Ancient sundial stands silently in front of Macca Masjid

Very few people are aware of the existence of ancient Sun Clock at the Macca Masjid. This is because its historic importance has not been highlighted anywhere.

The visitors go to Hyderabad to visit the iconic Charminar and the Macca Masjid. They would be wonderstruck at the unusual clock if they only knew what it was.

The clock was built during the time of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb and was taken care along with the Masjid by four emperors.

Not many know about this sun clock but after a long search Latif ul rehman, a contractor from Charminar said, "This round stone in Macca Masjid used to help in saying the time in olden days. Watching the sun rays on the rock, people used to see the time. This also used to help everyone in timing of Namaz."

This clock works with a nail in the centre. As the position of sun moves, the mail's shadow falls on the markings made on the rock surface. By this formula people could see the time. This sun clock also showed a calendar helping in guessing months and years," said the officials of the Masjid.

"There were no watches back then and engineers of that age constructed this sun clock. Namaz times were also seen with the help of this sun clock. We will protect this and there is a book on this in Salarjung Museum. We will bring that and carefully safeguard our historic antics," said Khadeer Siddiqui, Superintendent of the Macca Masjid.