Hyderabad by Walk - Khairatabad Mosque

Nestling inside Khairatabad are two brilliant structures belonging to the Qutb Shahi era - the Khairatabad mosque and the Khairatunnisa Tomb (Which I later found was not her tomb but of her tutor - more on that later). I have no idea where I came across this information but during one of our walks, I told Sunnie that there seems to be a tomb around the Prasad's IMAX area so could we walk and see that. And he was game as he normally is and we walked holding our maps for direction passing Prasad's and turning right towards Kharatabad. 

Khairatabad mosque (1626 AD - Qutb Shah era)

The map led us right but Sunnie sighted the mosque first and we somehow assumed this was it because it was magnificent and certainly looked old enough to fit our information. The only thing that was not in sync was that the people who had visited the tomb had mentioned that it was in really bad condition and while the mosque looked tip top. Anyway, it was so impressive that we were just too happy to go and check it out.

Intricate work

The story as per the stuff on the net is that the mosque was built around 1626 by Khairunnisa Begum, daughter of the sixth Qutb Shah Sultan - Md Qutb Shh (1612-1621). She had this mosque built for her tutor Akhund Mulla Abul Malik. The job of constructing the mosque, a palace and a tank was given to the son-in-law of her tutor Akhund Mulla Abul Malik - Hussain Shah Wali. It was he who built this mosque and the tank which we know today as Hussain Sagar.

Front view

More intricate work

We pottered around and took some pics. People were quite helpful and pointed us here and there. i aske done chap if the tomb of Khairataunnisa was within the mosque and he said there were not tombs. I walked around, saw the small madrassa, an area for children to play, well maintain premises.

Father and son - and Sunnie

Sunnie meanwhile had struck up a conversation with a father and son. The father is a priest from a town in Uttar Pradesh and migrated to Hyderabad several years ago. His son was in the madrassa studying to be a priest. The father was also a priest in the old city or some far off place while the ten year old lives her and studies. The father had bought his son Osmania biscuits and chai from Cafe Niloufer. He offered the same to Sunnie and then when I went there, to me also. Large hearted and setting the right example. Niloufer is not a cheap place.

We left after thanking him and wishing the son well and I told Sunnie that Niloufer was not a cheap place and that the man was super generous. Sunnie decided then and there to go and gift the boy some cash which they accepted gracefully. Lovely morning. Lovely people.