Hyderabad: A picture of mineral water bottles and fruits placed on a well-lit grave at the historic Mir Ka Daira in the Old City here is going viral on social media platforms, evoking curiosity as well unwarranted and derogatory comments from the general public.
Our reporter, after getting the photograph verified, it found that the picture was taken on Tuesday evening during Shab-e-Baraat. The picture was taken at Daira Mir Momin, named after Hyderabad’s founding prime minister in the 16th century, located at Sultan Shahi in the Old City of Hyderabad.
In the picture, one can see a man and a child standing near a grave on which a variety of fruits are neatly placed. One can also notice flowers that are laid on the grave at Daira Mir Momin.
When contacted, a member of the Daira Mir Momin graveyard committee, on condition of anonymity, stated that the grave actually belongs to the Iranian Shia community that settled in Hyderabad historically. “One of their relatives had passed away and was laid to rest in the graveyard. Every year the family members or relatives come and arrange fruits on the grave. After prayers and other rituals, they distribute the fruit and water bottles to the poor people and go away,” he told Siasat.com.
Another leader of the Shia community said it is a practice of a few families. “Not on all graves do we find bottles or fruits. It is restricted to two to three graves only in the entire graveyard where there are close to 500 graves,” he said. There are many graves of Iranian Shia Muslims at the Daira Mir Momin graveyard.
The graveyard is named after Mir Momin Astrabadi, the founding prime minister and architect of Hyderabad, who designed the city during the reign of Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, the fourth king of the Golconda dynasty (1518-1687). It is believed he is buried in the current spot as it is also the resting place of Shah Chirag, a sufi saint who was buried there much earlier.
Muhammed Quli Qutb Shah built Hyderabad after he decided to move outside the Golconda fort in 1591, which functioned as a walled-city before that.
The Golconda Fort’s origins are traced back to the 14th century when the Rajah of Warangal Deo Rai (under the Kakatiya Kingdom which ruled from Warangal) built a mud fort, which was later taken over the Bahamani empire between 1358-75). It was later developed into a full-fledged citadel by Sultan Quli Qutb Shah, who founded the Qutb Shahi (or Golconda) kingdom in 1518, when the last sovereign Bahamani emperor Mahmud Shah Bahamani died.
Earlier, Sultan Quli was a commander and later governor of Tilang (Telangana), under the Bahamani empire (1347-1518), when its second capital was at Bidar. Sultan Quli, who was originally from Hamadan, rose to the level of Governor under the Bahamani empire. At this point of time he was given the fort, which he began developing into a walled-city. It eventually came to called Golconda Fort (name derived from Golla-conda, or shepherds hill).
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