History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c68.s1.7

v4.c68.s1.7

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.