Bijapur,Karnataka

One of the most underestimated places in the southern region,Bijapur has lots to offer to a
history lover.It has the 2nd largest dome in the world,a fort,a beautiful tomb,one of the
biggest mosques in India and more.
  Last month some of my friends and myself visited bijapur.
Our trip started on the night of 24th april.We boarded a Karnataka RTC bus to Gulbarga at 9
30pm and we reached Gulbarga at around 4am the next day.From there we boarded another bus to
Bijapur.In the morning at around 7 30 am, as we were entering the city of Bijapur I could make
out how dirty it was.No wonder tourists avoided it.I have heard that the norther parts of
Karnataka are very underdeveloped and it showed.Near the central bustand garbage was strewn all
around and pigs were roaming around.It was not the kind of welcome I was hoping for.
Anyway,from the bus stand we wandered around looking for a decent hotel which we found after
some search.We had our breakfast and than took an auto rickshaw to Gol Gumbaz.It was Rs7 per
head if I remember correctly.The sight of Gol Gumbaz lifted my spirits immediately.It was
breathtaking to look at.Right from the moment I saw the Gol Gumbaz in my Hisotory Textbook back
in my 5th class I had a desire to see it with my own eyes and here I was standing in front of  it.It felt awesome!

we made our way inside the Gumbaz where we clicked pics and then went to the top where there was the 'Whispering Gallery'. Here below the dome there is a circular platform going the whole circumference of the dome.Here it is said that if a person just whispers at any pint of the circumference it can be heard at any other point on the circumference.But tell you what,theres no chance of testing this as everyone present was,instead of whisering,shouting at the top of their voice.The sounds kept reverberating inside the dome.Wonder what the inhabitant of the tomb must be thinking.Soon we joined in,Ameen and me just kept shouting only one phrase'masterji pitaji ki patloon ek bilang choti kardo!!'and had lots of fun looking at the amused people!

Outside the Gol gumbaz there were a number of horse driven carriages whose owners or shall I say drivers were offering the tourists present, a ride to seven other tourist spots.We approched one and made a bargain ,Rs250 for a visit to Jama Masjid,Ibrahim Rouza,Jod gumbaz,Chand bowdi,Malik-e-maidan and then back to the bus stand.
And so, we set out on a horse cabby.Our first stop was the Jama Masjid.It was very big and a person inside said that in terms of worshippers capacity it is even bigger than the Jama masjid in New Delhi(which is the Biggest Mosque in India).We sat inside the mosque for some time talking with the middle aged person i mentined above.

    Here I watched an interesting scene.a couple of non muslims entered the mosque and began strolling inside the mosque with their footwear removed.Suddenly the mom realised that her kid was still wearing her sandals.She quickly bent down,removed the toddler's sandals and continued with their walk.I was so touched.She could have easily continued with her walk wihout bothering about the baby's sandals as ,one, there was no one except us and two she was a small child.It was heartwarming to see this and was in such contrast to the stories going around in Hyderabad at that time.(Hyderabad was gripped with mild communal tension at that time) 

From the Jama masjid we mooved on to Jod Gumbaz which has a couple of tombs.Its a Dargah now.
From Jod Gumbaz we went to the Chand Bowdi which is nothing but a reservoir.Nothing

spectacular here.From here we moved on to the next most important thing to visit in Bijapur,

the Ibrahim Rouza.

This is the tomb of Ibrahim Adil Shah II (ruled 1580-1627), the fifth king of the dynasty. It

is said that the design for the Ibrahim Rauza served as an inspiration for that of the famous

Taj Mahal.The tomb was very beautiful as well as the mosque on the right side of it.Both are

more or less of the same size.we wandered inside the tomb and gazed at the beautful work on

the walls.

   From here we moved on to the next and the last item on our list,the Malik-e-Maidan,meaning

'owner of the battlefield'.This was supposed to be the biggest medieval cannon in the world.The

cannon's mouth is in the shape of a lion's mouth.The cannon is really huge and I read somewhere that the

person who would fire it ,after lighting it,would jump in a tank of water to escape the

thunderous noise it would make.

We took some pics here and then went off to the bus stand.Here we had something to eat and

then boarded a bus back to Gulbarga.Here rahmath,ameen,layak,shoaib and mudassir stayed back

while I made my way back to hyderabad feeling content on finally visiting a city which was at

one point in history, a rival of the kingdom of Golconda.

A trip to Bijapur,Karnataka

Tummalacheruvu,Telangana

Amaravati (near Vijayawada),Andhra Pradesh

Imagine you are standing near the bus stand in Amaravati, a small town near Guntur in Andhra pradesh.Now,imagine that it is the year 639 AD.You decide to take a stroll in the streets of Amaravati.You see the countrymen of the satavahanas exchanging goods with coins which was a first in india.As you are strolling you come across Hiuen Tsang ,the famous chineese traveller wandering here among the many monasteries here.You see him gazing with amazement at the biggest stupa in India then.

That is what amaravati was at the height of its glory.1340 years have passed since then.The glory is gone.There aren't any buddhists in the area,only the stupa with its 3/4th volume gone lies here silently telling the few travellers the tales of a bygone era.To give it some company two museums have been setup.One is run by APTTDC and the other by ASI.The APTTDC museum is right across the bustand.It contains a lot of boards describing the local history and the history of other Buddhist places in AP.It is well maintained and photography is allowed.The ASI museum is a little ahead and is better than the APTTDC museum.It is divided into two galleries and there is a small replica of the original stupa.The galleries contain some really beautiful pieces of sculptures done in the amaravati school of art.The sculptures showcased here were actually used to adorn the stupa.There are also some coins and cosmetics worn by the women of that time.Some sculpture stand out from the rest like the life size sculpture of a bull,a relic casket and the wheel of truth.The model of the stupa gives a fair idea of how the actual stupa looked before the time took its toll on it.The actual mahastupa itself is a little disctance from this museum.It stands in the middle of a big park with neatly trimmed lawns and beautiful big trees.Though there is nothing abt the structure to get excited abt for the uninformed tourist,but if you think about the history behind it you will get its
significance.That the Dalai Lama came here to inaugrate the musuem and the park underlines its importance. Apart from me there was a family,which was sitting at one end of the park,and a youngster who was sleeping under a tree.And on the trees lining the footpath a number of pigeons were
livng.They were creating a ruckus with the sound they were making. So apart from these noises there was
no other sound.I stood at one place from where I could see the whole
stupa properly and took in the whole atmosphere,the pigeons
shouting,the crickets chirping and a few random shouts among the
villagers,and the still stupa of whose only the base, of height maybe about 2metres has survived.This fininshed my visit and i left Amaravati a happy person.

Jagityal Fort,Andhra Pradesh

Unknown to most people, even people form Jagtiyal itself,there is a fort in Jagtiyal.

Built by the French during the 18th century,This is the only fort I saw with the entrance still having a bridge on the moat.

But access to the fort is only through another point.

Manair Dam,Andhra Pradesh

Malangoor Fort,Andhra Pradesh

40km from Karimnagar lies the little known Mallangoor Fort.Information regarding this Fort on internet is almost nil.I read about this fort in The Imperial Gazetteer of India,1910 edition.

I was really interested and told Kiran to find out about this fort among the locals in Karimnagar.We knew about its location and the means to go there from one of kiran's friend.And one fine day we set out for it..Most of the fort is in ruins. 

Climbing this fort was the hardest among all the other forts I visited

Contrary to our expectations there were many local people here.












A small Video I made of the Trip