Hyderabad: Localities in old Hyderabad have strange names that make people dig deep into the history of the area to understand the meaning.
Located on the Hussaini Alam – Puranapul road is one such colony: Bahrupiya Galli – renamed as Chandrikapuram. The residents, except a handful of octogenarians, don’t know why the residential locality was called Bahrupiya Galli.
Kishore V, now 78 years old, is one of the residents of the locality, and his family has stayed here for the last five decades. He explained that a ‘Bahrupiya’ is a performer who impersonates characters from folklore, mythology, and traditional stories. The word comes from the Sanskrit words ‘bahu’ (many) and ‘roop’ (form).
During the Nizam era, Bahrupiyas or performers were recognized by the government for their skills. Many of them were outstanding at mimicry and impersonation and would entertain in courts.
In the municipal map of Puranapul — completed in 1913 after the Musi floods under the supervision of engineers Leonard Munn, A.F. Chinoy, and A.T. Mackenzie — two lanes are marked as Bahrupiya Lane and Bahrupiya Kaccha Street. Around 200 houses were located in the lane then.
Historian Karen Isaksen Leonard, in one of her writings, mentioned: “Nizam’s Arbab-i-Nishat or Department of Entertainment included tawaifs, usually translated as courtesans or dancing and singing girls, qawwalayan (musicians), and bhands or bahrupiyas (mimics, buffoons).” They were looked after well by the administration.
After the end of the Nizam government’s rule in 1948, the Bahrupiyas were reduced to street performers and, over a period of time, many of them shifted to other cities in the country. A few families do stay here, but they are no longer in the profession.
