Hyderabad’s Mushk Mahal loses its fragrance with time

The 350-year-old building is in ruins as litter piles up near the heritage structure

Hyderabad: While driving towards Shamshabad from Mehdipatnam, if you take a left between pillars 136 and 137 at Attapur and go about 300 yards into the lane, you will come across an open area with an imposing structure that looks at least a couple of hundred years old. But it is older than that, in fact, it is almost 350 years old and its construction is attributed to Miyan Mishk Malik, a military commander in the Qutb Shahi Dynasty.

Various reports online say it was originally called Mishk Mahal before its name became what it is known as today – Mushk Mahal. The building is listed as a heritage structure by the Indian National Trust for Art and Culture Heritage (INTACH).

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The two-storeyed building, located in a vast area of open land seems out of place in the middle-class locality that surrounds it, and currently is in near ruins. Access to the building is through a kutcha path through the bushes and while the ground floor seems to have housed long rooms at one point, several sections there seem to have been bricked up decades ago. According to city-based historian Sajjad Shahid, it was built during the reign of Abdullah Qutb Shah in the late 17th century.

“According to the legend, there was a caravan of musk traders who came to the Golconda empire to sell their wares. The king got to know of them and at that time. He loved the fragrance of musk so much that he bought the entire stock and put it in the foundation of the Mushk Mahal building and that’s why it is called Mushk Mahal. Or at least that’s how the story goes,” explains Sajjad.

The place is in need of attention as litter including disposable glasses and alcohol bottles could be seen all around. The lane directly behind the structure is also where people casually stop by to urinate.

Gopala Krishna AB of Hyderabad Trails says they decided against a heritage walk there after doing a recce of the place four years ago. “I couldn’t stay there for a moment without closing my nose. As far as I know, it is the only remaining palace (apart from Goshamahal Palace) from the Qutb Shahi era,” he says.

The structure, undoubtedly tourism worthy, could do with some attention towards repairs and conservation.

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