0 Naldurg Fort

Riding between Bijapur and Bidar (I think some where after Solapur), Gulli and I stopped by to talk to these local kids. I think they were walking back home from school. We passed by this massive Naldurg fort... I regret we did not venture inside. Hope to visit this wonderful looking fort some time in the future.


That's my Hero Honda Splendor. Great bike it was. We got 70+ kilometers per litre of petrol riding mostly between 50 to 60kmph and occassionaly touching 80. My Spledor was smooth, effortless and efficient through out our 13 day trip circling Karnataka covering close to 3000km. Not even a flat tyre.


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Detail: Naldurg Fort

0 Giant Eshwara statue, Shiv Giri, Bijapur

January 2011

Bijapur, the city of fort, palaces, mosques and tombs has other attractions too. Among the ancient temples are Narasimha temple and Siddarameshwara temple. A recent addition to the city's attractions is the giant Shiva idol just outside the city, off Bijapur-Shindgi road, about two kilometers from Gol Gumbaz.


This idol was created in less than a year by four young artists from Shimoga- Prashant, Acharya, Rajshekar and Raju.


Small details are taken care of nicely; third-eye, Rudrakshimala, snake, Moon, Trishul & Damaruga... except one thing, Ganga is missing.


I went around the statue clockwise while most of the visitors went anti-clockwise. I guess many people saw the place as another tourist spot rather than a temple.


A bus load of school kids on a trip were running around noisily. A smaller group of little ones from a local nursery were sitting in a circle picnicking in the lawn close by.


There are other attractions for kids like slides, merry-go-round, etc. The place also has shops selling pooja items, snack, soft-drinks and souvenirs.


Do visit Shivagiri if you are Bijapur. It's worth the time.

Mahashivaratri will be observed coming Monday. I often hear people refer to this festival as Shivaratri. The fact is Shivaratri occurs every month and the one occurring during this time of the year (usually February) is Mahashivaratri. Shivabhaktas fast and pray through the day and stay awake all night. I remember hearing that Shiva stays awake through out the year and sleeps one night, that's Mahashivaratri. So while Shiva sleeps men stay awake :)

You might want to read- ಶಿವನಿಗೆ ಬಿಲ್ವ ಏಕೆ ಮತ್ತು ಹೇಗೆ ಅರ್ಪಿಸಬೇಕು?

Shivgiri Coordinates: 16°49'3"N 75°45'25"E

Namah Shivaya

Detail: Giant Eshwara statue, Shiv Giri, Bijapur

0 Upuli Buruj, Bijapur

Buruj or Burj means tower in Arabic.

Upuli - there's ambiguity on this. One of the sources said that Upuli is the name of a woman who stayed close by while the other source trashed that story.

Those are the steps leading to the top.





Close to the end of the steps, I saw this tablet fixed in the wall.


At the top, there are two cannons. These cannons look purely functional, probably built to send relatively light projectiles over a long trajectories.




A touch of art here...


Upuli Burj offers a commanding view of Bijapur. I wonder how the city looked during the days of the Adil Shah's reign.

That's Gol Gumbaz sticking out of the horizon.


I kept shooting every 90 degrees turning to my right.




The steps on the way feel much steeper than the way up. The stone steps are slippery, just take care while descending.


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Detail: Upuli Buruj, Bijapur

0 Gol Gumbaz

One of my favorite monuments; Gol Gumbaz is also known as Gol Gummata. The building is an engineering marvel; seven floors high, an unsupported dome with diameter of 40 feet, constructed during an era which had not seen cement. The entire weight of the roof is borne by four massive walls of the structure. I bow to the engineers who designed it and the workers who built it.

My first visit was in 1996. Gulli and I reached Gol Gumbaz at 5-45 AM, place was deserted except for the guards and guides. Our guide told us who got it built, when and why. He told us stories behind it. We started off at ground floor where few royal tombs are hosed and went to the top floor, the whispering gallery better known as the echoing gallery. We could count seven echoes and hear even a whisper 40 feet away as though someone's whispering right into your ears. Gol Gumbaz was supposed to be a meeting hall. The king would hold meetings with important people like foreign diplomats in the whispering gallery so that anything the foreigners spoke among themselves would be heard clearly. I recollected all this during my second visit in October 2009 as my guide Ibrahim narrated. I still wish to visit Gol Gumbaz again.

When ever I spoke to anyone about historical places I would ask them if they had visited Gol Gombuz. If the answer was no, I would ask them to visit asap. One should never miss this wonder of India.

Here are a few pictures I shot during my second visit.





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Detail: Gol Gumbaz