India Guide
Maharashtra
Daulatabad (Deogiri)
Address: 13km northwest of Aurangabad
Price: $5 (or the rupee equivalent)
Opening time: Daily 6am–6pm
The awesome hilltop citadel of DAULATABAD crowns a massive conical volcanic outcrop whose sides have been shaped into a sheer sixty-metre wall of granite. The fort's forbidding appearance is further accentuated by the enormous minaret rising out of the ruins of the city that once sprawled from its base. If only for the panoramic views from the top of the hill, Daulatabad makes a rewarding pause en route to or from the caves at Ellora, 17km northwest.
Aside from the inevitable Buddhist and Jain hermits, occupation of the site – then known as Deogiri, "Hill of the Gods" – dates from its ninth-century role as bastion and capital of a confederacy of Hindu tribes. The Yadavas were responsible for scraping away the jagged lower slopes of the mount to form its vertical-cliff base, as well as the fifteen-metre-deep moat that still encircles the upper portion of the citadel. Their prosperity eventually aroused the interest of the acquisitive Delhi sultans, who stormed the fortress in 1294 and carried off a hoard of gold, silver and precious stones.
The labyrinthine fortress itself unfolds around the Chandminar, or "Victory Tower", erected by Ala-ud-din Bahmani to celebrate his conquest of the fort in 1435. The Persian blue-and-turquoise tiles that once plastered it in complex geometric patterns have disappeared, but it remains an impressive spectacle.
The Jama Masjid, directly opposite, is Daulatabad's oldest Islamic monument. Built by the Delhi sultans in 1318, the well-preserved mosque comprises 106 pillars plundered from the Hindu and Jain temples which previously stood on the site. It was recently converted into a Bharatmata temple, much to the chagrin of local Muslims. Nearby, the large stone-lined "Elephant" tank was once a central component in the fort's extensive water-supply system. Two giant terracotta pipes channelled water from the hills into Deogiri's legendary fruit and vegetable gardens.