hyderabad pt. 7

on my last day in hyderabad i had decided that i would go see two of the most famous landmarks in hyderabad...the charminar and the buddha on the lake...food poisoning or no food poisoning...i went into work for half a day and got a very nice going away party from the team...which had grown to 20...i had actually arranged with ismael the day before so i could have sayeed take me for my sightseeing trip...

charminar was built by muhammad quli qutb shah...he of golconda fort and of dagger dodging fame...in order to relocate the capital building from golconda to what would eventually be named hyderabad...it was built to thank allah for sparing the citizens during a plague breakout in the late 16th century...it was also built to honor his queen and this is shown in the union of hindi and muslim architectural elements...in the detail of the ceiling you will see two circular rows of flowers...the top row represents islam and the bottom row represents hinduism...the name charminar shows this union even further...char is the hindi number 4 and minar comes from the arabic manara which means spire or tower...lo and behold charminar is made up of 4 towers...climbing the 142 steps up any of these four spires gives one a beautiful view of the market below...a melange of muslim and hindu cultures...there is a mosque located in close proximity to charminar which can hold 10,000 devotees at the same time...all in all it was quite a beautiful monument and sayeed should change careers and become a hired guide...he is extremely knowledgeable about the area and tells great stories...

after charminar we headed to the buddha on the lake...located in a very well kept park...the buddha statue sits in a completely man-made lake...and...according to sayeed...when he says man-made...he MEANS man made...as in men using tools not back hoes or diggers...the ferry ride to the statue was pretty interesting as it was a blend of hindus...muslims...and anglos...i guess it's because none of the religions fight about the buddha...the statue itself was enormous...standing at 17 meters tall it dwarfed all the visitors..though it wasn't as large as some of the buddhas we've seen in thailand...considering it was carved out of a single piece of granite is still very impressive...

all in all it was one of the best times i'd had in hyderabad and sayeed was such an excellent host...i was glad i was able to get some more time with him...