Venkatagiri

If you are visiting Hyderabad on business, it is easy to miss the 400-year-old city. The city that immediately hits the eye is a sprawling metropolis of shopping malls and office buildings with glass façades. The magnificent "old city" that was once the seat of the Nizam, the ruler of the largest and the most opulent princely state, and the twin city of Secunderabad where the British maintained a cantonment to keep the army within striking distance of the Nizam, can be seen only if you take the time out to see them. The name "Hyderabad" (Telugu: HIGH-duhr-AH-bahd, Urdu/Hindi: HEH-duhr-AH-bahd) literally means "Lion City" in Persian. A popular legend suggests that the founder of the city, Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah, named it "Bhagyanagar" ("Fortunate City") after Bhagmati, a Telugu courtesan he had an affair with. After she converted to Islam and took on the name of "Hyder Mahal", he renamed the city to "Hyderabad".