The Tale of an Unsung Queen

The author relies on a plethora of Urdu texts to provide a holistic view of the creation of a city

- NANDITA BOSE

Most of us still have questions about the way history was taught in school: ruler, kingdom, war and the duration of his reign, over and over. Though Bhagmati by Moupia Basu is a well-researched book offering a view of the kingdom from the gaze of writers, poets, travellers and courtiers, it still retains certain elements of how history has been narrowed down to the story of a king’s rule. The topic of the book is enviable: a history of how Hyderabad came to be. And as such, it is celebrated and falls back on a plethora of texts in Urdu and otherwise to provide a holistic view of the creation of a city.

There were two main contenders in the Deccan: Vijayanagara Empire and the Bahmanis. Both were on their wane and from the rubble of the Bahmanis, five new dynasties grew, which included the Qutb Shahis of Golconda. The Kakatiyas of Warangal are said to have fortified the mud and brick remains of a local chieftain’s fortifications. When the Kakatiya rule ended, that fort came into the hands of the Bahmani king, Muhammad Shah III Lashkari. In 1501, the first Qutb Shahi Sultan Quli