sandeep (![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} deepsan) wrote,@ 2008-05-15 23:23:00 |
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| Entry tags: | bidar, bidar fort, karnataka, northkarnataka_jan2008, photo, rangeen mahal |
Bidar Fort
Renovation : fallen and lost, partly renovated and restored; Bidar fort, Bidar, Karnataka.
The old ASI board at one of the entrances to the fort goes like this:
After the death of Feroz Shah Bahamani, Ahmed Shah Wali shifted his capital from Gulbarga to Bidar, and built the present fort.
The fort which is located at the brink of a plateau was considered in history as a well protected stronghold. It was built of large blocks of stone and mortar, which stands out in striking contrast to the rich red laterite terrain of the area. It is irregularly shaped and surrounded by 5.5 km of defensive walls. Triple moat, 37 bastions and 7 gates. According to Firishta, engineers and architects of variuos countries were employed on its design and construction.
Insid the fort there are the remains of many secular and religious structures viz., royal baths, audience halls, kitchens, pleasure pavilions and royal palaces such as Rangin Mahal, Takht Mahal, Diwan-i-Aam, Gagan Mahal, Zanana Mahal and Solah Khamb Mosque. The gardens, fountains, tanks and water ways are the evidence of royal life patterned on the courts of west Asian countries. These palaces were tastefully decorated with coloured tiles and mural paintings. Though the style of architecture was borrowed from Persia, it was modified and adopted to suit the taste and needs of the Indian court.
In the flat plains of the Deccan Plateau, any elevation however small is used to provide an extra degree of protection and makes an ideal location for a fort. We had seen a few fort walls visible in even the smallest towns on the route to Bidar, built on hillocks that seem to be the only ones around and the Bidar fort was no different: on one side was the town at the same level as the fort and to the north the valley floor dropped down a little. But the fort was huge with red walls made of huge laterite blocks running a long way and enclosing quite a large area.
Most of the structures inside the fort are in ruins but a couple have been restored by the ASI and a few more in the process of being renovated. The Solah Khamb Masjid(16 pillared mosque) is the one structure which seemed to be the centre piece of the fort with the ASI museum right next to it. We had gone there in the evening and the caretaker of the Rangeen Mahal had locked up and left for the day; asking at the museum, we were informed that we could come in the morning to have a look inside the Rangeen Mahal. On the way out, we climbed on to the ramparts and explored a few bastions along the outside wall.
We returned the next morning and did have a look at the Rangeen Mahal. We were to leave the fort after that when a couple of workers involved in the restoration of other parts of the fort volunteered to allow us to have a peek where others are usually not allowed. It was another Mahal, whose name I do not recollect, with lots of rooms with arches which had been restored with white plaster; another part of the same Mahal which had yet to be restored showed what lay underneath the plaster. Apparently this type of architecture keeps the rooms cooler.
Rangeen Mahal translates to 'Palace of Colors' and it is left to the traveler to imagine its original colorful state by extrapolating from what remains today. A small section of the palace can be seen with colorful inlay work covering a doorway and a part of a wall, the rest, long gone with only the plastered design left behind. The ASI appointed caretaker tells us that he has been to other ASI sites and the wooden carvings found here are not to be found anywhere else, and he is right: the wooden carvings on an archway and a wall are very intricate, and if you thought carving on rock was difficult, you have to take a look at the woodwork here.
North-Karnataka, January, 2008
