Itz been about 90 days since the last post and it also seems like ages. A lot of water has flown down the.... what river flows in Bidar ?... may.. be Manjira. Well the district is so dry you forget about the those fast flowing rivers and the vast expance of the sea of coastal Karnataka. Nevertheless with all the limitations of rain and water, Bidar is still a very beautiful place and a place to really go around and discover. A very historic district of the Hyderabad-Karnataka region, its been in the thick of medieval history since the 12th century. The Town of Basavakalyan, earlier known as Kalyani, was the capital of the later Chalukyas in the 10th century. It became famous as a centre of wealth and prosperity, a seat of learning and an abode of spiritual wisdom. Even today, Basavakalyan is remembered for the saints who made this city their home-Basaveshwara, Akka-Mahadevi, Channabasavanna and Siddharama.
The fort city of Bidar offcourse is famous for the largest fort of southern India. Built by Ahmad Shah Bahmani between 1426 and 1432 A.D, has five Darwazas(gates) with imposing bastions leading into a little town nestling within the ramparts. After a drive through the town fort and the royal fort, all you can do is just run your imagination free, as to how this great capital city of the Barid Shahi rulers must have looked about 600 years back. It is offcourse difficult to delete the filthy streets, the overflowing drains, the overpopulated town to aid your imagination, but is still a marvellous experience. Its also shocking to learn how the city has degenerated to its present state.
We still have a lot to see and discover in this treasure house of history. We''ll continue to do it as and when we get some time and keep the experiences posted on this blog.
8 comments:
Hello
I am an architect cum travel writer. Stumbled upon your blog while doing R & D for Bidar. Went there last weekend. The place tucked in one corner of Karnataka is really splendid, much more than what we expected.
Would like to hear from you.
Hello
I am an architect cum travel writer. Stumbled upon your blog while doing R & D for Bidar. Went there last weekend. The place tucked in one corner of Karnataka is really splendid, much more than what we expected.
Would like to hear from you. You can mail me at ksriparna@yahoo.com
Hello
Sriparna again. Just read through your writings and life. Basically started with trying to find out if you have written anything about Bidar, but the writing was so captivating that just ended up reading everything. Would like to be at Oththiinaane some day. Seems to be the place to be after the rains.
Don't know who is actually the writer, but good work. Keep it up. We, my husband and I too travel a lot.
hi there,
its been nice to see something such interesting about basavakalyan region. i was surfing the web to read more about this regions history, political and current situation and i struck to this page.
This regin has great and glorious history, but unfortunately the current scenario are very much unpleasant. Bidar is one of the many poor districts declared by Karnataka government. Due to poor rains, poor farming conditions, poor employment oppourtunities and many more reasons, Basavakalyan is in real need of attention.
I would like to search/write/get suggestions about the current situation in this place and focus on various methods to make this a better place.
Hello Sandeep
It was a pleasure hearing from you. After being to Bidar I strongly feel one of the main USPs of Bidar is its rich past which can be a major source of revenue generation . If the old fort could be restored, old havelis converted into heritage
hotels, I am sure it would do wonders to the economy of the place. The rangeen Mahal and its interiors with tile work and wood carvings are still enough to evoke WOW in the minds of the most indifferent of visitors.
The restoration project of
the Neemrana fort near Delhi which has totally changed the economy of a very poor village like Neemrana besides being one of the most successful heritage fort- hotels in the country.
Hi Subbu/Deepthi,
I was searching for travelogues on Kudremukha, Hanuman Gundi falls etc and stumbled across your blog. I am pleasantly surprised to see a police officer maintaining a blog. Have never ever seen something lk that before. You write very well. Keep up the good work. Wonder how inspite of 1 day weekends (
as against 2 days for we s/w guys), you manage to take time off to travel extensively.
Another reason why I am leaving a comment is that it struck me tht policemen also lead a normal life having normal needs like common folks (No offence meant but the media projects policemen as corrupt money laundering leeches which is true to a certain extent). For the record, my uncle is also in the police (JCP, Crime, Blore). May your tribe increase.
Hi Subbu.. got here from your orkut page .. linked by friends in the civil service.. am a student of history and history of architecture in the deccan is one of my areas of research. had been to Bidar some years back for research work. The Solah Khamba here is a marvel. Thank God that the Rangin Mahall still survives. Though not for long, the rate at which the fort is collapsing. All those structures about which I read in books published during the Nizam's reign are missing today. I dread to imagine what it would be a decade or two down the line. U know in all my trips across the Deccan, one thing that struck me was the utter lack of maintenance of archeological sites across Karnataka. Places in AP and M'tra and better maintained for some reason. Though Hyderabad-Karnataka has some of the best examples of medieval Deccani architecture. It is sad. Anyways, nice blog. I must say u come across as a very romantic person :) Not images one attributes to policemen. Not even a doctor :) Best of luck.
please have a look at this -
http://basavakalyan.blogspot.com/
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