History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c68.s1: § 1. Fort of Golkonda described.
History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c68.s1
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§ 1. Fort of Golkonda described.
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On 30th October 1686, Aurangzib left the newly conquered city of Bijapur and then travelled by easy stages to Kulbarga and Bidar, halting there for several weeks. "At last on 14th January 1687 he mounted his horse to punish that luckless man, Abul Hasan," and on the 28th of the month arrived within two miles of Golkonda. Meantime, Abul Hasan had again fled from his capital to this fort, and the city of Haidarabad was occupied for the third and last time by the Mughals. Firuz Jang had been detached after the fall of Bijapur to capture the Qutb-Shahi fort of Ibrahimgarh (or Yadagiri, 30 m. s. of Malkhed.) After carrying out that task, he had advanced and taken possession of Haidarabad in the name of the Emperor. (M.A. 287-288.)
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On hearing of Aurangzib's coming, "Abul Hasan was in utter despair and perplexity. His lips were strangers to laughter, his eyes full of tears, his head vacant of sense, his tongue speechless. He offered submission to the Emperor with new protestations of devotion. But the Emperor's only reply was the sword." (M.A. 287).
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The walled city of Haidarabad, the seat of the Qutb-Shahi Government, stands on the south bank of the Musi river, which was then crossed by a grand old stone bridge of early 17th century construction. North of the river were a number of suburbs, "where all the merchants, brokers, and artisans dwelt, and in general all the common people," Haidarabad itself having been reserved for the Sultan, his Court, nobles and military officers. Even to-day the westernmost of these suburbs bears the name of *Karwan*, from the many caravanserais for merchants and travellers that it once contained. Next, to the east, came Dhulpet, and beyond it Begam Bazar with the Gosha Mahal ("Secluded Palace") standing in the midst of a park north of the peopled quarter. Further east, after crossing a thin stream feeding the Musi, lay the site of the British Residency and the aristocratic Chadarghat ward of the present day.
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Two miles due west of this stone bridge, some 160 yards north of the Musi river, lies the fort of Golkonda,[*] the impregnable stronghold of the Deccan. It is an irregular rhombus, with a rough pentagon (the *Naya Qila*) annexed to its north-eastern face. A strong crenellated wall of granite, over four miles in length and of great thickness, surrounds the fort, which is further defended by 87 semi-circular bastions, each from 50 to 60 feet high and built of solid blocks of granite cemented together, some of them weighing more than a ton. The eight massive gates could have safely defied any artillery known to the 17th century. On the walls were mounted a vast display of cannon, some of them being very fine specimens of the mediæval gun-founder's art. Outside is a deep ditch, 50 feet broad, with stone retaining walls, and along the entire southern side there are traces of a second parallel moat still visible.
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∗ Described from my personal observations in October, 1916 An excellent large scale map has been prepared by the Archæological Department of the Nizam.
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But Golkonda really consists of four distinct forts joined to each other and included within the same lines of circumvallation. The lowest of these is the outermost enclosure into which we enter by the Fath Darwaza near the south-eastern corner; it is a vast tract covered with mansions of the nobles, bazars, temples, mosques, soldiers' barracks, powder magazines, stables and even cultivated fields. Here the whole population of Haidarabad used to live in times of danger. Proceeding inside along the grand main road for some 1,250 yards from the Fath Darwaza, and leaving a set of rather later palaces, harems and offices on a low site on the right, we arrive at the Bala Hisar gate which leads us, over a flight of steps, to a higher area with exceedingly lofty and strong walls and containing a capacious three-storied armoury, magazines, stables, mosques, audience chambers, harems, gardens, large wells with steps, and even two serais and a temple of the monkey-god!
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Further west, some 200 steps cut in the solid rock lead the traveller up to the very apex of the fortress, the Bala Hisar (or Upper Fort), standing on a bed of solid granite, its walls being formed by huge boulders with here and there connecting curtains and parapets that tower far overhead. This is the citadel of the citadel, the kernel of the whole fort; and here the early Dravidian Rajahs of the land had built their first stronghold, by filling the gaps in the natural rocky walls with mud and rough stones, and here their rude ancient temples cut into the rock still stand. In this Bala Hisar the Qutb-Shahi kings had erected a two-storied palace, the roof of which commands a free view of the environs for miles and miles around. Here they could have retired as a last resource, for it contains, in spite of its great height, a well of water, and powder magazines and numerous granaries (ambar-khanah) hollowed out of the bed-rock. The western face of the Bala Hisar is a steep scarp, between which and the outermost wall on that side, the plain is broken by three long granite spurs running westwards, and presents to the eye a bare uneven desert some 260 yards in width, strewn with fragments of rock.
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At the north-western corner of the fort, on both sides of the Patancheru Road, there are reservoirs of water and thick human habitations, gardens, and a small cemetery. At the north-eastern angle stands a mound commanding parts of Golkonda; but it was enclosed by a wall and added to the fort, under the name of the Naya Qila or New Fort, by king Abdullah as a defensive precaution after Aurangzib's first siege in 1656. (M.A. 301.) North, south and even west of this last area are large tanks, and the water-supply of the fort was unfailing.
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Between the fort and the northern suburbs of Haidarabad the ground is low and scored by streamlets draining the surplus water of the Langarcheru into the Musi. Here, as well as round the Naya Qila lie many hundred acres of rice-field, secure of irrigation from the tanks of this region. North of the fort, at a distance of a mile and a quarter, runs a low range of bare fantastically piled up hills, skirted by the great old road from Sholapur and the west. Here Aurangzib is said to have established his own quarters at the last siege. About a thousand yards outside the Patancheru or North-Western gate, stand the magnificent tombs of the Qutb-Shahi kings, queens and nobles; and this position seems to have sheltered some of the besieging force. But so far as we can infer from the scanty details left about the siege, the Mughal attack was directed on the south-eastern and southern faces of the fort, their soldiers moving along both the north and south banks of the Musi, while the N. W. gate was bombarded only as a feint.*