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Hyderabad Municipal Maps, City Area, Sheet No - 54 Front

Leonard Munn, A.F Chinoy, and A.T Mackenzie

Kalakriti Archives

Kalakriti Archives
Hyderabad, India

Itibar Chauk road runs in a slanting manner, where at the north crossed by the Yakutpura road, which runs in a horizontal manner are visible on the map. Yakutpura was the major suburbs of the time. Areas to the north of Yakutpura completely occupied by the mansions of nobles and other prominent personalities, in which the stable of Raja Rai Lalta Prasad adjacent to his mansion is visible. Raja Rai Lalta Prasad had worked as the Nazim of Salar Jang estates under the direction of the then revenue secretary. As well, areas both to the left and right side of Itibar Chauk road and to the south of Yakutpura Road are also completely occupied by the mansions of the nobles identifiable. Stables, as well as gardens maintained by the nobles, are also visible adjoining their mansions. Moreover, Darwaza Kotla Ali Jah, from there track leads to Ali Jah Kotla street is identifiable. The Kotla Darwaza (Gate) is one among the 13 gates of the city wall of Hyderabad. According to the historians, the city of Hyderabad was a walled city. The city wall was erected during the last days of Subadarship Mubariz Khan Imadul Mulk. Initially, the construction started from Chadarghat gate to Dabirpura gate with stone and mortar without turret-parapets. The rest of the wall surmounted by the turret-parapets was done by Asaf Jah I. Later it was extensively repaired by Bahadur Dil Khan Shuja-ud-daula, governor of Hyderabad during the reign of Asaf Jah II. The city wall had 13 gates (Darwaza) and 13 Khirkis (posterns). These 13 gates were Chadarghat Darwaza, Delhi gate, Afzal Ganj Gate, Champa, Old Bridge (Narva) gate, Dudh Bauli gate, Aliabad gate, Lal Darwaza, Gaulipura, Ghazibanda or Fateh, Mir Jumla, Yakutpura, and Dabirpura Darwaza. In short, the area covered on the map is completely occupied by the servants of the state.

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  • Title: Hyderabad Municipal Maps, City Area, Sheet No - 54 Front
  • Creator: Leonard Munn, A.F Chinoy, A.T Mackenzie
  • Date Created: April, 1913
  • Provenance: These sets of maps were created by the Hyderabad Municipal Survey during 1912-1915. The devastation caused by the flood of 1908 in the river Musi, prompted the Nizam’s administration to devise a plan for urban Hyderabad. This was led by an engineer Leonard Munn (1878-1935). The other people, who were part of the survey under Munn, was A.F. Chinoy as the assistant and A.T. Mackenzie as chief engineer from the P.W.D. What makes these maps much more precious is that each and every thing are depicted in it. The names of streets, landmarks, and even residents appeared prominently on the map. The dominant opinion on the creation of the municipal maps is the 1908 flood, which took over many lives as well as even merged some areas into one. After the flood, Nizam decided to change the future of the Hyderabad city, who could realize the pitfalls of unplanned growth, resulted in the formation of a planning body called city improvement Board (CIB) in 1912 under the able guidance of M.Vishveshwarya from Mysore. The following years marked by the development activities by the CIB such as improvement of the Musi river banks, slum clearance, construction of houses, construction of bridges and lakes, road and sewerage, and stormwater drainage etc. Also, M. Vishveshwarya submitted a comprehensive planning and some recommendation for the future modification of the city in 1930. The net result also included the idea of Municipal Survey, because without survey modification of the city would be impossible. Thus, survey became inevitable and became the base for everything. The original survey which was started in 1912, done using trigonometric methods with reference to Global Telecommunication System (GTS) points, took over three years to complete it. The origin of the survey was the S.E minaret of Afzal Ganj Masjid. The survey divided the city into 848 parts, which were grouped into 16 sets and each map showing 1000 feet north to south and 1400 feet east to west. Since the maps are at a scale of 50 feet to 1 inch, showing each and every building that existed then.The survey divided the city into 848 parts, which were grouped into 16 sets (area). These 16 areas were Chadarghat & Residency; Mir Alam & Bahdurpura; Asaf Nagar; Falak Numa; Khariatabad, Karwan; Golconda; Chilkalgura; Lingampalli; Malakpet & Chanchalgura; North Hussain Sagar Tank; Begampet; Saifabad & South Hussain Sagar Tank; Hughes Town & Mushirabad; Phisal Banda, and City area. The number of sheets from each of these areas were more in number. Since the maps are at a scale of 50 feet to 1 inch, showing each and every building that existed then. The main roads along with streets and branch roads; building footprints like whether the building has one or more than one stories; bungalows, and gardens whether it is major or tiny like laid out along with homes or with graves, and finally even minute details. The minute details are interesting because it did not leave even to mark fire plugs, dust bins, letter box pillars, urinal, latrines, baoli, water trough, well, hills, cart tracks, drain channels, hedge, ponds, and lakes etc. The landmarks like the Temple, Mosque, Church, Dargah, Police Station, Dhobi Ghat, Brick Kiln, Tanneries, etc are also well depicted. The residents of prominent people in the form of vestibules along with stables always attached to it are also noted. Also, the graveyards are well marked based on the names given like cemetery, kabristan, masan, and samadh, which makes one easily understandable to which community it belongs. The nature of the soil is also marked well by indicating whether the land was wasteland or else hilly, marshy, and cultivable land etc. Another interesting thing is that the flood level of 1908 also marked by highlighting high and low water marks areas.The general index to the areas, those were the core places of the survey, are given on the back of the map. The index to the sheet numbers from the particular area is also given back of the map. And, it is even mentioned that some sheets have not been printed, because those were blank sheets and showing only water surfaces. Also, 60 symbols and abbreviations are listed on the back indicating whatever things and places come under the survey. Apart from these, the methods used to conduct the survey, Hyderabad Municipal Survey office seal along with reproduced sheet numbers, and even marked whether it is the special edition or not, are also showed clearly on the back of the map.
  • Subject Keywords: Jilau Khana Samsam-ud-Daula Br, Deorhi Said-ud-Daula Br, Gulzar Hauz Road, Deorhi Munawar-ud-Daula Br, Deorhi Nawab Shahab Jang Br, Deorhi Roshan-ud-Daula Br, Haji Sainyan Lane, Deorhi Hussain Dost Khan, Deorhi Nawab Sabkat Yab Jang, Deorhi Raja Rai Lalta Prasad, Stables Raja Rai Lalta Prasad, Baoli, Darab Jang Lane, Deorhi Nawab Zain-ul-Abidin Khan, Deorhi Muzzaz Yar Jang Br, Madrasa-i-Mufid-ul-Anam, Itibar Chauk Lane, Deorhi Ikhtiyar Nawaz Jang Br, Stables Raja Sheo Raj Br, Madrasa-i Raja Sheo Raj Br, Maidan Chauk Road, Mir Jumla Tank Darwaza Road, Yakutpura Road, Deorhi Lashkar Jang Br, Deorhi Raja Rup Lal, Deorhi Nawab Nazim Jang Br, Deorhi Nawab Faiyaz Ali Khan Br, Deorhi Nawab Md Ali Khan, Shadi Lal Lane, Deorhi Raja Khushwakt Rai, Khana Bagh, Raja Sheo Raj Br, Masjid, Dargah, Deorhi Nawab Mir Mahbub Ali Khan,Deorhi Raja Shadi Lal, Shahzor Jang Br, Kacheri Bazarat Sarf-i-Khas, Kammal Posh Lane, Deorhi Nawab Ahmad Abdullah, Ali Jah Kotla Street, Chilla, Ashur Khana Khuni Alawa, Darwaza Kotla Ali Jah, Deorhi Shah Zor Jang, Deorhi Rahat Jang Bakshi, Stables Nawab Zain-ul-Abidn Khan, Dargah, Deorhi Lal Chand, Gachi Chabutra Lane, Deorhi Mir Asaf Ali, Stables Nawab Kadir-ud-Daula Br.
  • Type: Map
  • Rights: Karen Leonard
  • Medium: Paper
  • Survey: 1912/1915
  • Publishing House: Hyderabad Minicipal Survey
  • Map Size: 69 x 102 cm
  • Creator's Lifetime: 1878/1935
  • Creator's Bio: Leonard Munn, an engineer, who was the chief inspector of the mines under the Nizam rule. Munn was born in Madresfield village in Worcestershire in England on May 31, 1878. He graduated as a mining engineer and had worked in the mines in Australia and Africa well in the 1890s. Munn arrived in India in 1902, worked first for a private firm as a gold prospector and then became the chief inspector of mines under the Nizam's government. He worked as a mining engineer with Municipal Survey Department during 1909-1919. Then he became the special officer in charge of Well-Sinking and Geological Department and even served as the Director of the Geological Survey in 1928. In 1929, Munn shifted his residence to the Lingsugur, a place in the northern Karnataka, was part of Nizam's dominion in those time. Munn died at Lingsugur on October 21, 1935, and buried in an old British cemetery. An inscription found from his gravestone about his achievement especially on supervising the construction of 1200 wells in the famine zone of Raichur district.
  • Commissioned by: 7th Nizam Mir Osman Ali Khan
  • Collection: Kalakriti Archives_Karen Leonard's collction
Kalakriti Archives

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