Unsung and unnoticed by anyone, the Salar Jung Museum officials have transformed the final resting place of the Salar Jungs in the city. The walled compound in one part of Mir Ka Daira in the Shahalibanda area is an orderly place surrounded by the chaos of the 400-odd-year necropolis.
“We didn’t spend much money. Perhaps a few lakh rupees, and we used some of the construction material from the museum to restore it using traditional methods,” says A. Nagender Reddy, director of Salar Jung Museum.
On Friday, as the family, museum officials and well-wishers marked the 71st death anniversary of Mir Yousuf Ali Khan (Salar Jung III), the grave complex echoed with elegies. “We are commemorating Mir Yousuf Ali Khan, who did so much for humanity. The museum is his gift that brings happiness to countless generations and is providing jobs to so many people,” said a moulvi (priest) who led the prayer meeting.
Within the walled enclosure, on a raised platform, four of Nizam’s legendary prime ministers are buried. Mir Alam, who led the Nizam’s war effort against Tipu Sultan, is buried here. As is his grandson Sir Salar Jung-I and his descendants Salar Jung II and III, who also became prime ministers of successive Nizams, albeit for a shorter duration. The land parcel for the sepulchral complex is a gift of Hyderabad’s first prime minister Mir Momin Astrabadi who helped design the city.
The sprawling area — according to one estimate, it is 18 acres — is covered with graves in a rather higgledy-piggledy manner. It is difficult to walk inside the complex without stepping over one grave or the other while dodging goats. “When we began work here, it was covered with waist-high grass and other bushes. The perimeter wall was broken at places. The hall for majlis was in a poor state. The restoration was done over a long period of time,” says Mr. Reddy.
On Friday afternoon, as visitors walked barefoot on the red granite flooring scattering roses and laying flower chaders over the three graves, it was a tribute that the Hyderabad’s earliest planners would have approved.
