Gulbarga Trip

I always love visiting historical places. Specially forts always attract me.

I got oppertunity to visit Gulbarga on Dec 01, 2007 to attend marriage of friend and colleague Vijay Sobani.

I boarded Udyan Express from Bangalore along with many friends at 8:10 PM on 30th November from Bangalore and reached Gulbarga at around 9 AM in morning.

Vijay had already booked Hotel Pariwar there so we checked in there and after bathing etc moved to kamath Hotel for a speedy breakfast.

Next destination was the kalyan mandapam where Vijay and his elder brother got married. We wished them with all happiness in future and moved to take lunch.

After lunch we visited Sharana Basavaveshwar Temple.

Temple was very good and we were told about the good work being done by Temple authorities in the field of education etc.

After Temple we went to Gulbarga Fort. It is not very big fort. Inside there is a beautiful mosque and Gun Towers. We saw one tower has one Gun and another has three.
Jumma Masjid was built on the lines of the great Mosque of Cardova of Spain.

The massive Gulbarga fort is part of the earliest examples of Islamic architecture in Karnataka spawned by the Bahmani Sultanate. The fort was originally built by Raja Gulchand, a feudatory of the Orangal Kakatiyas.

As Gulbarga gained prominence as the Bahmani capital, the fort was fortified by Alauddin Bahman with a deep moat and massive walls. The bustling infrastructure of the Gulbarga fort helped as it stood guard against invading armies and raiding marauders. Even though Vijayanagara king Krishnadevaraya ravaged the structure it was subsequently rebuilt by Adil Shah.

The once majestic Gulbarga fort now stands as a dilapidated structure with the structures inside having crumbled into ruins. Owing to neglect on part of the authorities, the fort now presents a desolate and forlorn picture. Several illegal constructions mar the beauty of the fort and the encircling moat is filled with garbage.

From fort we went to friend Sridhar Itagi's home. Sridhar helped us a lot in making our visit to Gulbarga very comfortable. We met his family and saw his beautiful house.

Our train Basava Express was at 9:30 PM, we were back to Bangalore on 2nd December morning 9 AM.