Bidar became the capital of the Bahmani Kingdom under the rule of Sultan Ahmed Shah in the year 1431, and it was renamed Ahmedabad Bidar . Till then it was a feudatory of the King of Delhi and was part of many wars till the accession by the Bahmani rulers. Once the place was taken over by Bahmanis, they turned this small province to a massive fortified structure. I can surely say that the Fort in Bidar is one of the greatest ever constructed in India. Having seen the pinnacle of the glory and then the downfall of the empire, this town plays a very important part in the Deccani history and politics.
As we visit the town of Bidar, we will keep the chronology aside and visit the tomb of Ali Barid Shah and the monuments nearby. On the outskirts of Bidar is a fortified complex and some monuments. The wall is beautifully decorated even from outside. Unfortunately, most of the external walls have collapsed. There are small holes in the wall which evidently points to watch holes where guns can be fired from. We need to enter the complex through an arched gateway. There are many monuments inside, in which we will visit the most important. As seen in the picture, there are watch towers at each corner of this complex. There is a doorway which paves way to the inner complex with a path that directly leads to the tomb of Ali Barid Shah, however today, its locked and the external walls are anyway broken. This whole area must have been a very important place, considering the fact that there is the Ali Barid Shah’s tomb and also some very beautiful buildings are present. One more beautiful monument here is a rectangular building which probably should have been a rest place associated with a mosque. It has five arches and an upper level to which one can reach from inside apparently. Parts of this building are broken as seen in this picture. Also, the arches are blocked with steel bars prohibiting entrance. Now we come to one of the most beautiful monuments in this are, the mosque.
Even though this is a smaller construction, we have a glimpse of the beauty of Islamic architecture. Some parts of the upper level has collapsed but overall, the structure is intact and has sustained over the years. The mosque has three arches and the frontal portion is exquisitely carved with flower type decorations on its lintel. One can enjoy their beauty even if looked from a distance as you see in this picture. Archaeological evidence shows that this mosque was constructed before the tomb, so we can assume that this was a very important monument at that time. If you see the arches, they are not totally plain. There are four layers of brick that is cut to form the arch. We can imagine the difficulty in developing this artistic monument. There are various other smaller monuments in this same complex.
We shall talk about other aspects of this complex and the Ali Barid tomb in the next post.
Wow , heard lot about this place , yet visit it .