In response to readers questioning the authenticity of the photograph used with the report “As protests roil Charminar, Hyderabad’s heritage slowly vanishes”, we now present more photographs from “The Hindu” archives showing the Charminar before the construction of the Bhagya Laxmi temple.
Many readers have written in to ask about the old photograph of Charminar published in The Hindu on November 21, 2012 in the report As protests roil Charminar, Hyderabad’s heritage slowly vanishes, saying that it looks more like a painting. In fact, it is a B&W photograph that was colour-touched by a studio in Hyderabad — a common practice in the pre-colour photography era.
Before publishing the photograph, The Hindu independently verified its authenticity with another untouched copy of the same photo. Since permission to publish the untouched B&W photo was not available, we used the coloured copy.
We are now able to present four additional photographs from The Hindu’s own archives that confirm the temple is a recent structure. Two photographs — one shot in 1957 and the other in 1962 — show no temple structure. The 1990 photo with the policemen in the foreground has the temple structure and the same can be seen in the 1994 picture as well.
To view a 1986 photograph, which also shows the temple, please visit the following link of the Aga Khan Visual Archive, MIT Libraries’ collections, United States. http://dome.mit.edu/bitstream/handle/1721.3/22104/112253_cp.jpg?sequence=1
Keywords: Charminar temple row, Bhagya Laxmi temple, The Hindu Archive
Hatts off Hindu good job !!!!!!!!!!!!
I was a resident of Khilwat near Charminar area in 1975-76 before shifting from there. I use to buy The Hindu newspaper every morning from an old man with beard who use to sell magazines and newspapers, on his bicycle, near the unani hospital corner of Charminar. I can say with confidence that there was no temple at that time and the present structure of the temple has started to expand slowly in the early eighties.
Respect towards "Hindu" has gone up substantially.
Temple there must be relocated.
I applaud and appreciate the effort by this Newspaper THE HINDU to
bring these old pictures of Charminar in front of the world so that
people can themselves see the truth. Its not all about religion but
the rules of the country where in we are born and live that should be
considered first. If the govt agencies were active and identifying
these kind of issues before hand then there cannot be any MIM/BJP to
communalise the matter and try to gain polictical mileage from this .
Accolades to THE HINDU again for taking this step and I sincerely
thank and also appreciate the views/comments of my Hindu Hyderabadis
who have spoken to with a secular state of mind. We as educated
persons of hyderabad can and make this place better just by being
secular at mind and heart.
Thanks The Hindu for clarification. Hope to visit your site more and more to know details of Hyderabad. Please expose everyone dont think of Muslim or Hindu or any politician.
Thanking "the hindu" for providing us the pics of 'the sign of hyderabad' i.e charminar, and showing the facts of it, about which the innocent citizens are unaware, and are misleaded by the communal elements. A recommended comment posted by mr.avinash about the relocation of the temple, is a beneficial solution to protect the heritage & fame of the monument
The striking problem now is (not about the authenticity of the date of temple or the Charminar)the total and complete chaos, dirt, neglect, poor maintenance of the area around this beautiful heritage structure.
Thank You Hindu for raising this issue. This temple should be moved from the south east corner of Charminar for public safety.
All communal riots and tensions in Hyderabad have been instigated by the Rayalseema leadership. These communal riots help these Rayalseema leaders to maintain their leadership position. Communal riots are an attempt to weaken the Telangana statehood cause and force the center to maintain status quo.
while there are so many hindu sounding names commenting on the Hindu photograph and appreciating it, how many sane and moderate muslim voices have come out in appreciation of the same? it is this silence of the moderate voice in that community that leads to the entire community being branded communal and terrorist, however untrue it is.
Hats off to The Hindu for the article. Thank you.
What does Hindu wants to prove?? There are hundreds of illegal structres
like Temples, majids and dargahs built all over hyderabad on center of
roads. First come with a policy which is uniform to everybody where u
can relocate or even remove religious structures on main roads. Why do u
want to single out charminar? because u can score some brownie points..
even If there was small temple existing fr some decades...Who was responsible for making larger structure to conduct Puja near monument? they should be arrested for causing disharmony and violating heritage monument.
Hats off to 'the hindu' for boldly showing the facts about charminar.Plz keep it up and dont bow before the communal elements
The Hindu got it 100 per cent right. As a person who spent almost his entire childhood in and around Charminar area (we used to live in the High Court premises and across it in the bazaar area)I can vouch for the fact that there was no temple then. The present one came up later and by no yardstick it could be called an ancient structure. Niranjan is misleading. That is all.
Mr.Reddy, I guess, we are not talking about middle ages. We are talking about the era after independence, when the present constitution and law came into force. So, the photos of your choice won't be published!
When AP was formed,we all went to Hyderabad during 1956.I went to see
Charminar and Mecca Mosque.No temple was there on any side of
Charminar.In 1959,I was married and I took my wife to show
Chairminar.We both climbed to the top and saw the City with awe and
wonder.
I am now in 79 and my wife in 77.No temple was there at any place
around the Mega Structure. The Charminar photo shown in old Hindu News
Paper do not show any Temple there.
NPS Naidu
Sir Thanks a million for publishing this photograph, my request to all
the settlers of Hyderabad please get your facts right,try to know the
history of this great city before protesting or making any comment there
was no temple abutting to the historic monument.
The Hindu" newspaper has got it completly wrong. Anybody who knows the history of Hyderabad knows that this current temple structure was constructed in 1979 by the Chief Minister himself after the earlier historic "shilakaram" of the Goddess Bhagyalakshmi was attacked. The temple in 1979 was constructed to provide shelter to the shilakaram. Your pre-1979 photo does show the shilakaram ( if you observe the photo closely ). So comparing two photographs- one with a temple and another without proves nothing because no one is saying that this current temple ( as it is) existed then but it is being said that there was worship of the shilakaram of the Goddess Bhagyalakshmi from many decades.
Secondly, the issue before the court was about the so-called expansion of the temple during Diwali 2012 which was negated by the ASI and not about whether a temple existed there ? So whats the discussion about ?
There is a masjid on the top floor of charminar, in order to protect the structure, masjid is not being used.
In the same way, mandir can be relocated to a different location. This should not be a political agenda, both religious leaders should resolve it amicably!
Yes it is an illegal temple.How Bhagvan will accept our pooja,prarthna in illegal structure.Heritage must be protected.Charminar is for all Indians.Thanks The Hindu for
opening our eyes and for showing the truth.
Thanks Hindu, I reaaly appreciate the way you presented the facts. I also request you to Kindly Investigate about the Darga, which is inside the charminar next to the temple.
Being a hyderabadi, I thank HINDU group for providing photos of ancient & historical monument.
WE indias never have religion defference, its the politicans who creat chaos between us, just to remind, go back to all the riots happened earlier in india are forced element of politics.
we the common people, always suffer for political gains.
hindu,muslim,sikh,christian are human first.we should be together always as our history speaks.dont fall in the trap of politicians, who always meant for their personal gains.
i am not here to thank any hindu nor muslim but will thank all
hyderabadi's who know the importance of the heritage structure of our
city - 'CHARMINAR" , I thank ' The hindu ' for Publishing this article.
I hope people dont just believe what the political leaders say but try
knowing facts and raise questions to the political parties who manipulate things for the their own intrest.
COMMON HYDERABADIS LETS STOP & MOVE AHEAD OF THIS COMMUNALISM IN HYD
Recent or not, a temple is a sacred structure and so is a mosque,
church or others for that matter , people of all religions must
respect the sanctity of the religious structures and the heritage
monuments. Its ironic how we boast of unity in diversity elsewhere and
yet harbor communal feelings inside. Coexistence of the Bhagyalaxmi
temple with the Charminar should not pose a threat unless the monument
is at risk and it never was. People never cared much about it unless
the politicians added their touch to it. Sad but true, we get carried
away so easily by these menace mongers. I personally feel that we as
youth should take up the burden of eradicating the plague of
communalism by forming social institutions and try to infuse the
essence of brotherhood in the society. Adding fuel to fire is the rise
of fascism and fanatics, who eventually by the end of their lives will
realize they had absolutely no purpose in life, how grossly they
wasted it following their leaders. 'Hum Sab Ek Hain'
Now that "The Hindu" has taken up the case of removal of "illegal temples", we hope it will also take up the case of "illegal masjids" and "illegal dargahs" which are seen all over Hyderabad and also other parts of the country. We hope that the newspaper values truth and it will take the lead to file an affidavit in court for removal of the "illegal temple".
The Hindu has hit the nail on its head. There can be no two opinion about it.
Infact, there is a supreme court order to remove the temple from the
site, saying that no construction can be carried out with in 100 mts
range of historical heritages to safeguard the old monuments like
charminar. But we see temples at every historical monument like the
golconda.
Thank you. Now, there is no doubt. No temple existed till late 60s. This illegal temple should be shifted.
Charminar is neither for Hindus nor for Muslims it is a part of Hyderabad as Hyderabad has combination of both communities there is no issue if we have temple and masjid attached to it. I would sujjest to construct masque next to it so that it will show that Hindus and Muslims are 2 pillars of Heritage Building.
I was one of the reader who asked for authenticity of image..
now I am convinced there was no temple.. we Hindu should have a bigger
heart and maintain the fragrance of our secular and democratic garden
INDIA..
Kudos to The Hindu for a coming up with a RARE gem of true Journalism! This has proved beyond any doubt that this illegal structure has been put up recently compared to the 400 plus years of Charminar's existence. I wonder why other news outlets are not picking this up and saying anything about this big news!?
I really appreciate 'The Hindu" news paper for bringing the realities in to the limelight. We should proud to have such a beautiful monument in Hyderabad. ASI should protect the monument and relocate the temple to other area. The government should take action against the people who involved in contraction or expansion of the temple at the monument site.
my name is kasturi rangan, and i'm proud of what hindu stands up for.
he people responsible for igniting a propaganda which is to spark and create a bigger communal warfare should be punished. the temple does not have a place next to charminar<period> it is conspiring a long term agenda to use as a weapon during a political uprising similar to Babri.
Firstly, I would like to congratulate "The Hindu" for taking a sane and objective stand on the issue, irrespective of emotional and religious rhetoric. There are lot of historic photos of Charminar. Perhaps someone should compile pictures (specially from the south-east side) for every 5 yrs to demonstrate how and when the temple was constructed and how and when it has reached its present size and structure. Pictures whose date can be established like those from news-papers etc. would be better. There are some pictures by Jack Birns, taken in 1948, of a gathering and some clowns performing in which there is a closeup of the south-east side also.
I would request your esteemed daily to take steps to establish the truth and bring it forward in an unbiased way for the public to judge.
thanks to the hindu for their unbiased and correct reporting
I really apprecaite the effort iniciated by The Hindu news paper to show facts about the history of charminar, Hope it will help the younger generation to understand the problem and mentain peace and hormony in the Hyderabad city
Thanks Team 'The Hindu' for putting up this much needed clarification.. a right type of media support for the right cause of peace and upholding of an Indian heritage monument.. The onus rests on the intellectuals and activists to be assertive and route this controversy once for all.. All symbols and constructions at the Heritage monument of Charminar belonging to any religion should be effectively removed and relocated in a spirit of harmony testifying the true Hyderabadi Tahzeeb of Aman and bhaichara.
i really thank and appreciate the effort taken by Hindu
newspaper.regarding the questioning of the authenticity of the photo of
charminar.by some readers.
now those who are in 2 minds about the authenticity of the photo.i hope
there doubt is cleared after reading this article,and that the photo of
charminar is genuine.
I had visited Charminar some time in 1985 or so. I do not remember
having seen any temple at that time. The best solution is to re-locate
the temple to a nearby place, with the consent of the Temple authorities
and devotees in the vicinity. MIM should also stop blackmailing as if
Charminar belongs ONLY to the Muslims of Hyderabad.
Well Done 'The Hindu'. 'Standing up to establish truth', is one of the
fundamental duty of media. It is gratifying to note that at least one
newspaper do this.
You need not worry this is Hyderabad and people who came here yesterday
to eke out their livelihood and do not know about the history of the
city or their own locality are raising hue and cry. I congratulate The
Hindu for bringing out the true fact on behalf of secular people of the
city.
This is called Responsible Journalism. Excellent work done by 'The
Hindu'. Nation needs such kind of journalism where no one can question
each other and create difference.
Hindu is always unbiased. love you for that.
Despite its fact the communal forces are on their mission to harm the iconic monument of Hyderabad. This issue to be handled without any communal feelings realizing its importance.
Kudos to The Hindu for promptly publishing the photographs in accordance with journalistic ethics.
The Question here is not Photo.
The Question is heritage? Should we start heritage from 400 years a point where Hydera'bad comes under nawab rule or 4000 years in India where there are no islam and Christianity never existed then?
I was asking you to publish a Varanasi temple which shows a mosque dome?
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