First public meeting by Swamiji - HYDERABAD

Thursday, January 12, 2012

Swami Vivekananda’s visit to Nizam’s Dominion in 1893

The present generation may not know that Swami Vivekananda visitedHyderabad city on February 13, 1893 before leaving for Chicago to address the parliament of religions on 11 September 1893.

The fact of Vivekananda’s stay in Hyderabad city of Nizam’s dominion and his various engagements is not familiar to many.

In the Nizam’s monarchical Govt a number of brilliant Hindus fromBengal were employed in important posts. One among them was BabuMadhusudhan Chattteree. He was the MINT MASTER of Nizam’s mint for Osmania sicca.

Nizam state had its own currency both in coins and notes of Rs one to100/-The Osmania sicca bore the figure of the Nizam. The value of Osmania currency used to be Rs 116/-equal to Rs100/- of Indian Govt currency

This Bengali Mint master Chatterjee was a learned man and was close to Nizam. At his instance, Swamiji visited Hyderabad and stayed with him.

When Swamiji arrived Hyderabad on February 10, 1893, by train, about 500 prominent people at the Railway station drawn from all communities, and all strata of society, including powerful Nobles, Nawabs, received him.

Nawab Sikandar Jung a prominent noble profusely garlanded him.

Next day the people of Secunderabad greeted Swamiji with floral and fruit offering, the city bore a festive look

Swamiji addressed a public meeting at famous Mehaboob College.

In his eloquent speech, he not only spoke on Hinduism but also Islam, and Christianity giving an excellent exposition of their tenets.

Maharaja Sir Kishan Prasad then Prime Minister of Nizam followed by a large number of Muslim Nawabs offerd to meet all his travel expenses for his historic trip to USA but Swamiji politely declined.

Swamiji greatly appreciated the generous offer of Muslim gentry.

Swami Vivekananda visited Mecca Masjid, Charminar, falaknuma palace, historic Golconda fort, Salarjung palace, and the tomb of Baba Sharfuddin and Hindu temples.

All sections of society gave him rousing reception at all these places, a unique event in the history of Nizam state ruled by a Muslim monarch.

Swamiji’s visit to Hyderabad and addressing public meeting assumed significant importance in as much as he was appearing for the first

time at a public platform when his oratorical powers came to the fore. His superb command of the English language and mastery grasp of the subject brought standing applause from people of all religions.

Next day Swami Vivekananda left for Madras leaving a great impression on the people who saw him, met him, and heard him. This visit toHyderabad has gone deep in to the annals of History of India being first public meeting by Swamiji.

I am posting this blog with fond hope that it will benefit the intellectuals of our bloggers’ forum. I hope my esteemed colleagues will appreciate my efforts in building up this blog.

The historic monuments visited by Swami Vivekananda in

Hyderabad in 1893.

. I am also giving brief history of glorious cosmopolitan historic city of Hyderabad, now cynosure of all eyes.

Hyderabad, the capital of Andhra Pradesh is a bustling 400-year-old metropolis with an urban population close to 10 million. Who hasn't heard about the soft, rounded, luminescent, teardrop pearl ofHyderabad? People form everywhere flocks here to possess a few of these world famous pearls.

Falaknuma scorpion designed palace with tow stings spread our as wings on the north, it covers a total area of 9, 39,612 square meters.

It is believed that the Falaknuma palace was gifted to the sixth Nizam of Hyderabad, Mehboob Ali Khan by the generous Nawab, the palace has been referred to as the “Mirror of the Sky”

Charminar

Another wonder of the city. Hyderabad means Charminar and visa versa, Charminar is on the top list for any tourist visitingHyderabad. It is a major lank mark of the city. It is a splendor of the city. It is built with granite, lime, mortar and pulverized marble.

Chairminar is structured as a square, each of whose sides is 20 meters in length. Each arch is 11 meters wide and rises 20 meters to the pinnacle from the plinth. The minarets soar skywards by 24 meters from the roof of Charminar. Each minaret has four storey’s, each looking like a delicately carved ring around the minaret. Some Anglophiles call Charminar the Arc de Triomphe of the East. From the ground to the apex, the minarets cover a length of 48.7 meters.

The first floor of the building is my favorite place …. It looks beautiful where you can get a fantastic view of the historic city. Apart from being the core of the city’s cultural milieu, it has become a brand name.



Salarjung Museum

This museum has one of the largest private collections in the World. Situated at Afzal Ganj, the museum has a collection of more than 43,000 art objects and 50,000 books in the 38 rooms spread over three floors of the building, it included awesome paintings, statues, furniture, manuscripts and books.

My visit to this museum was the liking to the magnificent painting; I just loved the European and Indian paintings. It is the 3^rd largest museum in India. It is more close to my heart because this museum was declared open by the Prime Minister of India, Shri Jawaharlal Nehru in the year 1951, Dec 16

India for its prized collections. In the year 1961 it was declared to be an "Institution of National Importance" by an Act of Parliament, known as the Salar Jung Museum Act, 1961. It was originally housed in Diwan Devdi.

Macca masjid of Hyderabad.

Tankbund road

Hussain Sagar Lake after the night fall-Statue of Buddha in the middle of the lake

With the courtesy; Book "Glorious Hyderabad" by Dr K.Chandriah IAS former collector Hyderabad Dist.