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The Royal Tombs Of Golconda


I MUSE among these silent fanes
Whose spacious darkness guards your dust;
Around me sleep the hoary plains
That hold your ancient wars in trust.

I pause, my dreaming spirit hears,
Across the wind's unquiet tides,
The glimmering music of your spears,
The laughter of your royal brides.

In vain, O Kings, doth time aspire
To make your names oblivion's sport,
While yonder hill wears like a tier
The ruined grandeur of your fort.

Though centuries falter and decline,
Your proven strongholds shall remain
Embodied memories of your line,
Incarnate legends of your reign.

O Queens, in vain old Fate decreed
Your flower-like bodies to the tomb;
Death is in truth the vital seed
Of your imperishable bloom

Each new-born year the bulbuls sing
Their songs of your renascent loves;
Your beauty wakens with the spring
To kindle these pomegranate groves.

Notes

Situated about 2 km from Golconda Fort, the Tombs of the seven Qutubshahi rulers are amidst the beautifully laid out gardens of Ibrahim bagh. Every arch, dome and gallery of these tombs is a gem of Qutubshahi architecture set in picture perfect, serene surroundings.
The above picture is of the Fort with an inset picture of one of the tombs.

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Comments

  • Ancientson
    December 13, 2004
    Edit | Reply
    Regal and well written, (at least by my humble standards it is).
    I hope to write as well one day.

  • Pari Ali
    February 19, 2004
    Edit | Reply
    This poem speaks of many things which perhaps with a quick short look at the history of the place the reader will leave enlightened and delighted.
    The Golconda Tombs are the tombs of the Quli Qutub Shahi dynasty in Golconda now a part of the sprawling city of Hyderabad. The dynasty itself is centuries older than the city which is a mere 400 hundred years old, yet with its turrets and domes palaces and ruins it could have stepped straight out of the Arabian night.
    The ruin of the majestic Golconda fort with granite walls and ramparts extending some 5 km in circumference,stand till today close to the tombs. Its acoustics are marvelled at even today by tourists.a hand clap at a certain point below the dome at the entrance reverbarates and can be heard clearly at the Bala Hissar, the highest point almost a kilometre away.
    Mohammed Quli Qutub Shah one of the rulers of Golconda, was also the first poet in the urdu language to have an extant collection of poetry. His love for the beautiful village belle Bhagmati, led him to found the city of Hyderabad where he had met her. He made her his queen naming her Hyder mahal and the city in her honour.
    and so is the glorious and romantic history of those lying forgotten in dust in these tombs. The Mughal emperor Aurangzeb conquered the Deccan and with his conquest ended the glory of Golconda and the rule of the Qutub Shahi kings.