Visited places: Devgiri Fort and Ellora Caves
City : Aurangabad.
We were planning this trip from a long time and then we decided to go on a weekend 21-22 March 2009. Purvesh booked a trax cruiser for this trip with Uday our reliable driver and friend and we all Chaitanya,Deepak,Vikram,Saurabh,Me were sure coming on the trip. Himani and Chaitanya's sister too were to come.
The day before we were to leave there were some dropouts , himani dropped out and chaitanya's sister too dropped out. Tushar an old buddy from the VOF trek joined in. So we were 7 friends going on the trip. Post some problems of where all should assemble we decided to goto Talegaon and Purvesh and Chaitanya were to come in the vehicle from Dombivali. Rest of us me,Vikram,Saurabh,Deepak and Tushar were to board at Talegaon.
Me and Vikram and Deepak and Tushar reached Talegaon in the morning around 8am at Saurabh's place. The vehicle came in at around 8.15am and we started on the trip at 9am from Talegaon. From here we were to take the route Talegaon-Chakan-Shikrapur-Ahmednagar-Aurangabad around 240 odd kms.
The vehicle was a trax cruiser and suited for seating 12-13 people. We were just 7 so we relaxed in it. The going was great as we discussed timepass and chilled out and listened to music. We stopped for breakfast at Shikrapur at 10am. Post Shikrapur it was a good-bad ride upto Ahmednagar as the SH-60 is being upgraded to 4 lane in many places and work is being done so some bumpy roads at some places. We landed in Ahmednagar at around 11.30am and it seemed that the whole of the population was on the road as the going was slow here.
Post Ahmednagar the whole highway is 4 lane upto Aurangabad and an amazing drive. We reached outskirts of Aurangabad at 1.30pm and reached the Daulatabad fort at 2pm. Post parking the vehicle we went inside the fort. The ASI charges 5 rs. per indian national at the entrance and 25 rs. for a video camera. The first we see is the main entrance of the fort with a huge nailed door. Going inside we have a huge area where there are cannons from different parts of the fort. They were probably moved here by the ASI (Archeological Survey of India). We had taken a guide for Rs.450/- (authorized) to let us know about the history and defences of the fort. This fort was a capital place of the Yadavas.
Going ahead we went into the 2nd level of the fort where there are traps for the enemy so that they could get confused. In the 3rd level we could see a huge area inside. First we saw some temples and houses of that era. There was typical architecture of those structures. We turned to the left where there was a huge tank known as the Elephant Tank (or Hatti Houda in Marathi) which was used to store water. Going more ahead we went into the Bharat Mata Temple. The temple was originally of some god but when Mughals and other rulers had this fort under their control they made some changes to it , so keeping in view religious sentiments the Indian Government made it a Bharat Mata (Mother India) temple. One more special thing about this temple premises is the presence of 255 pillars all carved in unique carvings surrounding this temple. A great amount of work must have been done here to carve out those pillars.
Coming out from here we come to the Chand Minar which is a minaret constructed by Ala-ud-din Bahmani in 1445 to commemorate his capture of the fort.The minaret has 3 levels and is around 70m in height and believed to be the 2nd highest minar in India after Qutab Minar in Delhi (72.5m). The minar was decorate using costly blue glazed Persian tiles in those days of glory. Going ahead we enter the main periphery or the 4th level of the fort.
This entrance is also known as the Kalakot meaning Place of Death. This is called so because if the enemy enters inside there were 2 doors here one to the left and one to the right. Usually in forts the left door is the main entrance but in this one the right one was the main one and the enemy used to get confused , until then the soldiers inside would kill the enemy using bow and arrows and javelins. There was also a trap door inside here which goes out , so if the enemy tries to flee from here there used to be soldiers standing out near the trap door opening and cut off the head of the enemy.
Going inside we see the Chini Mahal which was constructed by Mohamad Bin Tuglaq when he ruled the fort from 1325-1351. The Mahal is called so due to China ware tiles used to decorate the insides. It was here where the last of the Adilshahi kings Abul Hasan Tana Shah was imprisoned by Aurangzeb.
One more level inside we see a huge bastion on which the largest cannon of the fort exists. Known as Mendha tof (as its head is shaped like a "ram" a type of a goat also known as Mendha in Hindi or Marathi). This cannon had a range of 9km hits and a huge mechanism was used to rotate this cannon 180 degrees only. The cannon rotation radius used to be only 180 degrees and would not rotate in the direction of the fort as if some enemy captured this post he should not be able to target the main fort area with this cannon. The cannon weights 18 tonnes and was moved by a mechanism from below. It is made of five metals and was made at the place itself as moving such a huge cannon is not possible.
Going ahead we see the rang-mahal or entertainment place. This was under renovation so we couldnt see that part. The history so goes that Lakhuji Jadhav (Jijabai's father - Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj's Grandfather) who was a descendent of the Yadav's of Devgiri was killed by treason in the Rangamahal here on this fort.
Going ahead we come across a drawbridge and a moat surrounding the main hill of the fort. This moat is filled with water and is around 50feet deep. In the old days this moat used to be infested with crocodiles so that if some enemy falls in the moat it would be a gruesome end. Going ahead we have the main attraction of the fort the dark maze tunnel enter the hill. This maze tunnel is completely dark and you need torches even now to go inside and guides to guide you out , if you were to go inside just like that we may lose our way and fall somewhere. This was constructed in those days keeping in mind a great strategy and hence this is an unconquered fort after Chittorgarh fort in Rajasthan which stands first in the list of unconquered forts in history.
There are a lot of bats inside the tunnel now. Going ahead we have a typical blunder making turn where if some enemy rushes he will fall down due to the sudden turn. There are many other mechanisms here which would bring swift death to the enemy. Going ahead we came into an opening where the guide said now its around 457 steps to the top. Going on towards the top there was a Ganesh temple said to be constructed by the Peshwas when they ruled this place sometime. I couldnt go any further from here due to the heat and we didnt have lunch so felt weak. The top from here was around 100-150 steps where there was a mahal of the kings and water. I and Chaitanya came down from here to the main entrance.
Waiting for others we had some water and cool drinks and juice before the others came and then we had nice parathas at Hotel Daulatabad. Some people had prejudices at this place as they thought it was dirty, others were so hungry they didnt care. It was around 5.30pm now. We booked an A/C dormitory at ManMandir Hotel in the city. We reached the rooms at around 6.45pm and freshened ourselves.
We went for lunch at 9pm to a small hotel and had a nice lunch et all and returned back around 11pm and went to bed.
Next morning we woke up at 7am and freshened up. We were to visit Bibi ka Maqbara and Ellora caves today. We dropped our Ajanta caves from our iternary as it was too far from here around 107 km and takes a whole day there. We had breakfast at 8.30am and started around 9am. We reached Bibi ka Maqbara at 9.20am. This structure is supposed to be a replica of TajMahal but not in marble. The area is huge and we had a fee of Rs.5 to get inside. However we didnt take a guide here as we werent interested to know about the history.
This mausolem was supposed to be built by Prince Azam Shah the son of Moghul emperor Aurangzeb in memory of his mother Dilras Banu Begum. Hence the name.
The inside of the structure houses the tomb of Begum and has amazing carvings and paintings in stone here. The expanse is huge here too. Having seen all we returned back by 10.20am to visit Ellora. Ellora caves are on the way to Nashik from Aurangabad around 28km from Aurangabad.We have to cross Devgiri to go ahead.
We reached Ellora at around 11am and after taking tickets (Rs.10) went inside. Ellora has total 34 caves all of them from the 5th Century. All the caves are a marvel. The amazingly carved pillars in each cave are worth seeing. There are many statues of Gods in the caves. Buddhist monastries in caves , meditation rooms carved out in rock and amazing structures we could never dream of. The most amazing part of the caves is the Kailashnatha temple(Cave 16) carved out of a single rock. Its is the largest monolithic structure in Asia. The carvings in the temple , the shivalinga and all are amazing and will not fail to amaze anyone. The view of the Kailashnatha temple from top is breathtaking. Those who dont have energy to travel the whole of the 34 caves can just stop at this place and will get an out of the world experience.
Once done with the caves everyone came to the parking where we started back but found that our rear left tyre was punctured but we had a stepnee so Uday our driver replaced that and until then we had kakdi / limbu pani and jaljira nice soothing drinks in the sun. Uday also joined us and we started back for Pune at 2pm from Ellora. In between we stopped at Khultabad to see Aurangzeb's tomb. I didnt go as was tired and didnt have interest. We started for Pune and reached Aurangabad and got onto the highway to Pune. Stopped in between for lunch at food bazar just after the 4 lane starts after Aurangabad. After lunch we had our other tyre repaired and the puncture removed and started for Pune around 4pm from there. Stopped at Supa for snacks and chai and started back at 7.15pm for Pune from there. Reached Chakan at 8.15pm and refueled diesel as the level was low.
Reached Talegaon at 9.10pm. Left for home with Vikram and Tushar at 9.30pm. Vikram and Tushar diverted at Chinchwad and i went home. Nice trip indeed. A break from the usual treks :)
