So last Sunday we made up our minds to go to the Golconda Fort, after all what did you do in Hyderabad if you didn't check the Fort and Charminaar (this I still have to do). So we decided to check out the Fort, or rather what's left of it, because it evidently is not the Archeological Survey of India's most favoured historical monument. It was beautiful, at some places you felt like shutting your eyes and imagining what the Fort must have been like when the King was there, all the hustle and bustle, some of the places had wonderful acoustics (in one of the halls if you whispered in the corner, the person standing at the diagonally opposite corner could hear as if you were standing next to him), it was apparently riddled with tunnels, secret passage ways and the sheer size made you gawk. Well, some other things would make you gawk too, and that's why Golkonda/Golconda Fort finds itself in Litterrati!
I took the following pictures as our party went up, to the very top (through the Aam Raasta, that was the way taken by the commoners if they wished to present themselves in the King's court) and came down by the Khaas Raasta (which means the Special Way, which was taken by the nobles).
It fell in ruins after the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb's conquest in the 17th century (which is the reason why one of the seven Qutub Shahi tombs is empty, the last ruling king didn't get a chance to get laid to rest in the tomb built for him!)
arms and ammution, cannon balls!
one of the ancient water tanks..
A masjid in the Fort. I forget the name!
and a temple...
This chap was sitting way at the top... I wonder why he doesn't value his life...
A hand clap here, just inside the Bala Hissar Gate, the main entrance to the Fort, reverberates and can be heard at the highest point of the Fort, around a kilometer away, another example of the wonderful acoustics.
For more information on the Golconda, the capital Fortress City of the Qutub Shahi Emperors, do a google!
