Daulatabad Fort, Aurangabad

Two days after our wedding, and a day after my arrival as a new bride in the city that is now second only to Delhi in my heart, I could not resist my long held desire to see the Daulatabad fort that figured so often in my long talks with my husband in our courtship days. As I was falling in love with him, I also fell in love with this fort that he described to me in the murmurs over the phone in the stillness of night.

He told me how high the summit of the fort was and he wondered how the king got to his palace at the top. He told me about the many gates, giant and small to the building to be used as defense in case of attack, the steep slopes around the fort with just a single point of entry, about a moat that surrounds the fort which at a time swarmed with crocodiles with just a small bridge connecting the fort entrance to the outside world. He told me about the hathi hauz, the elephant tank, about the bats that housed themselves in the now empty staircases and dark passageways where not a ray of day light can creep in, the mendi tope, goat headed canon that is stationed in the fort overlooking the views of the barren landscapes.  I could see through his voice his childlike excitement over what sounded like an incredible place to which he must have gone first as a child.

As a child, I myself had read in my text books about Devagiri which was the capital of the Yadavs and I thought wasn’t Delhi always supposed to be the capital of everything in India and I wondered which this other place that rivalled Delhi’s position is. Daulatabad, I learnt was the same Devagri. As a grown up, when I visited the ruins of Tughlaqabad fort, (which was often, since I love Delhi and I love ruins). I was always fascinated how a king can move his entire city to a far away place just on a whim. They say he evacuated Delhi, and sent every cat and dog marching to his new capital leaving the streets of Delhi deserted. Was it the curse of Auliya on the fort that drove Tughlaks to move away 700 miles resulting in a tragedy killing many, uprooting the charms of Delhi in the hope of a new land of promise, Devagiri, I wondered? This was the same Devagiri, I realised excitedly when I reached there. This was the same Daulatabad.

 

It was such an important historical spot and so underrated that I would probably have never noticed it had I not been married to someone from Aurangabad who loved his city so much.

I had married the man who was the perfect guide but you should get a guide of your own to see enjoy the history of this place. But when you arrive at Daulatabad, make sure it is either early morning or past noon otherwise you will find it too hot to enjoy savour the history and thrills of this fascinating fort.