Golconda Fort

The pictures were shot with my Yashica film roll camera on two different occasions, first with my father and next with a maternal uncle.

This is the entrance to the garrison which is more or less the ground level. From here the path to the hill summit starts.

According to our guide this forged steel block weighs 250 kg, it was used to test army candidates during Qutb Shahi times. Candidates had to lift this block off the ground to qualify. Praveen gave it a try, he could not budge it. It managed to shift it little bit. But three local boys all aged around 12 years, jointly lifted it one inch off the ground. Based on approximate dimensions of this forged iron block, my estimated weight is 125 kg to 150 kg.

These are the step leading the way to the prison / dungeon.

These images depicting scenes from Ramayana are on one of the walls of the prison. This prison's only source of ventilation is a hole in its roof. It is said that these images were sculpted by a prisoner named Bhakta Ramadas. Apparently Ramadasa was imprisoned here for 12 years for embezzling treasury funds. During his imprisonment he prayed to Rama for his release and created these images. It is said that two unknown young boys paid up the owed money and Ramadasa was released. That's the story passed down generations, there's no written record as such.

Now we are at the summit of the rocky hillock and below that rock are two small temples.

That's the summer palace and the highest point in Golconda Fort.

Below picture, to the right, are the palace ruins. The walls and floors still have water pipelines. It seems water was pumped to the palace from another hillock about 2km from here. Of course, those days there were no motors... gravitational force was used to it's best.

Looking back at the summer palace on the way down. We took the other stairs which is much steeper than the one we climbed up.

The climb looks daunting, to most people. Our guide told us that some unscrupulous guides would bring tourists to this stairs, and those tourists would refuse to climb us thereby ending the tour prematurely. Time saved for more tourists.

That's a fountain head in the palace courtyard.

Subsequently I visited Golconda 2 more times in 2014. During those visits I happened to discover the less known living heritage of Golconda- the multi centuries old Baobab tree at Nayaa Qila.

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