History of Aurangzib, Based on Original Sources v4.c68.s1.9

v4.c68.s1.9

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.*