A 14-feet tall copper finial being shaped by a craftsman in the bylanes of the old city, will mark the beginning of restoration work on one of the Hakim’s tombs inside the Qutb Shahi Tombs complex. The two similar looking tombs to the left of the entrance in the complex have a hard to discover flaw. One of the finial has a missing cone while the other one has a concrete finial.
“The greyish finial is a concrete one that was added sometime after 1976 as the old photographs don’t have it. We are getting it done in copper and will begin work on the tomb once it is installed,” says Prashant Banerjee of Aga Khan Trust for Culture, which is executing the conservation and restoration work at the Qutb Shahi Tombs complex. Guided by Telangana Director of Heritage N.R. Visalatchy, the work at the tombs complex is going on at a frenetic pace.
“The conservation and landscape restoration effort at the Qutb Shahi Heritage Park requires conservation of 80 structures dating from the 16th / 17th centuries. It is encouraging that the German Federal Foreign Office has provided funds to restore the profusely ornamented twin tombs. As with conservation of all these structures, a majority of funds will go towards master-craftsmen wages,” informs Ratish Nanda of AKTC.
Extensive damage was done to the platform and the dome portion while the delicate stucco work appears mostly intact. “We didn’t know the shape or the height of the finial as the cone of one of the tombs was missing. Luckily, while we were excavating the crypt of Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah’s tomb, we discovered the cone portion along with one more piece. It gave us a definitive measure, shape and design of the finial,” says Mr. Banerjee.
Using the design and measurements, the AKTC team approached Muhammad Saleem who crafts copper and brass objects at his small workspace near Chowk Masjid. The AKTC team supplied him with 16 gauge copper sheets of 99.42% purity.
“I have earlier made 10 feet finials for a Dargah in Urdu Galli but this is higher at 14 feet. I have cut copper sheet and moulded into various pieces to give the final shape of the finial I was given. Now I need to assemble it there,” says Mr. Saleem as he deftly beats a copper sheet and moulds it into a smaller ring-like piece.
The 14 pieces of copper finial will be assembled on top of the tomb with a wooden pole holding everything together. “We will transport it to the site and I will assemble it there. There will be no water seepage and this will remain shining for a year or two. As it is very pure copper it will regain its original colour easily,” says Mr. Saleem.
Who were the Hakims?
Hakims were the traditional doctors who treated the Qutb Shahi royalty. As the tombs are not identified, it remains a conjecture who exactly is buried here. Syed Ali Asgar Bilgrami in his Landmarks of the Deccan identifies one of the tombs as that of Hakim Nizamuddin Ahmad Gilani, and the other as that of Hakim Abdul Jabbar Gilani. The other job of Hakim Abdul Jabbar Gilani was to read Hadith in the presence of the King during the month of Moharrum.
