Daulatabad, Maharashtra, India
- Daulatabad is a 14th-century fort city in Maharashtra, India, about 16 kilometers northwest of Aurangabad.
- The place, was once as known as Deogiri, circa the sixth century AD, when it was an important uplands city along caravan routes and is now but a village, based around the former city of the same name.
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| Daulatabad |
Tourist Attraction :
- Starting 1327, it famously remained the capital of Turkic, Tughlaq dynasty, under Muhammad bin Tughluq (r. 1325-1351), who also changed its name, and forcibily moved the entire population of Delhi here, for two years, before it was abandoned due to lack of water.
- There is a tradition that Deoghur or Doulatabad was built in 1203 AD by a Dhangar or herdsman who acquiring by some unusual good fortune vast wealth was named by his brother shepherds Rajah Ram and soon after assumed the rank of a Rajah.
- The area of the city includes the hill-fortress of Devagiri sometimes Latinised to Deogiri. It stands on a conical hill, about 200 meters high. Much of the lower slopes of the hill has been cut away by Yadava dynasty rulers to leave 50 meter vertical sides to improve defenses. The fort is a place of extraordinary strength. The only means of access to the summit is by a narrow bridge, with passage for not more than two people abreast, and a long gallery, excavated in the rock, which has for the most part a very gradual upward slope.
- About midway along this gallery, the access gallery has steep stairs, the top of which is covered by a grating destined in time of war to form the hearth of a huge fire kept burning by the garrison above. At the summit, and at intervals on the slope, are specimens of massive old cannon facing out over the surrounding countryside. Also at the mid way, there is a cave entrance meant to confuse the enemies.
Labels: Maharashtra
