Madrasa of Khwaja Mahmud Gawan, Bidar

September 3, 2018
Our tour of Bidar started with Narasimha Jharani followed by Chaukandi, Bahamani tombs of Ashtoor and Bidar Qila. From the fort we drove into the old city in search of the five gates of Bidar city fort, Choubara and Madarasa of Khwaja Mohammed Gawan.

Khwaja Mohammed Gawan Madarasa is an imposing and unique structure. Its a three storey building almost 40' high and its Minar is about 50; tall. Its facade and tower (Minar) are covered in terracotta tiles and glazed tiles, there's no other monument which is quite like this red colored building in Bidar.

Archaeological Department board planted at the building's entrance reads as follows-

Madrasa of Khwaja Mahmud Gawan: The Madrasa at Biadr is a distinguishes example of Bahamani architecture (Persian style) build in AD 1472 by Khwaja Mahmud Gawan, the minister of Muhammad shah III (AD 1463-82). It was functioned like a residential university and was maintained on the lines of the Madrasa of Khurasan. It comprises a conventional quadrangular hall and chambers on all sides. This three storeyed building houses mosque, library, lecture halls, professors's quarters and students's cubicles. The library that existed on the other wing is now destroyed. On three sides there are semi-octagonal projections crowned by bulbous and on the fourth side is the main entrance, flanked by two stately three-stage minars. The facade is adorned with multi-colored tiles in green, yellow and white in a variety of designs, arabesques and Quaranic verses. Even though the building suffered much damaged due to explosion of gun powder in AD 1695, it still retains much of the original architecture features. It is the only one of it kind in India.

The ruined walls have exposed the interior. The pyramidal column is an engineering marvel, it rises 3 floor high. During my first three visits, I remember seeing kids running around inside. I think the building was used as a Madrasa. Looks like archaeology department has banned public usage. However the grounds around this monument is mostly occupied by children playing cricket.

The two great arches and domes. A photograph of the ruined Madrasa at Bidar, taken by D.H. Sykes in 1875 shows this yard was littered with massive chunks of rubble which was result of gunpowder explosion. On the right is one of those chunks left behind probable as a reminder of the incident.

Remains of a doorway.

A ruined arch. An arched window covered by a mesh made of mortar.

A wide angle lens would cover the entire structure or shoot from one of the roofs across the street.

Here's a short video.. a walk around the monument.

From here we continue our search of the gates of Bidar old city-

• Fateh Darwaza
• Talghat Darwaza
• Agsi Mangalpet Darwaza
• Shah Gunj Darwaza

Bidar fort has five gates namely-

• Mandu Darwaza, main gate
• Kalmadgi Darwaza
• Delhi Darwaza
• Kalyani Darwaza
• Carnatic Darwaza

Mandu gate is the one used by locals and tourists. The remaining gates are used only by local people, would be interesting to explore and check them.

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Bareed Shahi tombs in Memorial Park, Bidar

January 28, 2011
I was on a tour of Bidar, Gularga and Bijapur with my maternal uncles. We'd spent the day sightseeing monuments of Bidar, Barid Shahi tombs was the last item of the day. It was a sunny day, post lunch we were too tired to move around freely. So we'd seen only one group of tombs and missed two tombs on the other side of the road.

September 3, 2018
Pushpa and started the tour early morning. We'd covered Narasimha Jharani, Chaukandi, Bahamani tombs of Ashtoor, three gates of Bidar fort, Choubara, Mohammad Gawan Madrasa and Bidar fort. Pushpa was exhausted after the long walk in Bidar fort where we covered the main tourist spots. As we drove through the narrow streets of old city, we found a grains store where we purchased jowar. The store was situated close to Basaveshwara Chowk and our next item was about 3½ kms away.. Palm road entrance of Memorial Park. This building is a screen concealing a direct view of the tomb. This is akin to a similar building in front of Chaukandi. Gol Gumbaz and Ibrahim Rouza also have such a buildings.

Here's that tomb, unlike other tombs, this is an open building, this does not have doors. There is a twin building on the left hand side, about 170 meters away. This is supposed to be tomb of Ali Bareed Shah (1542 to 1580). The approximate dimensions of this structure: platform is  46m x 46m, tomb building is 17m x 17m x 25m and the dome diameter is 14m. The structure can be viewed as 3 parts height-wise- lower, middle and top. Lower level consists of the great arch and niches, mid level is more or less plain except for the horizontal lines creating 5 layers and the top consist of the dome. All four faces of this structure are identical.

Closer look at the mid and top levels. Unlike Adil Shahi tombs, Bareed Shahi tombs do not have minars.

Murals just above the arch. Within the outlines is text, either Persian or Arabic.

The interior is simple, just two three graves in the middle. Pigeons have taken over this building, the entire floor is littered with droppings. The building seen through the arch is the twin building.. this is Ali Bareed's tomb and that is Ibrahim Bareed's tomb.

Ceiling and dome.. the design is elegant, it matches the exterior.

Closer view of the dome base. Actually the dome is plain, its the base which has the artistic touch.

As seen from western side. It seems these 400+ years old structures were snow-white originally. Color has faded over the centuries, parts of the plaster has fallen off. The design is similar to Charminar minus the minars.

The other tomb is known as Sabbal Barid ki Gumbad which translates to Tomb of crow-bar Barid. The three graves found in this structure are said to be of Ibrahim Barid Shah (1580 to 1587) and two of his wives.

This tomb is incomplete since the walls are not covered in plaster. The finer details of this structure is slightly different compared to Ali Barid's tomb.

The dome as you see is unfinished, brick work is not covered in plaster and paint.

Bidar district seems to have received good rainfall, as a result lot of vegetation have taken over some of the monuments. Memorial Park was more like a grassland, limited scope for photographing these monuments. It is said there are graves of Barid family members scattered around in this ground.

Turning our attention towards the mosque complex next to the screen building. Where there's a Muslim tomb, there has to be mosque.

This is the mosque of three arches and two minars. Good thing archaeology department has kept these structures grilled and locked lest they become dens for drinking and gambling.

Besides the mosque is a similar sized building which could have been a madrasa or a lodge. The complex also has a water tank which doubled up as a swimming pool. Good to see a well maintained monument.

We were tired, no energy left to pay a visit to the other group of six or seven tombs. We headed back to the hotel, freshened up and went to Gurudwar Sri Nanak Jhira Sahib.

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