· Gulbarga · Latur · Hyderabad ·
of the house of Dayaram Surajmal
From a village in Rajasthan to the heart of the Nizam’s Deccan — a century and a half of enterprise, philanthropy, and devotion to Hyderabad.
The Reach of the House
The firm’s dealings ran across the internal borders of the dominion, and the family’s enterprise and generosity spread through all three regions of the old state — Hyderabad–Karnataka, Marathwada and Telangana.
Where the family first settled, and the industrial anchor of the firm at the MSK Mills.
4 institutions → SettledThe family made the Nizam’s capital their home, with a branch of the line in Secunderabad.
6 institutions → SettledA second home in Marathwada, and the centre of the family’s educational philanthropy.
7 institutions → MarathwadaHome of the Shri Yogeshwari Education Society, bringing schooling to rural Beed district since 1918.
1 institution → MarathwadaPeople’s College, and the hostels and libraries built so village students had a place to stay and study.
2 institutions →Among the headquarters of the Nizam’s state where the firm carried on its business — and on to the great western port city.
Honour & Trust
From the durbars of the Nizam’s Deccan to the Republic’s first Parliament, and on to a French ministerial order.
Early 20th Century
Rai Saheb & Rai Bahadur
Honoured for his public works and his standing as a merchant. His legacy rests less on the titles than on the charitable trust through which he set aside a quarter of the family estate, in perpetuity, for schools and hospitals.
Read the profile →1952
Member, First Rajya Sabha
The family’s public life moved from the princely durbars into the Republic’s first Parliament. Puranmal Lahoti of Latur represented the erstwhile Hyderabad State, and was a patron of technical education in his own right.
Read the profile →2012
Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres
Appointed by the Government of France in recognition of his contribution to the arts and to Indo-French cultural relations — the same devotion that would shape the Franco-Indian Education Trust.
Read the profile →Across the Generations
1860s
The family comes from Gullar, in Nagaur district of Rajasthan, to Gulbarga — adopting the Deccan as home.
Origins →1880s
The ancestral firm grows into a house of bankers, cotton merchants and commission agents across the dominion.
The enterprise →1900s
As managing agents of the Mahboob Shahi Kulbarga Mills, the family anchors Gulbarga’s industry.
Pannalal Lahoti →1952
Puranmal S. Lahoti of Latur represents the erstwhile Hyderabad State in the first Rajya Sabha of the Republic.
Puranmal Lahoti →1956
A quarter of the family estate is pledged, in perpetuity, to schools and hospitals.
The trust →2003
Founded in memory of Krishnachandra B. Lahoti, widening the family’s giving into art and culture.
The foundation →2012
Prshant K. Lahoti is appointed Chevalier de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres by the Government of France.
The profile →Today
The same devotion continues through Kalakriti India, its archives, and the Krishnakriti Foundation.
Kalakriti India →Swipe to move through time
What They Stood For
From a Rajasthani trading house to the textile mills of Gulbarga — the family built before it gave.
A quarter of the estate, pledged in perpetuity to public welfare — a promise kept across generations.
Schools, colleges and a polytechnic across Marathwada and Hyderabad–Karnataka, rooted in their communities.
From Gandhi and Osmania hospitals to the Lahoti Eye Centre — care for those who could not afford it.
The maps, photographs and palaces of the Deccan, preserved for the generations to come.
For over a century and a half, the Deccan has been both Janma Bhoomi and Karma Bhoomi.
Krishnakriti Foundation · Every January
Hyderabad’s oldest and most distinctive annual festival of art, culture and heritage — free and open to all.
Founded by Prshant Lahoti in memory of his late father, Shri Krishnachandra B. Lahoti, the festival brings together artists, scholars, performers and the public for four to five days each January. Over twenty years it has become one of India’s distinctive cultural platforms, each edition built around a curatorial theme with twenty to thirty events placing Hyderabad’s culture and history at its heart.
Established and emerging artists alongside the Kalakriti Archives — historic maps, vintage photographs and rare prints in conversation with contemporary practice.
Hindustani classical music, theatre and poetry, with scholars such as William Dalrymple, Alka Pande and Ranjit Hoskote.
Heritage walks through the old city, hands-on workshops and residencies, film screenings and open photo competitions.
The Modern Chapter
The same devotion that built schools and hospitals now works in art, archives and heritage. Kalakriti India carries the family’s cultural life into a new century — a gallery, one of the country’s most significant private archives, a café where art is lived with, and a foundation that gives it all away for free each January.
Archives
Rare maps, early photographs, prints and illustrated books documenting the visual history of the Indian subcontinent. A resource for scholars, curators and museums worldwide.
kalakriti.in ↗Gallery
Hyderabad’s long-standing contemporary art gallery, showing established and emerging artists from across India.
kalakritiartgallery.com ↗ArtCafe
Where the collection meets everyday life — a café built inside a gallery, and a room the city treats as its own.
artcafe.in ↗Foundation
The non-profit behind the festival and the student support programme, founded in 2003 in memory of Krishnachandra B. Lahoti.
The foundation →Among the alumni of the Seth Shankarlal Lahoti Law College is Shri Mallikarjun Kharge, who studied law there before a lifetime in national public life.