Rani Bhagmati was the queen of Quli Qutb Shah, the Golconda Sultan of Qutb Shahi. This queen existed in the 16th century and is still remembered for lending her name to one of the most famous cities of South India.
Rani Bhagmati was very beautiful and charming lady, who belonged to a devadasi family and as per the tradition of that period, she used to perform dance at temples. She was a very good dancer. It is said that the king Quli Qutb Shah met her at the Nagamalleshvara temple when he went to the forest for hunting and subsequently used to meet her in a place, which led to Golconda fort through a bridge on the Musi River. He fell in love with her and married her. After marriage, she came to be called Mishtari or Hydermahal.
Quli Qutb Shah founded the Hyderabad city and named it Bhagyanagar after the name of his beloved queen Bhagmati. Later, it got the name Hyderabad as the name of the queen changed to Hydermahal and she took up Islam. This fact was proved from the writings of many Hindu and Muslim writers from the 16th century A.D. The first report regarding the naming of the city after the name of queen Bhagmati was found from the viceroy of Akbar, named Faizi. Queen Bhagmati died in 1608 AD and her tomb is believed to be situated at Kwdaba near Rain Bazzar, Hyderabad.
Numerous portraits and paintings of this beautiful queen Bhagmati can be seen still today. One of such nice painting is now placed in the Andhra Pradesh State Museum in Hyderabad, which dates back to the 18th century A.D.
