An unusual ode to Qutb Shahi tombs from a British poetess who never visited Golconda
By News Desk| Updated: 19th January 2021 7:13 pm IST
Photo: Wikipedia.org
Salma Ahmed Farooqui
On a pleasant winter morning in early December last year, I was invited to visit the Qutb Shahi Tombs by the authorities of the Aga Khan Trust for Culture to see the ongoing restoration process at the site in the company of friends and likeminded persons. It was a special occasion for me for it was the first time I could see the
Murda Darwaza (Door for the dead) that connected the Golconda fort and the Qutb Shahi necropolis after the removal of several layers of mounds of earth. This arched doorway, although not yet opened, is supposed to have been the channel to carry the dead bodies of the royalty and their close associates from their imperial chambers in the fort for the customary funeral bath and burial at the tombs complex.