India, Karnataka

Bijapur, Karnataka: A Photo Essay

Capital. Dynasty. Sultanate.

The ancient city of Bijapur (Vijayapura) is a historical and architectural trove. Losing out to its more popular cousin Hampi, Bijapur is one of the underrated tourist destinations in Karnataka.

Known as the City of Victory, Bijapur experienced regime changes time and again. Established by the Chalukyas of Kalyani, the capital shifted hands to the Yadavas, the Khilji, the Bahmani and rested in the hands of the Adil Shahi dynasty. Post the the end of the Adil Shahi era, the city came under the influence of Aurangzeb, the Nizam of Hyderabad, the Marathas and finally the British East India Company following the defeat of the Third Anglo Maratha War.

Under the Adil Shahi rule, the city grew into a cultural and architectural hub. Most of the monuments of their era still stand strong.

 

Premises of Gol Gumbaz
The most famous of all is the Gol Gumbaz. It houses the tomb of Adil Shah

 

The majestic structure
The majestic structure. The Dome is considered to be the largest in India. The ‘Whispering Gallery’ on the topmost floor is a wonder in itself. One can hear the other person loud and clear even if they whisper from a considerable distance.

Read: The Gol Gumbaz of Bijapur

IMG_3139
Structure that holds the spiral staircase at Gol Gumbaz

 

IMG_3046
One of the structures at Ibrahim Rouza. The tomb of Adil Shah II is here. It is believed that Ibrahim Rouza served as an inspiration to Taj Mahal

 

Maze on the door
Entrance to the inner chamber
Carvings on the structure

 

IMG_2960
Jod Gumbaz. Built in the memory of Khan Mohammed and Abdul Razzak Qadiri who helped Aurangzeb defeat the Adil Shah rule

See: Maldives – A Photo Essay

IMG_2943
The entrance to Taj Bawdi. Built to suffice the water supply needs of the residents. The tank has a capacity to hold approximately 20 million litres of water

 

IMG_3076
Malik-e-Maidan. Considered as the largest medieval cannon in the world weighing 55 tons. The nozzle has a carving of an Elephant being crushed to death

 

IMG_3185
A structure in ruin in the premises of Gol Gumbaz.

See: Ladakh – A Photo Essay

IMG_3201
The ruins of the walled city

See: Chittorgarh – A Photo Essay

IMG_3072
The ruins of the walled city

 

The city holds so much history that it was near to impossible to cover it during my one day trip. Hoping to go back soon to learn and explore more of stories the city has tucked away in secrecy.

Until then!

—-

Follow me on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook for more travel photos and updates

Nupur

13 thoughts on “Bijapur, Karnataka: A Photo Essay”

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s