Charminar (Hindi: चार मीनार, Telugu: చార్ మినార్, Urdu: چار مینار, meaning “Four Towers” or “Mosque of the four minarets”) is one of the most important monuments in the city of Hyderabad, capital of the state of Andhra Pradesh, India. Muhammad Quli Qutb Shah built the monument in 1591 shortly after he had shifted his capital from Golkonda to what now is known as Hyderabad[1]. Legend has it that the building honours a promise Quli Qutb Shah made to Allah. He supposedly had prayed for the end of a plague and vowed that he would build a masjid on that very place. The masjid became popularly known as Charminar because of its four (Farsi char = four) minarets (Minar (Arabic manara) = spire/tower), which possibly honour the first four caliphs of Islam. The actual masjid occupies the top floor of the four-story structure. Madame Blavatsky reports that each of the floors was meant for a separate branch of learning - before the structure was transformed by the imperial British administration into a warehouse for opium and liqueurs. There is a legend that an underground tunnel connects the palace at Golconda to Charminar to give the Qutb Shahi royal family an escape route should they need it during a siege. However, the exact location of the tunnel is unknown.

Tirumala Venkateswara Temple (Telugu: తిరుమల వేంకటేశ్వర దేవాలయం) also known as Tirupati Venkateswara Temple is a famous Hindu Temple of Lord Venkateswara located in the hill town Tirumala, Andhra Pradesh. The temple is located on the Venkatachalam hill that forms part of the seven hills of Tirumala, and hence the temple is also known as the Temple of Seven Hills (Saptagiri in Sanskrit, Edukondalu in Telugu and Ezhumalai in Tamil). The presiding deity of the temple, Lord Venkateswara, is also known by other names - Balaji or Srinivasa or Perumal.