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The Lost Heritage of the Deodis
A Graphic Description of Loss
Speakers
The once picturesque Bhagmathi, the old city of Hyderabad, with her gardens, lakes, open spaces and rich architecture, survives today as a soulless urban sprawl, stripped of her beauty and assets. The city, at one time, was home to more than 1200 Deodis, the old style stately homes of the Hyderbadi feudal lords, which thrummed with life. Life in the city revolved around the Nizam and his lords, who presided over the fate of the Hyderabad state. It is in those deodis that the famous Hyderbadi Tehzeeb evolved and flowered. Music, dance, poetry, literature and fine arts flourished around those deodis, where the nobles vied with one another to patronise them. Hyderabad then was a tapestry of ethnicities, cultures, languages, cuisines and tastes.
Each deodi, be it that of a Hindu or a Muslim noble, had its own architecture, ambiance and rhythm, reflecting the identity of its owner. Sprawling townships grew around each deodi, the relationship between the two being symbiotic. Jewellers, master craftsmen, weavers, carvers, embroiders and nakkashi workers, calligraphers and werek makers had their hands full, with the wealthy classes giving them more work than they could handle. Poets and versifiers, Quawwali singers and storytellers alike crowded to those stately homes looking for patronage. In a unique blend of Ganga Jamni culture, these men were rewarded for their art, never mind their faith or origin. This is the beautiful heritage that the city of Hyderabad lost in the aftermath of the dismantling of the erstwhile Hyderabad state.
A talk by the author Rani Sarma will be followed by a Q&A session with the audience.
Speakers
Rani Sarma
Emani Rani Sarma is a die hard heritage activist and passionately believes that heritage must be protected in all its forms. Heritage is a nonrenewable resource and once erased, cannot be recovered.
She taught history for several decades in Delhi and Hyderabad and took it as a mission to instill a passion for the subject in her wards.
As the convener of INTACH, Visakhapatnam, she conducted many activities to achieve that end. She fought fiercely to protect the heritage of Hyderabad and Visakhapatnam and when she realised that much of old Hyderabad’s heritage was systematically and irretrievably eroded, she scrambled to document what was left. The book, The Deodis of Hyderabad – A Lost Heritage is the result.
Deodis is her first book, released in the year 2008. Subsequently she wrote Thathagathuni Adagajadalu in Telugu (2019) and Buddha in my Backyard in 2004.
The central theme of all her books is ‘heritage and its protection.’
Nidhin G Olikara
Born into an Army family Nidhin G Olikara has had the fortune of living in different parts of India. He holds degrees in Mechanical Engineering as well as a Bachelor of Arts (History). He lives in Bangalore and is currently pursuing his PhD on the Arms Industry in 17 – 19 C South India along with continuing to research and write upon the rule of Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan of Mysore.
A good portion of his work is online on his blog under the name – The Seringapatam Times so that information remains free and accessible to all. He has contributed articles to several prominent newspapers including Deccan Herald, Business Line and Bangalore Mirror among others. His articles have also been translated into Kannada and he has been interviewed as an expert by press and visual Media on several occasions.
Another area of focus of his research is to identify and document the fast vanishing information as well as samples of South Indian and the Deccan’s vast military heritage. He has been a frequent contributor of articles to journals in India and abroad. He has helped several International authors in their research on the subject of Indian Arms with information of weapon typology as well as deciphering inscriptions on them. He has also spoken on this subject to scholarly gatherings abroad. He recently delivered a talk at the Tower of England to members of the Arms and Armour Society, UK.
