CletaMacfarlane at 02:47, 12 September 2025

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{{Short description|Four historical arches in Hyderabad, India}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2015}}
{{Use Indian English|date=July 2015}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name = Char Kaman
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| image = Char Kaman, a memorial arch near Charminar, Hyderabad 02.jpg
| caption = Kali Kaman, one of the four archways
| type = [[Arch]]
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| area = [[Old City, Hyderabad]]
| built = {{start date and age|1592}}
| founder = [[Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah]]
| architect = [[Mir Mu'min Astarabadi]]
| architecture = [[Indo-Islamic architecture]]
| governing_body =
| owner = [[Government of Telangana]]
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[[File:Hyderabad, arco cerimoniale sud della via delle parate, charminar kaman 02 verso charminar.jpg|thumb|right|The [[Charminar]] seen through the ''Charminar Kaman'']]

'''Char Kaman''' (literally meaning "four gates") are four historical [[Arch|arches]] in [[Hyderabad, Andhra Pradesh|Hyderabad]], [[India]].<ref>{{cite news|url=http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/hyderabad/Char-kaman-in-Old-City-faces-monumental-neglect/articleshow/9169234.cms|title=Char kaman in Old City faces monumental neglect - Times Of India|last=Henry|first=Nikhila|date=2011-07-10|access-date=2011-09-05|publisher=[[Times of India]]}}</ref> Originally demarcating an open [[Town square|square]], they face the four cardinal directions.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/01/stories/2010070161890300.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100707143536/http://www.hindu.com/2010/07/01/stories/2010070161890300.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2010-07-07 |title=Andhra Pradesh / Hyderabad News : Charminar pedestrianisation a far cry? |work=[[The Hindu]] |date=2010-07-01 |access-date=2011-09-05 |location=Chennai, India}}</ref><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=wgo97XF0XuYC|title=Landmarks of the Deccan: A Comprehensive Guide to the Archaeological Remains of the City and Suburbs of Hyderabad|last=Bilgrami|first=Syed Ali Asgar|date=1992|publisher=Asian Educational Services|isbn=9788120605435|language=en}}</ref>

== Background ==
In the late 16th century, [[Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah]], the ruler of the [[Sultanate of Golconda|Golconda Sultanate]], founded the city of Hyderabad, which was to serve as the new capital of the kingdom. The city plan was designed by [[Mir Mu'min Astarabadi]], an Iranian scholar and architect. The [[Charminar]] formed the centerpiece of the new city. The four arches of the Char Kaman are located directly to the south of the Charminar.<ref name=":3">{{Cite journal |last=Ruffle |first=Karen |date=2020 |title=Making Shiʿism an Indian Religion: A Perspective from the Qutb Shahi Deccan |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/10.13169/reorient.5.2.0287 |journal=ReOrient |volume=5 |issue=2 |pages=287–304 |doi=10.13169/reorient.5.2.0287 |jstor=10.13169/reorient.5.2.0287 |issn=2055-5601|url-access=subscription |doi-access=free }}</ref>

The arches demarcated a [[Town square|piazza]], called the ''Jilu Khana'', which was surrounded by the royal palaces and the Charminar. Every morning, the noblemen along with their retinue would pass through the square, where the retinue would be left behind, while the noblemen would proceed for an audience with the sultan. In the center of the square is the [[Gulzar Houz]], an octagonal cistern, served to provide drinking water to the waiting attendants, as well as soldiers who would stand guard along the gates of the royal residence. The arches were completed in 1592.<ref name=":1" />

Some scholars, including [[M. A. Nayeem]], draw parallels between the piazza formed by the arches and the [[Naqsh-e Jahan Square]] in [[Isfahan]], since Mir Mu'min was Iranian himself. However, the construction of the square in Isfahan began in 1598, by which time the Char Kaman complex had been completed and was already in use.<ref name=":3" /> The complex may be of [[Timurid Empire|Timurid]] inspiration, conceptually resembling the [[Registan]] in [[Samarkand]].<ref>{{Cite book |last=Khalidi |first=Omar |url=http://worldcat.org/oclc/233637198 |title=A guide to architecture in Hyderabad, Deccan, India |date=2008 |publisher=Aga Khan Program for Islamic Architecture, MIT Libraries |pages=5 & 7 |oclc=233637198}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |title=The New Cambridge History of India I:7 Architecture and Art of the Deccan Sultanates |pages=53}}</ref>

The practice of building elaborate portals facing the cardinal directions is reminiscent of a Hindu architectural tradition popular in the Deccan, with the most famous example being the [[Kakatiya Kala Thoranam]].<ref name=":2" /> The grand gateway of the [[Atala Mosque, Jaunpur|Atala Mosque]] is also considered to be the forerunner of elaborate Indo-Islamic gateways including the Char Kaman and the nearby Charminar.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Sherwani |first=H. K. |author-link=Haroon Khan Sherwani |url=https://ia800802.us.archive.org/34/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.118904/2015.118904.Cultural-Trends-In-Medieval-India.pdf |title=Cultural Trends in Medieval India |pages=13, 21}}</ref><ref name=":4" />

According to historian [[Ghulam Yazdani]], another motivation behind their construction might have been the fact that the flagbearers of the royal processions, mounted upon elephants, might have had to dismount or lower their banners when passing through smaller gateways. The arches are large enough to allow an elephant, with a canopy upon its back, to pass through.<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Yazdani |first=Ghulam |author-link=Ghulam Yazdani |url=https://ia601403.us.archive.org/17/items/in.ernet.dli.2015.277216/2015.277216.243_W_O_text.pdf |title=Annual Report of the Archaeological Department of His Exalted Highness The Nizam's Dominions 1918-19 AD |publisher=Baptist Mission Press |year=1920 |location=Calcutta |pages=4}}</ref><ref name=":1" />
== Description ==
Each of the arches is approximately 60 feet tall, 36 feet wide at the base, and six feet in thickness. They are separated from the center of the piazza by nearly 375 feet in each case.<ref name=":4">{{Cite book |last=Sherwani |first=Haroon Khan |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=aoYgAAAAMAAJ |title=History of the Qutb Shāhī Dynasty |date=1974 |publisher=Munshiram Manoharlal Publishers |language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{cite news |last=VENKATESHWARLU |first=K. |date=10 March 2004 |title=Glory of the gates |url=http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/03/10/stories/2004031000490300.htm |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20050201020508/http://www.hindu.com/mp/2004/03/10/stories/2004031000490300.htm |archive-date=1 February 2005 |access-date=2011-09-05 |work=[[The Hindu]] |location=Chennai, India}}</ref> They are built in the [[Qutb Shahi architecture|Qutb Shahi]] style, with the characteristic pointed arch, interpreted by some scholars to represent the [[Tawhid|unity of God]].<ref name=":2" />

The southern arch, directly facing the Charminar, is called the Charminar Kaman.

The northern arch is called the ''Machli Kaman'' (literally "fish gateway") since a large fish made up of bamboo and paper would be suspended in the center of the arch on every lunar new year, as a symbol of prosperity.

The eastern arch is called the ''Kali Kaman''. (literally "black gate") It was originally called the ''Naqqar Khana''. Drummers and musicians were accommodated in an elevated chamber atop this arch.

The western gateway, originally called ''Kaman Sher-i-'Ali'', formed the eastern entrance to the royal palaces. In order to ward off any [[Black magic|magic]] used against the royals, Mir Mu'min had erected a stone pillar by this gate, with Quranic verses and charms inscribed upon it. Due to this pillar, this gate was also known as the ''Kaman Sihr-i-Batil'', which has now been corrupted to ''Kaman Sher-i-Batil''. The complex of royal palaces, which extended up to the Musi river, was destroyed following the [[Siege of Golconda]].<ref name=":4" />

In 1858, the monument was rehabilitated by the fifth [[Nizam of Hyderabad]], [[Afzal-ud-Daulah]].<ref>{{Citation |title=Nineteenth-Century Hyderabad: Re-Scripting Urban Heritage |date=2008-01-01 |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1163/ej.9789004162402.i-1500.156 |work=The City in the Islamic World (2 vols.) |pages=591 |publisher=BRILL |doi=10.1163/ej.9789004162402.i-1500.156 |access-date=2022-03-11 |last1=Shah |first1=Alison Mackenzie |isbn=978-90-474-4265-3 |url-access=subscription }}</ref>
Charkaman is notified as a heritage structure by [[INTACH]]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://intach.ap.nic.in/heritagesites.htm|title=HERITAGE - SITES|publisher=INTACH Hyderabad Chapter|access-date=2011-09-05|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111006021909/http://intach.ap.nic.in/heritagesites.htm|archive-date=6 October 2011|df=dmy-all}}</ref>{{Quote
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{{Gallery
| title = Char Kaman or the four gates
| align =
| footer =
| style =
| state =
| height =
| width =
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| mode =
| whitebg =
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| File:Charminar Through Machli Kaman.jpg
| Machli Kaman (North)
| alt1=
| File:Sher-e-Batil-Ki-Kaman - 02.jpg
| Sher-e-Batil-Ki-Kaman (West)
| alt2=
| File:Charminar Kaman From Charminar.jpg
| Charminar Kaman (South)
| alt3=
| File:Kali Kaman - 02.jpg
| Kali Kaman (East)
| alt4=
}}

==References==
{{reflist}}

{{Coord|17|21|44|N|78|28|29|E|region:KR-47_type:city(516105)_source:dewiki|display=title}}
{{Qutb Shahi Monuments}}
[[Category:Heritage structures in Hyderabad, India]]
[[Category:Qutb Shahi architecture]]

Char Kaman - Revision history

CletaMacfarlane at 02:47, 12 September 2025