Purana Pul bastion to stand in full glory

Conservation work in full swing for the monument built circa 1724

The Purana Pul bastion and gate is set to gain its rightful place in Hyderabad’s heritage as the Department of Archaeology and Museums (DAM) has begun work on conserving the monument. Workers at the site have been at work for the past one week mixing sand and curing slaked lime in preparation for applying it on the monument built sometime in 1724. It carries the scars of time, like the marker on the inner portion of gateway, a marble plaque some 20 feet above ground: September 28, 1908.

“There is seepage in parts of the monument, there are cracks on walls, and there is a crack in the lintel. We are going to remove the rank vegetation that has grown in the cracks of the building,” says N. Narsing of DAM. A sum of ₹19 lakh have been sanctioned for the project.

The Purana Pul bastion is one of the two surviving gateways among the 13 built as part of the walled city in 1724 by Mubariz Khan, the Mughal Subedar, in the aftermath of conquest of Golconda. The walls and the bastions survived frequent flooding of Musi but the big flood of 1908 brought down the wall in many parts of the city.

In mid-1950s, the City Improvement Board decided to demolish the gateways as they were hindering traffic movement and people were asked to pitch in. “People did a thorough job of it and at that time, historian Haroon Khan Sherwani who used to live in Himayatnagar, rushed to that part of the city and climbed the Purana Pul Darwaza demanding that the demolitions be stopped. The CIB backed off and that’s why it has survived to this day,” says historian Oudesh Rani Bawa.

Traffic used to move through the gateway for years before the whole complex was turned into a traffic roundabout. Atop the bastions, there are cannon pivots where the weapons were mounted to protect the city.

“The plastering has become weak and is flaking off. The local residents who are using it as a temple apply paint only to a portion of the gateway. We are going to remove all the plastering, wash it and then apply three coats of lime plaster to ensure that the building retains its strength,” says Raheem Sha Ali, Dy Director of DAM.

But one area of concern remains the massive wooden gates that are off the hinges. “We are still planning what to do about it,” said an official.