Bijapur Diaries | Gol Gumbaz

Very often when people visit Karnataka they often end up visiting the often repeated famous and exotic locations like Hampi, Badami, Pattadkal and Aihole to name the few.Let me tell you there is this small gem of a city lying in Karnataka often ignored by the tourist, which offers some fabulous architectural marvels and is a treasure house of historical monuments.

I am talking of Bijapur aka Vijayapur popularly known as Agra of South or also the queen of Deccan. Vijayapur literally means City of Victory.

Top of Gol Gumbaz

Now that it was decided that I shall be visiting this historical town, the next important part was booking of railway tickets.I think India must be the only country where everyone is on a travel plan all the time of the year, because whenever you try to book tickets most often they are not available especially on the weekends.

Travel Tip: Book your Railway tickets well in advance

I got a wait listed ticket which luckily got confirmed on the day of my travel. Earlier, inorder to reach Bijapur earlier one had to take two trains, if travelling from Mumbai. First Mumbai to Solapur and from there connecting train to Bijapur. Luckily for me this New train called Mumbai-Gadag Express got started so henceforth travelling to Bijapur shall be faster and easier.

Waiting for the train at Dadar station

It was 9.33 pm when Gadag express entered Dadar railway station.As it was a night journey so it didn't make any difference whether I got window seat or not ( actually I love to sit on a window seat and watch the stations go by or hear the hum of Chai... Chai call of the vendors) Ab kya kare sab ko kuch na kuch bimari hoti hai hume kuch is tarah ki hai 

It must be 5:30 am when I was jolted from my sleep by the commotions in the compartment I asked fellow passenger bhai konsa station aaya, He said Solapur. Hearing Solapur I for a moment felt like getting down and visit the Naldurg fort and Buikhot Fort , which I wanted to do. But then the reality sunk in because today I was not travelling alone I was travelling with my wife so naturally I am not expected to jump of the train at any station I wish to. Ab aisa hai na, ki jab akele hote hai , Hum wahi raha bana lete hai jaha cha hoti hai but today it was a different story and with heavy heart I saw Solapur station fade away in darkness. Nevertheless I was excited too because in few hours I shall be on my destination i.e. Bijapur.

Bijapur aka Vijayapura

Our Journey:

It was 7.30 when my train entered the Vijayapura Station. As soon as you come out of the station You see this Manmoth Structure of Gol Gumbaz from the station itself.However to reach its entrance you need to walk around 900 metres. My wife and myself we started to walk. As it was early morning so the climate was quite cool.We saw a  small tea stall at the turn we decided to have a cup of a tea and then start exploring. Actually more than the tea I like to have small talk with the locals because it helps me to visit the places more easily.

View of the Gol Gumbaz as soon as we came out of the station.

In an introduction to “Architecture at Beejapoor” published in 1866, Philip Meadows Taylor, an Anglo-Indian with a voracious appetite for Indian culture wrote: “Palaces, arches, tombs, cisterns, gateways, and minarets ...all carved from the rich basalt rock of the locality, garlanded by creepers, broken and disjointed by peepul trees, each in its turn is a gem of art and the whole a treasury.”

This introduction by Philip M Taylor sums it all as to what lies awaiting at Bijapur for me.

Bijapur is a historic fort city. You will know this only once you visit this city. There is history lying in every nook and corner. Where ever you go within the city you find some mosque, some tomb. I was told that  when you stand atop the Gol Gumbaz you can see many domes spread across the city along with the city wall. I always feel that the best way to know the city is to First know about the history of the place. So let me quickly take you through a small history lesson about this place.

If you want to know the summarized History please click this link and read.

Coming back to our journey

We finished our tea and reached the entry gate of Gol Gumbaz.

We purchased the entry ticket at the gate of the Gol Gumbaz  for Rs 15. Being early in the morning there was not much of a crowd. As we entered the  complex, we saw well laid out garden on both the sides and a Museum building which is right in front of the Gol Gumbaz. 

Well  laid out garden and Gol Gumbaz behind the Museum

Museum in front of the Gol Gumbaz

There are canons kept outside this Museum. On closer look I found Persian Emblem on the canon along with something written on the cannon. The canons are quite big.

Persian emblem along with some text engraved

Huge Canons

Circumventing the Museum we entered the Gol GumBaz complex and were pleasantly surprised to see again beautiful garden and this Manmoth Gol Gumbaz ahead of us.

Mighty Gol Gumbaz

Gol Gumbaz  is the tomb of  Mohammed Adil Shah (1627 -56) , the seventh ruler of  Adil Shahi dynasty. Gol Gumbaz as the name suggest is round dome monument. I remember when I was in school we had these General Knowledge Test and we read about tallest tower, longest platform or largest dome, It was here when I first came across this name Gol Gumbaz. So naturally you can understand my excitement of reminiscing the past.  The Central dome of Gol Gumbaz is the largest in Asia and second largest in the world after the St Peters Basilica of Rome.

This gigantic mausoleum which took 20 years to complete was built at the orders of Adil Shah before his death , It has a floor area of 1700 sq.m., height of 51 m and diameter of 37 m. The walls are 3 m thick. The central dome stands unsupported by any pillars.

We look so small under this Gumbaz

I was mesmerized by the hugeness of the place. we look so small standing in front of the monument.

Next to the GolGumbaz there is a mosque . The entry to which was closed when we visited.

We now  moved on to enter the Gol Gumbaz but before entering the Gol Gumbaz one has to remove shoes and go inside.There was a person just oustside the gate with whom you can deposit your shoes and bags before entering the GolGumbaz. Upon entering the Gol Gumbaz we saw a huge platform on which laid the tombs of  the Sultan Mohamed Adil Shah, his two wives, his mistress Ramba, his daughter and grandson. 

Tombs of Adil Shahi and his Family

 When I was talking to the guide in the Gol Gumbaz, I came to know an interesting thing, Actually everywhere on the web I had read that Ramba was the mistress of the Sultan however the guide at the museum begged to differ, He said Ramba was never a mistress of Adil Shahi. She was a  dancer who had come along with her son from Ceylon ( Sri Lanka of today) to perform on the occasion of completion of Gol Gumbaz however she fell in love with the sultan and even professed her love and it was her wish that she be buried along with the king here.Next day she jumped from the top of the Gumbaz and died, consequent to which the sultan fulfilling her wish buried her here. Later when her son died he too was buried. This history is so easy to twist God knows what is true or false.But then Hum ko kya .... Hume to kahani suna acha lagta hai...after all we are also a storyteller.

Platform or stage behind the tombs

Just behind the tombs One can see platform which I assumed may be used for performance. I was also told that there is basement below this Gol Gumbaz which is closed. One more interesting thing was the air been realised from the floor through the grilled duct.

Air Ducts on the floors

If you stand below the Dome you will only be in awe of the architectural marvel because you will notice that there are no pillars supporting the done. This huge dome cap appears to have been placed on the criss-crossing arches running from one end to another. "Seeing is believing" I dont know how many times I may repeat this in Bijapur. 

The web of arches holding the dome

We now proceeded to climb the Minars which stands on the four corners of the Gol Gumbaz. We were told its a seven storied climb and each floor have a balcony where one catch their breath.Hence we started to climb this spiraling stairs.Standing in one of this balcony one can see the huge bracketed cornice below the parapet, are important feature of this monument.

ornate brackets

 Huffing and  panting we reached the top, but once reaching the top you will forget all the efforts you took climb the stairs because the city below looks awesome. You can see many domes scattered all over the city. One can also see the citadel boundary wall.

Lording our Bijapur city from Gol Gumbaz Top

Citadel Boundary wall can be seen from Gol Gumbaz Top

For a second I was transported into the past. I imagined myself to be the sultan and lording over the city.

Sochne me tax thoda na lagta hai. Free me Sultan hone ka ahsas le liya.

Ek din ka Sultan 😀

Other than the city one gets good top view of the museum building and the whole complex. We clicked few pictures and then entered the dome top.

View of the front side from Gol Gumbaz Top

 Last but not the least it was time to visit the famous "Whispering gallery", Time to witness one of the most fabulous experience of our lives. Whispering gallery was something out of the world experience for us where I was told that the tick of a watch or the rustle of paper can be heard across a distance of 37 m in the Whispering Gallery. The acoustical phenomenon of this dome is such that a sound is echoed eleven times over. You won't believe this, when I narrate to you my experience of Whispering gallery, it so happened when my wife standing at the other end of the dome ( distance must be around 138 feet) She could actually hear what I whispered. I was shell shocked when she replied back. I have never seen such thing in my life.

Travel tip: Try to reach early in the morning to experience this whispering wonder because once the people start flowing in you will only be getting frustrated and irritated by the sound of whistles, claps and shouts.

By the time we finished with our exploration of Gol GumBaz It was already 10:30 am, which meant that we took almost 2 and a half hour for seeing this monument.

Top Balcony or roof of Gol Gumbaz

Trivia 

Incidentally Gol Gumbaz((1627) and the Taj Mahal (1632) began construction during the same period by two different sultans governing independent swathes of land. Taj being in the north and the Gol Gumbaz in southern India both the tombs separated by 1500 km, obviously were not aware of each other.

Gol Gumbaz took 29 years to complete, the Taj Mahal took 22 years to finish,Gol Gumbaz  is almost double the size of Taj. Yet where more than  I pondered whether Taj Mahal has a feminine fetish, while the Gol Gumbaz is geometrically masculine. At any given time more than 7 to 8 million tourists visit the Taj Mahal in a year, whereas the population of Agra is around 1,5 million. Comparatively very few tourists visit Gol Gumbaz just because it is not on the regular tourist trail and also not adequately publicised and promoted by the local Tourism people.

We moved out from the Gol Gumbaz complex but not before visiting the Museum which was not open when we had come in the morning, The Museum itself is a treasure house having a collection of Chinese porcelain, parchments, paintings, armoury, miniatures, stone sculptures and old Bijapur carpets etc.

The museum is open on all days from 10 am to 5 pm, except Fridays. Entrance is free.

Museum done and dusted by me and my wife

I was very thrilled by whatever I saw till now. We were now all the more eager to see what the city of Bijapur holds for us. Stay tuned for the next part of the blog to learn more about lives of sultans.

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Coastal Odyssey: Gokarna Beach & Om Beach

The road journey that we had embarked on from Karwar to south of the the western coast was proving to be one of my best exploration adventure,I knew the beaches along the coast are very good but I had never expected to come across such quite,serene and enigmatic temple of SRI LAXMINARAYAN MAHAMAYA TEMPLE ANKOLA ( click on this link if you want to read about laxminarayan mahamaya temple) , Sitting at the steps near the temple I was all but in a trance, never wanted to take away my eyes away from such beautiful temple.

I was zapped by the beauty of this temple

Seeing me transfixed my wife tapped on my shoulder and said "Ab yehan rahkar sanyas lene ka vichar to nahi na" I smiled and said "Sanyas aur mai, arre abhi toh aur kitni manzile mera intezaar kar rahi hai " saying this we all moved into our car searching for the next destination, Koi Bola tha na ki aage beach hai....toh Chalo phir.It has began to rain again, but we were all enjoying every moment of it.

Idyllic and mystical drive

We again took to the highway NH17 and started moving toward south, the signboards were suggesting that our next destination should be Gokarna beach,Om beach, Kudle Beach.Actually we were given to understand by a local person that beaches were in a row along the coast so one can easily cover them all.It has started raining again and overcast climate is always so idyllic and mystical.

Coastal roads offer a spectrum of beautiful shades of nature that "yeh dil mange more ", I honestly wanted to get out of the car and enjoy the bounty of the nature 

Bounty of nature

but Oh, My time constraint ! and this thought actually reminded me of the beautiful lines of poem which  played out in my mind 

What is this life full of care
We have no time to stand and stare.

I know only one thing,

Manzilon ka kaam hai pukarna,
Aur Musafir ka kaam hai chalna,
Isiliya ,Mai toh chala 
Jider chale rasta.

Moving in towards the Gokarana beach

So taking a right turn from the Highway we moved on to the narrow lanes of village to take us to the Gokarna Beach and little ahead we saw this board leading us to the beach.

Once we reached the village the lanes kept getting narrower as some festival was going on. Gokarna is known to be a holy town. As one of the local said that this town has a historical reverence and the name is derived from Go (Holy Cow) and Karna (Ear). I for one takes these thing with a pinch of salt.Gokarna has some fantastic temples as my visit was short so I decided next time I will catch the temples.For now its only beaches.

Only beaches for me 

So Gokarna Beach here I come. I was told that Gokarna Beach is very secluded and lesser visited one, but surprisingly when we reached the beach I found it quite crowded.

Gokarna Beach, 
look out for the large numbers of tourist car parked.

Many tourist buses and car, probably from Bangalore or Kumta were there. In order to buy my peace of mind,I decided to go about exploring, where the crowd was sparse.

Mai toh chala jider chale raasta

Hence I walked along the coastal village, toward a small hill nearby.

Typical Coastal Village

We slowly started to move  towards the hillock which had a regular stairs leading all the way up , So just a gentle climb of 10 minutes and we were on top.

Catching the view as we were climbing

Once reaching the top we find there is a small temple and a viewing point which offers a good vantage point to have a amazing views of the beaches nearby.

Viewing Gallery

View of beaches nearby

Another view from the top

Standing atop the hillock we could see the extended coastline and at the farthest point I could see a small pink temple and I had now set my eyes to go and check out what it is.

So quickly we trekked down the hill and resumed our journey toward that pinkish temple at the end of the coastline. Luckily for us one can drive till that small temple.The thrill of exploring each nook and corner is such,that you come across things which surprises you.

Small temple in a small town

Entering through this gate I saw this lovely pool with some young boys diving and enjoying the cool waters.

Small pool in front of the temple

Now this is what I call cool surprise

Ram Temple

The view from behind this temple was also very nice,we sat on the rocks enjoying the cool breeze and watching sea water hitting out at the rocks tirelessly again and again

We enjoyed sitting on the rocks and enjoying the sea.

It was now time for us to move on to our next destination and it was Kudle beach and Om beach.

Kudle Beach

Actually all these beaches are very close to each other. In fact they appeared little further because the road takes a longer route. As we were moving through this serpentine roads the sky was again threatening us with an another downpour.

The gathering clouds

Some day I would love to trek along the coast and explore the the beaches, that would definitely be an experience.We didn't go down to Kudle beach instead only had the top view, we stood on the road and absorbed the beauty of the place before moving on to the Om beach. A little drive and we were standing at the entrance of the Om Beach.

Entrance of the Om Beach

Now this was interesting because in order to go to Om beach one has to climb down the stairs.We parked our car and started to move from this point to the beach below.

First view of the Om beach

This is the way to go down to the beach.

Stairs leading to the beach

Om Beach is so called because of the om shape of the beach.

Om shaped Om beach

Om beach is very popular among the foreigners, now that was what I was told of and it is very famous for booze party.  In the same breath I was informed to be very careful as the beach is full of drug addicts.As I had no plans to stay here so missed the opportunity to have the first hand experience. Talking of the beach , it was indeed very beautiful and the rocks had this peculiar colour.
  

Coloured Rocks

I was also informed that the police is very vigilant and they check the autos or taxi plying in, to check the tourist if they are carry drugs or narcotics. Luckily for me I didn't come across any such incident.

With such beautiful sight before you its hard not to spend some time clicking pictures and as they say a picture is worth thousand words , hence I shall be sharing few pictures now.

 

After spending some splendid time here with my daughter and wife and our lovely host Vijayji and his daughter it was time to move on to somewhere in the town of Mirjan. To explore another forgotten legacy known as Mirjan Fort  (Click on this link if you want to read our next adventure at Mirjan Fort)