After clean-up, back to 'normal' Armenian cemetery

C R GOWRI SHANKER

January 31, 2017

Cemetery was cleaned up three months ago, but there is apparent lack of maintenance.

 Graves at the Armenian cemetery in Uppuguda in the old city are run over by weeds after a clean-up three months ago. (Photo: DC)

Hyderabad: The little known Armenian cemetery in Uppuguda, located about 3 km from Uppuguda railway station in the Old City, has again been overtaken by weeds and wild grass just three months after it was cleaned up.

To reach the place itself is a tough task as not many locals are aware of the important historical cemetery. There are no direction boards leading to the site.

“We have recently restored the cemetery spending a couple of lakh rupees.It’s one of the historical cemeteries which reflect Armenian traders’ links with Hyderabad. The place was in a pretty bad state in the past. We have constructed the compound wall, laid flooring and redone some of the damaged cemeteries,” Mr Mohd Raheem Shah Ali, deputy director, engineering, of the archeology department told this newspaper.

He said the department was trying to maintain all ancient monuments on the directions of director N.R. Visalatchy.“These cemeteries were conserved and restored for the benefit of scholars and others for posterity. Several scholars visit the place,” he said. 

Mahesh, a gardener, who lives near cemetery, said they cleaned up the place three months back. Little of that effort is seen now. Armenians had deep trading contacts with India from ancient times including Hyderabad long before other European traders came in. 

Armenians established large colonies in major cities between the 16th and 17th centuries but left behind few written records of their activities, traditions or social conditions. Their presence is only attested by thousands of old epitaphs in deserted cemeteries and church yards. The innocuous looking cemetery with about 70 graves including two covered with pillared structures reflects ancient Armenian traders’ links with Hyderabad during the Asaf Jahi rule. 

Historian and writer Mesrovb Jacob Seth, who wrote History of the Armenians in India from the Earliest Times to Present, states that in 1895 he had copied 19 Armenian inscriptions which were still decipherable dating from 1640 to 1724 AD in an old deserted cemetery in Hyderabad. There were two Armenian priests buried there, he wrote. 

In his List of Inscriptions on Tombs or Monuments in HEH the Nizam’s Dominions, O.S. Crofton, stated that the Armenian cemetery contained 19 Armenian inscriptions. There was also a Dutch inscription of a merchant who died in 1662 AD, he wrote.