No evidence on Hyderabad being called Bhagyanagar: ASI in response to RTI

Hyderabad: There’s a lot of uninvited debate around the name of the city ‘Hyderabad,’ especially from the right-wing time and again insisting for the city name to be changed. However, The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) cleared the air by stating that there is no historical evidence or earlier records that indicate renaming of ‘Hyderabad.’ […]

Hyderabad: There’s a lot of uninvited debate around the name of the city ‘Hyderabad,’ especially from the right-wing time and again insisting for the city name to be changed.

However, The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) cleared the air by stating that there is no historical evidence or earlier records that indicate renaming of ‘Hyderabad.’

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The ASI has also said that it has no details of historical records of the Bhagyalaxmi temple at the Charminar too.

In a Right to Information (RTI) response dated August 4th, the ASI responded to a series of questions posed by RTI activist Robin Zaccheus, who requested records or historical evidence regarding the city, its name, and the debated existence of the Bhagyalaxmi temple.

The ASI Hyderabad circle, under which Charminar and the Golconda fort are included, said “No such details are available with this office,” as a response to his questions.

According to RTI, Hyderabad was never named Bhagnagar, Bhagyanagar, or any other name. It also stated that there was no historical evidence, such as an inscription, miniature, or coin from the time period, mentioning the names Bhagmati or Bhagyanagar.

Furthermore, ASI states that it has no records of former Deputy Prime Minister of India Sardar Vallabhai Patel insisting on renaming Hyderabad to Bhagyanagar or any other name.

When asked about the evidence of the existence of Bhagyalaxmi temple in Charminar, the ASI stated that it has no records of the temple or any other temple existing in the same location where Charminar exists today.

The ASI has also acknowledged that the temple attached to the Charminar is an illegal structure built in the late 1960s. During a presentation at Lamakaan in Hyderabad in 2019, former ASI superintendent archaeologist Milan Kumar Chauley reiterated this.

Earlier in June, the ASI had also stated that there is no evidence of ancient mosques under its jurisdiction in Telangana being built on Hindu religious sites. The response then too was to an RTI query by Robin. He asked for evidence “pertaining to the Ancient\ Mosques” that were supposedly built on Hindu religious sites, or temples.

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