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IHC Walk: Jan 30th , 2011 3:00 pm

Tughlaqaba1 ,o!t
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The massive Tughlaqabad Fort, though in an advanced state of ruin, is not only symbolic of the might of the Tughlaq dynasty, but it is a piece of architectural marvel. The fort was a part of the dream project of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq (the founder of the Tughlaq dynasty when he built the capital at Tughlaqabad (the third city of !elhi . "owever, this powerful edifice did not last long and fell to the curse of a saint.

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The crumbling ruins of the Tughlaqabad Fort convey a sense of lost grandeur. The massive ramparts, battlements, and the mammoth stonewor# of this fort spea# highly of the engineering s#ills of the wor#ers who constructed it. The fort served the dual purpose of a defensive structure as well as the imperial capital of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq, the founder of the Tughlaq dynasty. There are a number of monuments within the precincts of this massive fort.

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The origin of the historic city of Tughlaqabad and the Tughlaqabad Fort goes to the period of the !elhi $ultanate (%! &&'&&()* . The Tughlaqs (%! &+)&-&,&, who followed the -hiljis (%! &)'.-&+)& were great builders and the city of Tughlaqabad and Tughlaqabad Fort were their first major architectural achievement. The story behind the foundation of Tughlaqabad is an interesting one. Gha/i 0ali#, the founder of the Tughlaq dynasty, was once a slave of 0ubara# -hilji, the last -hilji sultan. 1ne day, while wal#ing by the area where the Tughlaqabad Fort is now located, Gha/i 0ali# suggested to his master that the roc#y prominence would be an ideal site for building a fort. The -hilji sultan laughed at his slave and suggested that the slave build a fort there when he became a sultan. 2hen Gha/i 0ali#, as Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq, founded the Tughlaq !ynasty in The fort of Tughlaqabad was completed rapidly in a short span of four years (&+)&-)( . The fort3s massive battlements and bastions (some as high as &(-+. m, built of enormous bloc#s of stone and walls &. m thic# in places do not loo# as if they are the handiwor# of mortals. 2ithin its s#y-touching walls, double-storied bastions, and gigantic towers were housed grand palaces, splendid mosques, and audience halls. The city lay on the eastern outs#irts of the massive fort.

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Tughlaqabad is a formidable reminder of !elhi3s embattled past and the terror and valor associated with that period. 4t was a period of political unrest and the !elhi $ultanate had to face a number of attac#s from hoards of marauding 0ongols, who descended on it in waves from the north. Ghiyas-ud-din, in order to counter the 0ongol threat, repeatedly routed them and raised pyramids of enemy3s heads and used elephants to crush the captives to death. The massive fortifications of Tughlaqabad, with immense circular bastions, were raised by Ghiyas-ud-din to protect his subjects.

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1n the southern side of the fort is a causeway that ta#es one across the (now dry bed of a la#e to the tomb of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq. The tomb was built by the ruler himself and is enclosed in a private courtyard with fortified walls. The structure of this simple but elegant building reminds one of the %lai !arwa/a-an elegant gateway built by the erstwhile -hilji ruler %la-ud-din -hilji, near 5utab 0inar, in his endeavor to beautify the 5utab comple6. The style of the tomb conforms to the 4ndo-4slamic style of architecture, which was in vogue at that time and was the hallmar# of the buildings belonging to the period of the !elhi $ultanate.&+)&, he did just that-Tughlaqabad is !elhi3s most colossal and awesome fort, even in its ruined state.

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There are a number of legends associated with Tughlaqabad. 4t is often said that the s#ulls of the #illed 0ongol marauders were used in the construction material of this awesome fort. The demise of Tughlaqabad was not brought about by any foreign invasion, but to the curse of a $ufi $aint 7i/am-ud-din. The legendary quarrel between the two started when Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq did not allow his people to wor# for the saint on the construction of a baoli (step well . This angered the saint. % protracted tiff followed, which offended the saint and led to his famous prophecy 8"unu/ !illi dur ast8 (!elhi is yet far away , for the sultan was then out in 9engal. "e made another ominous reference to the sultan3s fort when he remar#ed 8:a rahe usar, ya bas; Gujjar8 (<ither it remains deserted or be peopled by men of the Gujjar tribe . 9oth these prophecies proved true. Ghiyas-ud-din was #illed at a place near !elhi when a shamiana (canopy, marquee collapsed over him during a reception arranged by his son. The sultan could not reach !elhi alive. "is successor chose to build his own fort and deserted Tughlaqabad. 4t soon became a haunt for the Gujjars tending their cattle within the abandoned fort of Ghiyas-ud-din. 4t is generally believed that the death of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq was engineered and plotted by his son. 1ne story describes that 0uhammad bin Tughlaq (Ghiyas-ud-din3s son and successor #illed his father by building a false wooden balcony, which collapsed and #illed Ghiyas-ud-din. The son murdered and ascended the throne of !elhi, thus ma#ing the prophecies of $aint 7i/am-ud-din come true.

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!elhi is well connected by air, rail, and road with important cities of 4ndia and abroad. Travelers have to reach the 5utab 0inar comple6 in order to see the Tughlaqabad Fort. They can either ta#e local buses from various points within the city to reach this comple6, which is located in the southern part of the city, or, alternatively, they can hire auto-ric#shaws and ta6is for the purpose. There are regular buses from important bus termini li#e the 4nterstate 9us Terminus at -ashmere Gate and $arai -ale

-han and =onnaught >lace to this monument. ?ocal guided tours conducted by !elhi Tourism and private operators cover this important monument.
$ource@ http@AAindia.mapsofindia.comAcultureAmonumentsAtughlaqabad.html

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4n the &+).s Ghiasuddin Tughla# , a Tur# governor who had his strong hold in the western provinces invaded !elhi, and won it from 7asiruddin 0ohammed(a >awar Bajput who had adopted 4slam and had gained #inghood by slaining the last -hilji ruler . Tughla#, #nown as a headstrong tyrant, created the third city of Tughla#abad. "e created a fort here (the splendid ruins still remain with high battlements and his descendant 0ohammad Tughla# went on to capture much of 4ndia. "e also raised a city, Cahanpanah, which largely comprised a walled enclosure between 5ila Bai >ithora and $iri. This is sometimes called the fourth city of !elhi. Tughla#abad, however, continued to be the main city. There were eleven rulers from the Tughla# dynasty but only the first three generations were interested in architecture-raising mosques, caravansarais, madrasas and laying canals.

$ource@http@AAdelhigovt.nic.inAdeptAprjAvisitorAcity.aspDoptEF

Tughlaqaba1 ,o!t
6 ,o!t Stan15 In I5olat4on 3:a base gujjar, ya rahe ujjar.' (0ay Gthis cityH be the abode of nomads or remain in wilderness. These words, with which the great $ufi saint "a/rat 7i/amuddin %uliya cursed Ghiyas-ud-din3s city, seem to still echo all over the ghostly ruins of Tughlaqabad. The citadel frowns down ominously li#e some Gothic palace all over the 5utub9adarpur road and seems to prefer its splendid isolation. 2hich is of course not e6actly what Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq had in mind when he started out building it. 4t would have bro#en the old sultan3s heart if he had seen just how swiftly the saint3s curse went into actionI soon after his death in fact.

6 -h4ya52u1214n Tughlaq $a45 1 Th C4ty 4t seems that even when he was far from being a #ing Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq had dreamed of raising his city, Tughlaqabad.

<arlier, Ghiyas-ud-din had been a general (he rose to being the governor of an important province li#e >unjab, but that3s another story in %la-ud-din -halji3s army. 1nce while on the road with %la-ud-din, Ghiyas-ud-din, on spotting this area, mentioned to the sultan what an ideal setting it seemed to provide for a new city. Jpon this the #ing indulgently (and, #nowing %la-ud-din, also perhaps patroni/ingly replied, 32hen you become #ing, build it.3 -nowing full well, as every boss, that while he was around there was not a shadow of a chance of anyone else ta#ing his place. %fter the death of %la-ud-din various events conspired to put the general on the throne at last. Then he fulfilled his long-cherished dream.

6 " St!at4g47al 'ayout of Th ,o!t Bomanticism apart, Tughlaqabad also made perfect strategic sense. Those were the times the 0ongols were a real menace to society and generally a pain in the nec# for all the sultans of the !elhi $ultanate. %lmost everything that the sultans built was aimed baffling the 0ongols with sheer structural magnificence (read somewhere to duc# in and hope for the best . Tughlaqabad fort, situated as it was on high roc#y ground, was ideally located to withstand sieges. Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq helped matters along by putting up formidable walls which, though short on aesthetic value, are e6cellent e6amples of solid unimaginative masonry and not the type that any invading army could hope to scale in a hurry. Tughlaq put ramparts towering at heights of anywhere between 'm (+.ft to &(.)m ((.ft , and rising up to )'.Km ('Kft around the citadel, between himself and the 0ongols. The fort is half-he6agonal in shape and Ghiyas-ud-din seems to have built defenses around and in it till he was blue in the face. The outer walls are built around the silhouette of the surrounding land and, what with their height and width, add formidably to the natural barriers. They were also well defended. 1n the north, east and west sides it is protected by trenches that go far down, and in the south a la#e acts sentinel.

6 To $ a7h Th Inn ! Compl 8 of Th ,o!t The parapets have small loopholes all over them from where Ghiyas-ud-din3s soldiers to spot invaders quic#ly and start saying it with arrows. The fort has or at least had thirteen portals and the inner citadel has three more. 4f you could reach them that is, because it was defended in depth by three layers of battlements. For all the defense, the city of Tughlaqabad hardly saw any warfare. >erhaps that is why it bears such an air of dejection L it could never fulfill the tas# it was built for. :ou enter the fortress by a highway, which was set one )F arches, almost all of them have vanished now. 2ater being pri/ed commodity (and allegedly one of the reasons why Tughlaqabad was finally abandoned there was a huge reservoir to store rainwater in the fortressI you can still see it. 2hen one enters the fort, the first impression is of emptinessI the ruins begin registering later. 4t is difficult to imagine that if one was somehow transported a few centuries bac#, these very walls would come alive, with people brushing past you and if things got really lively one could even find oneself in the midst of a full-scale 0ongol invasion.

%s you enter, to the left, used to be the palaces and to the right still stand the ruins of the a tower (9ijai 0andal, not to be confused with the one in CahanpanahI also see Bijai Mandal , several halls and a subterraneous passage that led to the 9ijai 0andal in Cahanpanah. Cust beyond was the city, with its streets (all laid out in a grid , houses, mosques, peoples and ba/aars. 6 "n %87 ll nt )4 w % wal# up the walls is well worth the while and, well, one of the main reasons why people come here at all. The vista is gloriousI the ruins inside the fort, Ghiyas-ud-din3s tomb ne6t door and remains of the %dilabad fort (built by Ghiyas-ud-din3s son 0uhammad lay scattered in front of you li#e petty detail. 2al#ing along the southern side of the fortress ne6t to the outer wall is a way out of the impregnable fortress which one supposes was reserved for dire emergencies in case of prolonged sieges. This was a standard practise all over 4ndiaI a secret escape route was part of the building plan in any fortress. !on3t feel tempted to try it, if you value your nec#. Further towards the west there is an abysmal tan# which you don3t want to go falling into L it is called the road to hell (Cahannum #a raasta and for obvious reasons. For a place of its si/e, Tughlaqabad was built with surprising speed, just four years. and of course abandoned with equal speed in &+)F. 0uhammad-bin-Tughlaq, probably being one of those modern free thin#ing guys who didn3t want to be #nown by his father3s laurels, chose to ma#e a city of his own called Cahanpanah. 1ne of his first achievement being to do away with Ghiyasuddin by arranging one of those accidents that were so frequent in medieval agesI a pavillion built to welcome Ghiyasud-din fell on him, of all things. %nyway, with the sultan3s death, the city3s short-lived glory to an abrupt end.
$ource@ http@AAwww.indiasite.comAdelhiAplacesAtughlaqabadfort.html

Tughlaqaba1 ,o!t
4n a state of total ruin, the Tughlaqabad fort was once a symbolic of the might of the Tughlaq dynasty. The Tughlaqabad fort was built by Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq, the founder of the Tughlaq dynasty. The fort is spread over an e6tensive area and a piece of architectural marvel. Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq built the Tughlaqabad fort as part of Tughlaqabad, the third city of !elhi. This was the period of political unrest and there was continuous danger of 0ongol attac# from the 7orth western borders of the <mpire. To save the <mpire and his subjects from the marauding 0ongols, Ghiyas-ud-din built the Tughlaqabad fort.

<ven though the fort is in a state of ruins, it bears testimony to past glory and might of the !elhi $ultanate. The massive ramparts, battlements and the mammoth stonewor# of Tughlaqabad fort spea# highly of the architectural s#ills and advancement of the craftsmen. The Tughlaqabad fort served twin purpose of a defensive structure as well as the imperial capital of Ghiyasud-din Tughlaq. There are a number of monuments within the precincts of this massive fort.

The Tughlaqabad fort was completed in a short period of four years (&+)&-)( . The fort3s massive ramparts and bastions (as high as &(-+. m, built of enormous bloc#s of stone and walls &. m thic# in places spea# volumes about the might of the

$ultanate. 2ithin fort3s high walls, double-storied bastions and massive towers were housed magnificent palaces, grand mosques and audience halls. The city lay on the eastern outs#irts of the massive fort. 1n the southern side of the fort is the tomb of Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq, which was built by the ruler himself. The tomb is enclosed in a courtyard with fortified walls and a fine e6ample of 4ndo-4slamic architecture.
$ource@ http@AAwww.culturalindia.netAindian-fortsAtughlaqabad-fort.html

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Tughlaqabad was a magnificent fort when built by Ghiasuddin Tughlaq in &+),. 9ut soon after his death is became a deserted, haunted place. 2hy was the third fort of !elhi %bandonedD %s you drive down the road for#ing left of the 5utab 0inar gate, passing through the line of village mar#ets, institutional area and vast roc#y stretches, you will see the huge bastions and battlements of Tughlaqabad fort towering over the landscape. Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq of Tughlaq $hah built this fort within four years between &+)& and &+),. 4t contained a vast number of buildings, mosques, palaces, towers, tan#s surrounded by mammoth bastions. 4n fact Ghiyasuddin had selected this site for the fort when he was a mere soldier. 4bn 9atuta, the 0oroccan traveler-chronicler, mentions that Ghiyasuddin had said to 0ubara# $hah -hilji, M1 master of the world, it were fitting that a city should be built hereN. The $ultan replied to him ironically, M2hen you are $ultan, built itN. 4t came to pass by the decree of God that he became $ultan, so he built it and, called it by his name-M TughlaqabadN. 7ow in sheer ruins, this fort has been plundered for free building material for subsequent forts of !elhi. There aweinspiring runis and enormous stones on the walls ma#e one wonder if there were giants in those days. Thomas 9acon who visited the runs more than &(. years ago in &K+& observed@ O4 met with nothing which so deeply e6cited my interest, not even the runis of Futtehpore $i#riPnothing else which 4 have seen is half so gigantic, with the e6ception of -onara#, and that is one single building, whereas Tughlaqabad presents a small city of such wondersN. Tughlaqabad was magnificent when the first Tughlaq $ultan held court here. 4ts splendour was incredible. 9ut too soon it became a deserted, haunted place. 7o enemy had attac#ed the fort. 7o earthqua#e destroyed it. 2hy was the third fort of !elhi abandonedD 4t is believed that $aint 7i/amuddin was building his baol4 at the time when Ghiyasuddin was using all his state power, and resources on the speedy construction of the fort. 1ut of reverence, people wor#ed more agreeably for the saint than for the $ultan who forbade his men to wor# at the baoli. $o they wor#ed at night in lamplight. This ir#ed the $ultan who prohibited the sale of oil. The saint wor#ed a miracle and the baoli water, when used in the lamps, emitted bright light. This e6asperated the $ultan. 4n a fit of bitterness, the saint cursed the city of Tughlaqabad-Mya rahe usar, ya base gujarN (either it remains barren, or else be peopled by the Gujjar tribesmen . The cruse prophesied doom on the city not yet fully completed. Ghiyasuddin, then out in 9engal, threatened to set the saint right when the returned to !elhi. The saint then quippedN, "unu/ !illi dur astN (!elhi is yet far away .

4t so transpired that when Ghiyasuddin returned after his victorious campaign, his son 0uhammad Tughlaq arranged for him a reception at %fghanpur, a village outside !elhi. % grand wooden canopy was specially erected on this occasion. 2hen the grand salute was in progress one of the elephants put its foot on the wooden contraptions. The whole canopy collapsed over the $ultan and his infant son, #illing them instantly. The prophesy was fulfilled. The $ultan could not reach !elhi to chastise the saint. 2hen 0uhammad Tughlaq too# over as $ultan, he chose to build his own city and fort-%dilabad. 2ithin a year or two after &+),, the city of Tughlaqabad was just abandoned by 0uhammad Tughlaq. 4t became a haunt of jac#als, mon#eys and the sheep tending Gujjars who roamed about freely in royal ruins.. The cruse had materiali/ed. $ome suspected the saintNs hand in the conspiracy to #ill Ghiyasuddin but it has been dismissed as sheer malice by the historians. Faith in the saintNs miraculous power continues to this date, confirmed by the he crowds at the dargah of "a/rat 7i/amuddin. The saint part of living memoryI the $ultan consigned to history and dead stones.

$ource@ http@AAwww.indiaprofile.comAheritageAtughlaqabad.htm

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