Hyderabad’s sweet legacy: Discover the century-old ‘Khowa market’ behind Charminar

Located just two kilometers south of Charminar is the famous Khowa Market, also known as Chandulal Khowa Bela, where the popular dairy product is sold in both bulk and retail. Khowa, also referred to as khoya, mawa, or koa, is a dairy product made by thickening whole milk or dried milk through heating in an open pan. It is commonly used in a variety of culinary preparations.

Hyderabad: The old city is more popular for its Charminar and other heritage monuments however, what very few people know is about its century old sweet legacy the ‘khowa market’.

Two kilometres away Charminar towards south is located the khowa market, popular known as the Chandulal Khowa Bela, where the dairy product is sold in bulk and retail to customers.

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Khowa, also known as khoya, mawa, or koa, is a dairy product made from either dried whole milk or milk that has been thickened by heating in an open pan. It is widely used to prepare cuisines.

A kilogram, of khowa is made after boiling at least four litre of buffalo or cow milk for about 30 minutes. Milk cost Rs. 60 a litre in wholesale, hence the khowa is price between Rs. 240 and Rs. 280 a kilogram here.
“The milk product is sourced from different districts of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra. Its production in the State has come down over a period of time due various reasons,” said A Shanta Kumar, a khowa merchant.

The khowa prepared around the city in Ranga Reddy, Medak, Nalgonda, Mahabubnagar districts was supplied to the city earlier. Now vehicles loaded with the dairy product arrive at the market late in the nights from Sholapur and other districts of Maharashtra. The families in countryside in Maharashtra prepare the khowa at their houses and sell the big traders locally. After thorough packing it is supplied to the city through jeeps.

The old market is located behind the Suraj Bhan Hospital at Shahalibanda while the new market on the Hari Bowli road. At the old markets, there are second and third generation merchants who are conducting their business at the place. Altogether there are around 80 shops.
Initially, there were six shops at the old market and the numbers grew up over a period of time. The six shops were run by businessmen, A Raghunandan, Kishtia, Anjaiah, Parmeya, Aagmaiah, and Gulab Singh and now the trade is managed by their sons and grandsons.

“Four to five tonne of the dairy product arrives at the market on any day from other States. From here it supplied to mithai shops, hotels, catering companies and local people purchase it in small quantities for domestic consumption,” said M A Afzal, a khowa merchant.
The demand for khowa is high during marriage season and festivals where traders place orders in advance and supply to their catering companies and confectioners.

The khowa market is popular known as Chandulal Bela. But not many know who Chandulal was.

According to historians, Chandu Lal Malhotra (1766 – 15 April 1845 ), better known as Maharaja Chandu Lal was the Prime Minister (1833–1844) for the 3rd Nizam of Hyderabad, Sikandar Jah. He was born in Hyderabad and hailed from a Hindu family of the Khatri caste with origins in Lahore. He was also a poet of Urdu, Hyderabadi, Punjabi and Persian.