When Hanuman spoke to Aurangzeb

It is regarded as a centerpiece of  Islamic art, architecture and literature. It also occupied a prime position in India and it played a decisive role in several events and incidents that shaped the history of south India.

Today, it is regarded as one of the major hubs of the IT revolution in India and it is trying its best to catch up with Bangalore as the most favoured IT destination.

It is also a city that has an impressive past. Known for its cuisine and the iconic Qutb Minar, Hyderabad is also the city of the Nawabs.

Hyderabad today presents a city with a rich past and a promising future. While tourists and visitors flock in lakhs to see the Qutb Minar, Salar Jing museum, the Nizam’s palace and of course Golconda, they conveniently overlook another piece of history.

However to be fair to the tourists, not many even in Hyderabad are aware of the importance of this historic structure and its association with a Mughal Emperor. Moreover it is not on any tourist circuit or map.

This structure is a temple and it has an interesting story about its survival in a Muslim dominated Kingdom. This the old and beautiful temple of  Hanuman located in Lakshmipuram near Karmanghat. The structure is believed to be almost nine centuries old.

The temple was located at its present place when Mohammad Quli Qutb Shah established Hyderabad in 1591.

When the last great Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb, invaded Golconda and defeated the Nizam Shahi King, he overran Golconda and Hyderabad apart from other cities belonging to the Nizam Shahis.

The year then was 1687 and Aurangzeb marched on to Hyderabad after imprisoning the Nizam Shahi King. He then entered Hyderabad and asked his soldiers and officials to raze all Hindu temples in and around the city.

When the Mughal soldiers came to the Hanuman Temple at Lakshmipuram, they found that they could not enter the premises. When they tried to push through, they felt a bigger and stronger force pushing them back. Try as hard as they could, they could not overcome the invisible force.

They ran back to the camp where Aurangzeb was holding court. When they reported the matter to Aurangzeb, the Emperor could not believe his ears. Angered over the failure of his soldiers to act, he himself marched with another group of soldiers to the temple.

Aurangzeb to met the same fate as his soldiers. He felt an invisible force holding him back and the crowbar he had held in his hand fell to the ground.

He then heard a voice which spoke to him.

The unseen voice warned Aurangzeb by saying “If you want to enter this temple, make your heart stronger (Karo-man-ghat)”. It then contiuned saying, “Mandir todna hai rajan, to karo man ghat.”

Though Aurangzeb appeared shaken, the voice did not satisfy him. He asked the voice to prove itself and its truthfulness.

The voice then dissolved into several strands of light. The whole temple came to be illuminated by the lights and in their midst appeared a hazy form. There was also a defeaning sound resembling thunder. A thoroughly humbled Aurangzeb beat a hasty retreat and ordered his soldiers not to harm the temple.

Since then, the place where the temple is situated has come to be known as Karmanghat.

The temple attracts thousands of devotees everyday but very few tourists. Historians say the temple was built by the Kakatiya king Prataprudra II in 1143 A.D.

There is an interesting legend behind the construction of the temple.  The Kakatiya Emperor, Prataprudra II, went out for hunting and when he came to Lakshmipuram, he heard the roar of a tiger.

Hungry and tired, the King thought he could hunt down the tiger for a meal. But try as might, he could not find the tiger. When he heard the roar again, he went in direction of the noise. As he neared a place, he could distinctly hear the chanting  “Sri Ram”.

The King then found a Hanuman statue hidden amid the foliage he had cut down to look at the place from where the chanting was coming from.

The King prostrated himself before Hanuman and then went back to his palace. The same night, Hanuman appeared in his dreams and asked him to build a temple. This is how the temple came to be built.

There are several smaller structures within the Hanuman temple. They are all built by the Kakatiyas themselves. There are deities of    Rama, Vigneshwara, Nageshwara, Bramaramba Lingeshwara, Durga, Saraswathi, Jagannatha Venugopala and  Navagrahas.

There is a belief that if women worship for 40 days the Hanuman here, which is called Dhyana Anjeneya, they will be blessed with healthy children. Similarly, all diseases are supposed to be cured if the person prays here for 40 days.

The temple is 15 kms from the railway station and 12 kms from the bus station. The temple is open from 6 am to 12 pm and again from
4 pm to 8 pm.