Untold Stories Of Our Temples-8: Dark side of history of temples in Ram Bagh and Kishan Bagh

Hyderabad: Names like Ram Bagh, Kishan Bagh, and scores of other temples in the Old City's heritage speak the dark side of the history.

Krishna Yadav (name changed), a resident of the Old City and an enthusiast shared some of the popular stories pertaining to names like Ram Bagh and Kishan Bagh. These areas got the names after the temples and the large chunks of lands the temples had.

A buzzing temple economy exists around these temples, with devotees belonging to various communities of the Hindu fold visiting them every day. Krishna says it has been a historical fact that every temple around it has a temple economy, with small-time vendors selling fruits, flowers and other items used in the worship of the deity.

This was the situation even before the Quli Qutub Shahi times till 1970s.

But thereafter the situation changed. A large number of Hindus who were residing in these areas witnessed communal riots. He said the Jagannadh Temple in the Parthiwada locality of the Old City stands as a testimony to such violence in which about 200 people reportedly lost their lives.

Recalling the earlier days, Vijaya Lakshmi (name changed), now 59 years old said, "No longer I live in that area. She said unfortunately, it was some outside elements which had unleashed the violence not the local people.

But there has been no action by the then government. A judicial commission was constituted but no one knows what the outcome was and thereafter many people moved to other areas including Rangareddy district.

This gave a chance for some to take advantage of the situation and occupied the houses left behind by the people who had migrated from those areas and most of the transfer of properties took place based on notarised documents.

But, she said she was happy that the Jagannath temple, Krishna temple, and our Grama Devatha temples continue to stand as testimonies of good and bad times, she added.