Daulatabad

Daulatabad rises from the Deccan plain around a steep, isolated hill fortified with walls, moats and winding passages. Earlier known as Devagiri, it was the capital of the Yadava kings before the armies of Delhi conquered the region. Its natural height and elaborate defences made it one of the most formidable strongholds of the Deccan. A rock-cut passage leads towards the upper citadel, while successive walls enclose the lower approaches.

In 1327 Muhammad bin Tughluq renamed Devagiri Daulatabad and ordered the transfer of his capital and people from Delhi. The move was eventually reversed, but it left the city closely connected with the Delhi Sultanate’s efforts to govern the Deccan. Later the fortress passed to the Bahmani rulers and then to the Nizam Shahis of Ahmadnagar. Malik Ambar, the Nizam Shahi statesman and commander, established a new settlement at nearby Khadki, later Aurangabad, in the early seventeenth century. Mughal forces besieged Daulatabad and captured it in 1633, weakening the Nizam Shahi resistance. The fort continued to figure in struggles among the Mughals, the Nizam of Hyderabad and the Marathas. Following the Maratha victory at Udgir in 1760, Daulatabad was among the forts ceded by the Nizam. Its many layers of fortification record the importance successive rulers attached to the hill and the country around it.