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To the north of the old fort of Golconda stands a large group of domed buildings, some large and imposing and others of meaner design, interspersed with many mosques of various sizes, some of which are very ornate. These are the tombs of the kings of the Qutb Shahi dynasty, who ruled Telingana from 1512 to 1687, and of their depen- dants. Of these tombs the historian of architecture* says : — '* The tombs of the kings of this dynasty and of their nobles and families do form as extensive and as picturesque a group as is to be found anywhere, but individually they are in singularly bad taste. Their bases are poor and weak, their domes tall and exaggerated, showing all the faults of the age in which they were executed, but still not unworthy of a place in history if the materials existed for illustrating them properly."

These remarks, if it be not presumptuous to differ from so great an authority on architecture, do the tombs scant justice. Their domes are large but not unduly tall, and though the bases of some of the smaller tombs may be poor those of the larger tombs are not overpowered by the domes which they carry. Each of the three latest of the larger tombs is surrounded by a massive arcade, forming a verandah which gives an appearance of bulk to the base of the building. The mosques, which are not mentioned by Mr. Fergusson, are far more open to criticism than the tombs. The profusion of ornament in stucco is not always in the best taste, and the characteristic galleries round the minarets, not perhaps out of place in large buildings like the Char Minar in Haidarabad, become ridiculous when in a small mosque they are necessarily so much reduced in size as to be palpable imitations, added for no purpose other than ornament. It may also be remarked that materials for illustrating these buildings in the light of history do exist, though they have unfortunately not been extensively utilized as yet.

The Qutb Shahi dynasty, to which these tombs belong, was founded by Sultan Quli Qutb-ul-Mulk, governor of Telingana, in 15 12, Sultan Quli reigned at Golconda for thirty-one years after 15 12, during which period he expelled Qivam-ul-Mulk the Turk, who had been appointed by the Bahmani king governor of eastern Telingana, and was engaged in almost ceaseless warfare against the Hindus of Telingana, in the


 * Fergusson, History of Indian and Eastern Architecture, 1899, p. 567.