TUGHLAQABAD FORT

Sultan Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq is the first ruler of the Tughlaq dynasty of the Delhi Sultanate. The other two prominent rulers of this dynasty were his son Muhammad bin Tughlaq and his nephew Firoz Shah Tughlaq. Ghiyas-ud-din established the third historic city of Delhi in 1321 and the Tughlaqabad Fort was built on his orders to protect and defend the city.

Legend has it that the Sultan, in a hurry to complete the fort, issued a royal decree for labourers to be deployed at the fort construction site. The Sufi Saint Hazrat Nizamuddin was building a baoli (a stepwell) at the same time and was forced to do so only by night, given the limited workforce with the Sultan’s decree. The Sultan found out and stopped the supply of oil to the Saint’s home (that light the oil lamps), thereby preventing any work at night. The Sufi saint then cursed the Sultan “Hunuz, dili dur ast” (Delhi is far away) when the king was returning to Delhi after a victorious Bengal campaign. True to the curse, Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq and his younger son were killed when a pavilion built to celebrate their victory in the Bengal campaign collapsed on them. Yet another story is that the father did not like his older son, Muhammad bin Tuqhlaq, a devotee of the Sufi saint; the son conspired against his father to have him killed at Kara in Uttar Pradesh. In any event, Ghiyas-ud-din never returned to Delhi and the fort was abandoned.

The fort is as formidable as exquisite and is made of grey quartzite. The palace was in the south so the southern wall of the fort is the highest. The north wall led to the city and is the lowest. The fort contains two walls in select areas, making enemy access doubly difficult. Replete with high stone walls, it is one of the finest examples of Islamic architecture in India with 13 entry gates of the initial 52, each one with intricate designs. The battlements, circular bastions and parapets are 10-15 metres high and go up to storeys.

Although the fort lies in ruins today, a nearby mausoleum is still in good condition (it houses the graves of Ghiyas-ud-din-Tughlaq, his wife and his son and successor, Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq). The rest The fort is as formidable as exquisite and is made of grey quartzite. The palace was in the south so the southern wall of the fort is the highest. The north wall led to the city and is the lowest. The fort contains two walls in select areas, making enemy access doubly difficult. Replete with high stone walls, it is one of the finest examples of Islamic architecture in India with 13 entry gates of the initial 52, each one with intricate designs. The battlements, circular bastions and parapets are 10-15 metres high and go up to storeys.