The Simplifier

Warning: Long Post (This post is based on a video of my talk on the same subject. The video is available here:  https://youtu.be/Xb2vBaC6gGs ) Read on if you are a Hyderabadi.  Or if you are interested in history. Or both! Clock Tower,  Secunderabad  HISTORY OF HYDERABAD TILL THE FOUNDING OF SECUNDERABAD IN 1806 Today Secunderabad is subsumed in the vast urban sprawl called "Greater Hyderabad". Its sobriquet of Hyderabad's “Twin City” gives just a hint of days when the two were indeed different cities separated by several kilometres.  But Secunderabad was not an organic growth of Hyderabad. Rather, it came into being as a result of a Treaty. The two cities have different origins and development trajectories. This Post specifically attempts to trace the Origin of Secunderabad.  To understand why Secunderabad came into being as a twin of Hyderabad, it is instructive to look into Hyderabad's pre-history, dating to almost three centuries earlier....

  We often say that India gave the concept of Zero to the world. How did it happen? Here’s the story. ( https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Evolution_of_Hindu-Arabic_numerals.jpg ) There has always been a need for counting and manipulating quantities. This need became more important after man invented agriculture. The move to a settled lifestyle, invention of agriculture, trading of crops - all required handling quantities and numbers. Construction of houses, villages and towns again required measurements.  Also property needed to be protected. This led to rulers who promised protection, armies, and bureaucracies. The ruler’s need for legitimacy with the public led to their assuming kinship with gods, or even claiming the mantle of gods. Priestly classes arose. The Heavens became involved in worldly affairs. This meant astronomical calculations were required to work out auspicious times for events. Mathematics was again needed. There are Egyptian papyri dating to 1800-15...