Karmanghat Hanuman Temple

Older than Hyderabad by four hundred years: the temple was founded in 1143 under the Kakatiya king Prataparudra II, when this was still forest, and it counts among the oldest living shrines in the city. What makes it unusual is the image itself: Hanuman seated in dhyana mudra, the posture of meditation, rather than the striding, mountain-carrying hero found nearly everywhere else. Local memory holds that the shrine survived a demolition order under Aurangzeb. Tuesdays and Saturdays bring long family queues, Hanuman Jayanti more still; other mornings are unhurried. Free entry, shoes left outside.

Seated in dhyana mudra rather than mid-stride, and it outlived a demolition order