Daulatabad Fort – The Abode of Wealth

Forts and palaces are important historical places to see as they hide a great past behind them. Daulatabad Fort is yet another heritage site in Maharashtra that was an important city along the caravan routes. It is located about 16 km northwest of Aurangabad, the city where Bibi Ka Maqbara monument lies. Daulatabad literally means abode of wealth and had changed power through several hands till India got independence.

The place around the fort was once called Deogiri which means ‘the hill of Gods’. The fort located on a cone-shaped hill and is not easily accessible. Bhillamraja of the Yadava dynasty founded this fort in 1187 AD. After the Yadavas, Ala-ud-Din Kalji conquered this fort. Later it became the capital of India for a short period during the reign of Sultan Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq. After Aurangzeb’s death in 1707, this fort passed to the Nizam of Hyderabad.

Daulatabad Fort by Todd vanGoethem on flickr.com

The main fort is enclosed by thick walls, barbed gates, elevated slide ways and a deep pit. It has a coiled network of clandestine subsurface passages. As it is situated on a high hill and surrounded by a deep pit, so, one can view a large number of crocodiles from there. The outer wall 2.75 miles in circumference and between this and the base of the upper fort are three lines of defiance that makes it a most secured forts. There was no way of conquering this ceremonious fort.

Chand Minar by arupdutta on flickr.com

Some breathtaking structures inside the fort exhilarate anyone are the Chand Minar, Jama Masjid, Chini Mahal and Royal Palaces. The Chand Minar is a tower of 210 ft height and 70 feet in circumference at the base, and was originally covered with beautiful Persian enameled tiles. It was erected by Ala-ud-din Bahmani in 1445 to commemorate his capture of the fort.

Ram-head Shaped Cannon by arupdutta on flickr.com

The Chini Mahal or China Palace is the ruin of a building, even once the old building was beautiful. In that building, Abul Hasan Tana Shah, the last of the Qutb Shahi kings of Golconda, was imprisoned by Aurangzeb in 1687.There is an awesome ram-headed Kila Shikan cannon lies on a stone platform.