The treasure hunt which is on at Saifabad in the heart of the city may not ultimately yield any results, or so indicates the history of the four-acre plot on which stands Vidyaranya School.
Historians in the city say that the Wanaparthy family, which has owned the plot for the last eight decades, never treated it as its sole ancestral property. The roots of the Samasthana or the autonomous princely state, are in Mahbubnagar district and that is where the family’s riches were stored. Till 1946, Hyderabad acted as only an administrative office for them.
Moreover, there are other properties owned and maintained by the family in Hyderabad which were bigger than the estate in Saifabad. Mahabhoopal Manzil in Jambagh was one such property. Historians said that since the Samasthana rulers were almost always at loggerheads with the Nizam, they would never have brought their treasure to the latter’s territory. Indeed, historians said that Wanaparthy Samasthana had rulers who were imprisoned by the Nizam as rebels.
The Samasthanas were autonomous, Hindu princely-states which were a constant threat to the Nizam’s rule. There were 14 such Samasthanas in Telangana districts of which Wanaparthy was the second largest, largest being the Gadwal Samasthana. “The Samasthanas were never under the control of the Nizam. He saw them as a threat and closely monitored them. Under such circumstances, there is no possibility of them having brought their jewels and gold into Hyderabad” commented a historian.
Historian Narendra Luther said that only two families have occupied that plot over the last century and it was unlikely that either of them would have concealed any treasure there. Luther said that the plot was bought by Rameswara Rao-III from the prominent Parsi family of Faridoonji, prime minister to the Nizam.
“Also, Naubat Pahad has rocks that are over 2,000 years old. It is hard to see why someone would have tried to store their valuables at the foot of this hill by disturbing its foundation,” Luther said.
Neither is there any mention of a treasure in their house’s legends, family members said. “I lived in the house, which belonged to my maternal cousin Rameswar Rao in 1940s. We never heard of any treasure.
“Us cousins used to play at the foot of the hill and would also often climb it, but we never noticed any cavity or opening,” said Sunandan Reddy, a former Indian Air Force officer and cousin of Rameswar Rao III.
Meanwhile, NMDC sources said that they are yet to locate the mouth of the tunnel and would continue looking for it over the coming two days.
—courtesy:TOI