Satish wanted to see the Golconda Fort so we went there. We hired Mohan, a 73 old guide for 1200 bucks (there's no standard price), and went in after buying tickets and avoiding a forceful seller of tour books. First up he showed us a map of the fort which made more sense this time to me.
Then he said there was a door hidden behind the rock which was true. The doorway was beautifully adorned - peacocks, swords. Inside there was a cannon pointed directly at us - and right under the tall, diamond shaped ceiling he showed us the marvel of Persian architecture's acoustics by clapping under the midpoint and also showed us the Bala Hissar (topmost part of Golconda) where it would be heard (not sure).
Then we moved into the area where there was a weight of 150 kgs which wannabe soldiers had to life those days - we could not move it an inch. Then the barracks like place and a little further we went past the offices of the Hindu ministers Akkanna and Madanna. A little to the right and we passed the Nagina bagh.
Then we saw a water reservoir and climbed up the hill where we came to the famous Ramdas prison. Kancherla Gopanna was an officer with the 7th Sultan Tana Shah who built the temple for his favourite deity Lord Ram with public funds at Bhadrachalam. He was imprisoned at this place - kind of a house arrest - and he sculpted idols which I took a close look for the first time.
Further up we came to the granary or Ambar Khana, a huge place. Mohan told us that the fort had seven walls starting all the way from the outermost -the darwazas (Banjara, Fateh, Patancheru, Moti, Jamali, Makkah and a couple more) and more and more fortifications as you go closer. There were 83 burjs or bastions he said.
Further up we came to the Qutb Shahi mosque, a beautiful structure which is now not in use. Past that we moved up to the Jagadamba temple where the Bonalu starts every year.
And then we finally reached up to the Bala Hissar part, the highest point where the Sultans held court once a month he said (rather low in frequency). It had the Diwan-e-Aam (for common folks) and Diwan-e-Khas (for important folks). We climbed up and took some pics. People were sitting on the parapets and taking pics much to the annoyance of the security guards. Apparently someone fell off recently.
Then the walk down - the straight steps going down - the royal way is now shut down and a new path way made. We got a good view of the palace ruins - the Zenana, the Rani Mahal, the court yard, the Taramati mosque, the armoury etc.
We walked down and checked out some cannons - panchaloha cannons made of five metals. Then we saw ruins of the palaces with some beautiful inlay work still there.
More palace (by then Mohan was in a bit of a hurry and was hurrying us through). The courtyard was beautiful, then we passed the naquar khana, the armoury, saw some cannon balls and some old guns.
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