Mohurrum in Hyderabad, the day of the Langar procession. And in case anyone happens to be ignorant of the origin of this ceremony, I will briefly relate that not long after the city of Hyderabad had been built by Muhammad Kuli, at the close of the sixteenth century A.D., a Kutb Shahi prince was riding from the city to Golconda on an elephant, and, after crossing the Purana Pul (old bridge), the elephant became mad, and scattered the royal retinue and carried the prince into the jungle.
When the news reached Golconda, the Queen said that she would give to a Mahomedan recluse a gold chain "as thick as a langar" (a chain used to tether an elephant) if her son returned safely to the Palace. Some hours later, the prince arrived at Golconda on the runaway elephant, and the Queen then ordered the city goldsmiths to make the promised langar, which was afterwards taken by the prince in procession to the retreat of the recluse, and there cut up into many small pieces and distributed among religious mendicants.
Such was the beginning of the Langar ceremony, which is still performed each year in Hyderabad city in memory of the prince's
