"char"minar

The architects of Charminar were no numerologists. Nor was Quli Qutub Shah, who got the monument built, superstitious about the monument's guaranteed fame if it embraced a particular number. But, the monument did take to a number rather dearly that repeats itself from its name to its pillar and galleries. So, the number 'Char (four)' is not restricted to Charminar. Each of the four minars are divided into four parts. "Each minar is not only divided in four parts, but there are four galleries in each minar," says M A Qaiyum, former deputy director of department of archaeology and museums. Besides, this monument built about 400 years ago, stands at the junction of four roads joining in here from four different directions. If not 'four', the other features of this monument are in multiples of this number. The two floor monument, for instance, has eight-sided cisterns in the fountain, Qaiyum says. But, apart from the 'char' fixation, there are many unique features of this historical monument that makes it deserve the 'wonder' tag more than any other monument in the country. Historians say that this could be among the very few monuments in the world built in the small area of under 1,000 square yards. "Since it was an uneven surface, they cleverly utilised the topography of the land and constructed a monument minus a premises and a garden," says Qaiyum. What makes it a finer specimen of architecture than even the Taj Mahal is the absence of joints. Historians say that since Charminar is built in lime mortar, no joints can be seen from the ground level to the top of Charminar which can be seen in Taj Mahal. Moreover, Veda Kumar of Forum for Better Hyderabad points out that the monument is an original design and is not a copy of any architecture. "It is an Indian design made by Turkish people," Qaiyum corroborates. While the arches could be found in other structures in central Asia and Iran and domes too could be found in Arabian countries, but the entire design of the minars, the arches and parapets, the small mosque on the second floor of the monument and the trellises are as original in design as the reason for building the monument. While some historians believe that Quli Qutub Shah built it for his lady love Bhagmati at the same point where her hut was located, others like Jitender Das of the Archaeological Survey of India point out that Charminar is the only Muslim monument in the country that was built to mark the end of a disease— a devastating plague. The monument was built by Quli Qutub Shah both in the memory of people who had been wiped out by the plague and to thank god for containing the spread of the disease, Das says. But the monument's most beautiful aspect is that it is a 'people's' structure. Not only was its construction an ode to a beloved or a set of people who lost their lives, but it is more accepting of visitors than other monuments. "If you take a picture of Qutub Minar or Taj Mahal, painted or taken during the British or the Mughal era, you don't find life touching these monuments. For Charminar, you take its pictures from any era, there will be people all around the monument," says Qaiyum. In fact, pictures of the scene around Charminar have been used by scholars to study the economic condition of people during different eras, for they find life touching the monument in every period of its 400-year existence.