Hyderabad: Rumi topi defies time, still popular

HYDERABAD: Rumi topi, popularised by Nizam VII, Mir Osman Ali Khan, in the erstwhile princely state of Hyderabad, is successfully fighting against the odds of changed times, modernity and fashion to survive.
While the Rumi topi (Roman cap) was banned in Turkey in 1922 after the fall of the Ottoman empire, the cylindrical red cap continued to be popular in Hyderabad and parts of undivided AP as late as 1980s. With manufacture restricted to a handful of places in the world — Hyderabad is one of them — the Rumi topi would have gone into oblivion, but thanks to people sporting it on special occasions like weddings and Eid prayers, it survives.
Rumi topi, introduced to Hyderabad from Turkey, also highlighted the close relations between Ottoman Turkey and princely Hyderabad. After the abolition of the Caliph system in Turkey, the last ruler of Ottoman empire, Sultan Abdul Mejid II, willed that if the Caliphate were to be revived, his grandson Mukarram Jah should succeed him. Mukarram Jah is also the grandson of Mir Osman Ali Khan, and former titular Nizam VIII of Hyderabad. Mukarram Jah too had often sported the Rumi topi during his visits to Hyderabad.
Historians said while the cap is popular as Fez the world over, it is called the Rumi topi or Roman headdress in the sub-continent, as the Ottoman empire had succeeded the eastern Roman empire. Historian Allama Ejaz Farrukh said that the position of the tassel attached to the Rumi topi connotes the status of the wearer. It was once part of OU students’ uniform.
Himayat Ali Mirza, great grandson of the Nizam, said Mir Osman Ali Khan never wore expensive clothes but wore the Rumi topi perhaps to cover up his short physical stature. “The Nizam advised his son, prince Moazzam Jah, who is my grandfather, to always wear the Rumi top and he did so as it is a symbol of respect,” he said.
Muhammad Ilyas Bukhari of Muhammad Cap Mart, perhaps the only manufacturer of Rumi topi in these parts, told TOI the Rumi topi’s demand has never waned. “Priced between Rs 250 and Rs 6,000, Rumi topi continues to be the in-thing,” he said, recalling how a senior politician ordered 1,000 topis during separate Telangana movement.
Apart from members of the Nizam’s family, the common Hyderabadi Muslim, mostly of old generation, prefer to sport it on Eid. Most old Telugu films identify Muslim characters with the Rumi topi. In Tollywood, former CM NT Rama Rao popularised it.