Golconda
History in the midst of modernity
The majestic combination of rocks peering up in the sky to form one of the most everlasting legacies of the country that we live in, is what defines the existence of this fort. These bricks have seen it all, from the annexation of the city into modern India, to the hostile takeover of Aurangzeb, from the Nizams of Hyderabad to the Qutub Shahis of this great city. As you look down into the modern I.T. hub of the southern part of India, you do wonder as to what might have happened if even one lever of the suspenseful advent of time had been turned a bit differently.
Built between 1518–1580 A.D. (almost 62 years) this fort atop the hill, is found 11 K.M. out of Hyderabad,which used to be the largest diamond market in the world, when India was the only country where one could find diamonds, much before a time when child labors were used to dig up shiny rocks from the depths of the earth in Africa. The fort was built during the Kaktiya dynasty as the western defenses along the lines of Kondapalli fort, found in Vijayawada. The city and the fortress were built on a granite hill that is 120 meters (480 ft) high, surrounded by massive battlements. The fort was rebuilt and strengthened by Rani Rudram Devi and her successor Prataprudra.
The city that we now know as Hyderabad was once called Bhagnagar, named after the concubine of Quli Qutub Shah, Bhagmati. The first attack by Aurangzeb on the fort happened during 1656 A.D. , when the Qutub Shahi king was defeated, but even then a treaty was reached , where the king would give his daughter up for marriage with the son of Aurangzeb, Mohammed Sultan. The second attack is the most remembered , as that happened when the great Tana Shah was the ruler of Golconda, after his defeat he was taken to the Daulatabad Fort near Ellora caves in Maharashtra, and imprisoned in the Chini Mahal for the next 14 years.
Coming back to the reason why this fort holds historic significance, Diamonds. Probably the most popular diamond in the world, the Koh-i-Noor, was mined near the village Kollor, on the banks of river Krishna, which found its way to the Golconda fort during the reign of Sultan Abdullah Qutub Shah, which was presented to Shah-e-Jahan the emperor at Delhi. Nadir Shah attacked Delhi during 1739, which led to a situation where the fabled diamond moved to Iran, which was then possessed by Shah Shuja Peshwari, from whom it moved to Punjab during 1852 A.D. to Maharaja Ranjit Singh, whose son Maharaja Dileep Singh gave the diamond to Queen Victoria. The weight of the diamond is thought to be 360 carats and was traded in the diamond markets of Golconda.
The fort is decked with 9 doorways, 52 windows and nearly 48 tunnels. Of all the doors the most significant is the Fateh darwaza(Victory gate), which was named thus after Aurangzeb captured the fort. The engineering marvel lies in the intricate implementation of sound engineering where the sounds of claps placed in the right areas was used as a communication system to warn off the gate keepers of impending offence.
Thus standing as a testament to time itself this congregation of bricks and mortar, sticks its head out, as if wanting to, as if peering into the unknown, willing even more to take on challenges of the future banking on the experiences of the past,and the resilience of the time left behind.
