Pul - 1578 AD

We were right at the foot of the Purana Pul bridge which was built in 1578 AD, the first bridge in Hyderabad, one of the oldest in South India. It was the only bridge that survived the flood of Musi in 1908 which claimed 15000 lives. 

The bridge has a legend that it was built by Sultan Ibrahim Qutb Shah to give safer access to his lovelorn son Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah who was in love with a dancer called Bhagmati and would cross the raging Musi which was on the way from Golconda to Hyderabad. 

A simpler explanation is that it served as a bridge for traders who wished to travel from Golconda to Machilipatnam - a straight road.

Goodwill Cafe

We now had to walk back towards Husaini Alam. To the right was an old Police Post, now dysfunctional. Opposite to it was this cute cafe called Goodwill Cafe which I have decided to visit at some point.