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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Summarized History of Bijapur

Summarized  History of Bijapur

What was formerly known as Bijapur is called Vijayapur today.Bijapur city is well known for its historical monuments and their architectural importance especially the monuments built during the Adil Shahi Dynasty.

Chalukyas of Kalyani established this ancient township in 10th or 11 century later it was passed to Yadavs after the Chalukyas demise.

In the 13th Century the city came under the influence of the khilji Sultanate in Delhi.

In 1347 Bijapur was taken over by the Bahami sultanate of Gulbarga.

In 1518, Bahami Sultanate was divided into 5 states known as Deccan sultanate.One of which was Bijapur.

Adil Shahi Dynasty ruled between 1490-1686.What we see today at Bijapur, I mean mostly can be attributed to Adil Shahi.

In 1686, Aurangzeb conqured Bijapur and thus ended Adil Shahi's reign.

In 1724 Nizam of Hyderabad took over Bijapur.

In 1760 Marathas defeated Nizam of Hyderabad.

In 1818 The Maratha Peshwa was defeated by the british and Bijapur was passed on to Bristish East India Company.

Rukmini Devi Temple | Dwarka | Gujarat Series

After visiting  Bet Dwarka (click here to read) and spending those enchanting moments with the seagulls chasing our boat till we reached Okha port was indeed a memory which shall remain embedded in my mind forever.

Boats leaving the Bet Dwarka

We were given 2 hours time for sightseeing by our auto driver and we were quite late and honestly I was dreading the moment when I have to meet him now. One look and I knew I was in trouble because I could see he was red with rage and he angrily blurted out " Arre kitna time laga aap logo ko, Parking me mere sath aur mere baad wale sab nikal gaye". I somehow pacified him and offered him few more bucks and we were on course. 

It was a long and bumpy drive with me sitting on the edge of the front seat again,but the major problem for me now was no only to sit on the edge but also to keep myself awake. I don't know, but I was feeling very tired and sleepy and sitting on the front seat I was sure that I cannot afford to fall asleep "Pata chala Weekend Wanderer, Auto se bahar wandering karne nikal liye" 😁.

Bumpy ride on auto

This drive of approx. 30 kms almost took more than an hour to reach  Rukmani Devi Temple. Luckily for us there was not much of a crowd at the temple. I thought this time around we will quickly see the temple and come back. Per yeh ho na saka ! because the Pundit at the temple had some different plans! He told us to wait for 10 minutes. I  asked punditji darshan kyo rok diye , He smiled and sarcastically replied " arre mandir me aaye ho kuch der dhyan lagao, 5-10 minute tak bhajan karo, 10 minute aise hi guzar jayenge'. I was wondering why he did this? but soon after some time I got the answer to that. Actually the head Pundit wanted to ensure that there was a sizeable number of people so that he can start his narration about the temple and more importantly he wanted to collect donation for water tanker Yes Water tanker! (They have this system that the devotee can donate money, depending upon the amount one can donate few litres or full tanker , the donation starts from 200 Rs to thousands) I was actually annoyed that he made us wait and waste our time so that he can get audience, just for this money thing.

Rukmani Temple (source Wikimedia)

Before talking about Rukmani temple, Let me give you the backstory as regards to who was Devi Rukmani and why this temple is called Rukmani Devi Temple. As the name suggest this temple is of Rukmani Devi one of the important queen out of  16108 wives! of lord Krishna.

We all know that Goddess Laxmi is eternal companion of Lord Vishnu. So when Lord Vishnu took Krishna Avatar, Goddess Laxmi took the form of Princess Rukmani devi. Princess Rukmani Devi was the only sister of her 5 brothers, She has heard so much about the valour of the Krishna from the visitors who came to their court that she was enamored by the divine beauty of Lord Krishna hence she decided that she will marry only Lord Krishna and no one else. All family members were happy and agreeable to her choice of Krishna except her elder brother who wanted to marry Rukhmani to the powerful king Shishupala.

Cravings on exterior of the temple

When Rukmani came to know about this she was very sad and agitated, she realised that her elder brother wont let her marry Krishna hence she decided to send a message to Lord Krishna professing her love for him and asking him to take her away from here and this forced marriage. She then handed this to her trusted messenger to be delivered to lord Krishna.When Lord Krishna started to read the letter he realised it was a love letter from a anguished soul who was absolutely in love with Lord Krishna. Lord Krishna then eloped with Princess Rukmani and they both came to the village of Madhavpur Ghed and got married at this place. In the memory of this event a temple for Lord Madhavrai was built and every year celebration takes place of this event in a cultural fair. After few days Lord Krishna married Princess Rukmani with great pomp at Dwarka. 

Taking about love letter I remember the Head priest saying that there are only two places where one can see this love letter one is at this temple and other in some scripture.

Well this was the backstory of Princess Rukmani. Now the question arises why the temple of Rukmani is here, I mean 2 kms away from the Lord Krishna's Dwarkadhish Temple.

So another story time here again. As per the legend After the marriage of lord Krishna and Rukmani they wanted to invite Sage Durvasa  for the feast. , He agreed to come for the feast but on one condition that Lord Krishna should sent for a chariot to pick him up and the said chariot must be not pulled by horses but by Lord Krishna and Rukmani, as sage Durvasa was known for his short temper so both Krishna and Rukmani agreed to this condition. As they were pulling the Chariot due to excessive heat Rukmani felt thirst and requested Krishna for the water. Krishna with his feet toe prodded the earth to drew Ganges for providing water.  Rukhmani quickly quenched her thirst with the water however this made sage Durvasa very angry because he felt insulted that Rukhmani didnt ask him first for the drink so in his anger he cursed her she and lord Krishna will live seperately and indeed they lived seperately for 12 years. While Lord Krishna lived in Dwarka and devi Rukmani did tapashcharya in the forset outside Dwarka and Thus we see this temple of Devi Rukmani outside the Dwarka city. 

when you hear all these tales I feel one gets transported to another era. Actually these are the reasons that travelling is something I am so fond of. As far as the temple goes one can see intricate carvings on the outer side of the temple. 

We paid our respect to Devi Rukmani and moved towards Dwarka to visit Dwarkadhish Temple.

Churches of Mumbai Series | St Thomas Cathedral

It all started when last month I came across an article in the MIDDAY newspaper. A three hundred years old church was celebrating its tri-centenary. Naturally I was all inquisitive to know where was this church, what was the history behind and as I started my research I was getting more and more immersed into the past of this church. What got unveiled left me dumbfounded!.

Present Churchgate Station

For all these years passed, I never knew why Churchgate Station was called Churchgate and over that we always enjoyed Kishore Kumar crooning in the movie DON, Ee hai bumbai nagariya tu dekh babuwa....jaha churchgate ka  church hai lapata. 

Well the good news is I found the missing Church.

Jokes apart, St Thomas cathedral is in fact that missing church which gives Churchgate its name and another interesting fact about this church is that it is Point Zero spot where the pin falls in "Bombay"from where distance in the city was measured in milestones.

History:
St Thomas Cathedral stands testimony to the colonial past. The times when there was actually a fortified British settlement of Bombay which we call as Fort area in present times except that today there is no fort, no bastions or fort walls. What we see today is bustling commercial hubs yet being a commercial hub the British era can still be felt,looking around the buildings in these areas which are converted to Govt offices or bank premises. 
Till the 19th century the Bombay was fortified settlement with a fort wall and a moat.

The city had three gates 

Apollo gate- at Apollo bunder
Bazaar Gate- That is where today chhatrapati Shivaji Bus Terminus 
Churchgate- Where the flora fountain stands today
stands. 

Old Church gate,where the present day Flora Fountain stands
 (Pic source Wikipedia)

All the gates along with the city wall was demolished in the year 1860.

As the city of Bombay was inhabited by the Britisher they needed a place to worship so in the year 1676 the foundation stone was laid by the Governor Gerald Aungier  the same year that Emperor Aurangzeb began building Badshahi Masjid or mosque in Lahore. Unfortunately after the death Gerald Aungier the construction of the church was abandoned,however as the construction of the church was underway so the structure stood half way at 5 metres high for half a century. In 1710 Richard Cobbe the Chaplain adopted this unfinished Church and got the construction completed and finally the church was thrown open to the general public on the Christmas day 1718. 

The Church was named after St. Thomas, the Apostle, one of the 12 Disciples of Lord Christ who is believed to have come to India.

In the year 1837, the Church was consecrated as a Cathedral and Rev. Thomas Carr was appointed the first Bishop of Bombay. The Church underwent lots of  additions and renovation and took its present form in the year 1865.

In the 18th and 19th century the Cathedral was divided on the basis of different classes of society.There were even separate rooms for "Inferior Women" ( Now don't ask me what does that mean, I always felt that all humans are equal in the eyes of God, yet why this discrimination...probably another creativity of humans to divide the humans )

My Journey :

Armed with all the info that I can gather I was very eager to have a first hand experience of seeing the St Thomas Cathedral. So Weekend wanderer that I am, I set out one Sunday afternoon to visit this church. Let me share my experience from here on.

I took local train from Andheri to Churchagate and it was 4 pm when I reached the Churchgate station. Coming out of the station I started to walk towards Hutatma Chowk aka Flora Fountain and from there towards Horniman circle, just before that you see a Clock tower like structure and you can be forgiven if you mistook it for a clock tower. Its not a clock tower but the church, St Thomas Cathedral. I have come to Horniman circle for upteem times I fact I must have savoured the coffee at Starbucks  just opposite to it and yet missed this so important monument.

As I was entering the church I noticed a beautiful ornate fountain in front of the main entrance.

In 1864, Sir Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney, a Parsi philanthropist, had gifted this Gothic fountain to this church, because he wished to donate one in the vicinity of his residence, still known as Readymoney Mansion. 

ReadyMoney Mansion (It still exists)

This kind of donation was nothing unusual gesture for Sir Cowasji Jehangir Readymoney, because he had donated 40 iron fountains to Mumbai, of which only six can be found now. This ornate fountain actually compliments to the beauty of this Cathedral.

Made for each other

 This fountain was brought from London in parts."The local Parsi community were unhappy that such generosity was wasted on 'Unbelievers' and hence they disparagingly nicknamed the fountain the 'Cowasjee Cross'."( Source Times of  India Report)

Lobby at the entrance of the church

From here I moved to enter the Church. As we enter the Church we find a small lobby, what is noticeable here is the designed flooring, a designed wrought iron gate and the visitor book lying on the right side of the lobby.

Designed flooring in the lobby

Next we enter the main hall, What I saw was very imposing and grand.The inside of the church is painted in white.There was these  beautifully designed huge wrought iron brackets which holds the fans in the church.

Wrought Iron fan brackets in the hall catches your eyes

 The next thing that interested me a lot was the many memorials made of marble stone that adorned walls of the church. These memorials tell different stories of the different people and look very ostentatious.

Memorial for 300 Passengers
who perished on steamship Cleopatra

The first Memorial that I saw was for the 300 passengers of the Steamship called Cleopatra, who perished when the ship sank of the coast of Malabar on 15th April 1847. the ship was en-route from Bombay to Singapore.The monument was erected by the officers and the seaman of Indian navy as per the plaque 

The next interesting memorial was this huge memorial for Jonathan Duncan.

Memorial of Jonathan Duncan

Jonathan Duncan was the longest serving governor (16 years)The memorial comprises of a Dhoti clad Brahmin and a statue depicting the symbol of justice and this was all set against the backdrop of Banyan Tree with the smiling Chirubs.

In the words of  Reverend Avinash Rangayy the Church Priest "Duncan was a visionary who abolished infanticide in India… those cherubs denote this good deed. He was an Indophile — the Brahmin and the banyan tree depict his deep association with India, while the statue portrays his fairness in judgement despite being a colonial ruler."

Memorial for Captain George Nicholas Hardinge

Another interesting and beautifully carved monument of horses with a fairy and waves caught my eye. On closer observation I noted it was a memorial to Captain George Nicholas Hardinge
As per the plaque Captain George commanded the ship called "San Fiorenzo" considered to be terror of Indian seas which had 36 guns and 186 men on it.

 He chased and fought for three successive day the enemy frigate "La-Piedmantaise which had 50 guns and 566 men on it. Yet The Captain along with his crew achieved a brilliant conquest but unfortunately fell in the last and critical, part of this heric battle. It is said that he was very much inspired by his hero Lord Nelson. Captain George dies in the year 1808.  
last but not the least i liked this peculiar kind of memorial which looked like a coffin with a statue of a priest lying on it. This memorial belonged to the Rev. Thomas Carr  The first bishop of Bombay.

Memorial of  First Bishop of Bombay

Other than this there are many more exotic memorial some of which are in brass form each telling a different tale. Do visit and read each epitaph probably you may find some new secret unveiled.

After going through all the memorials I came down to the central of the church and started to walk down the nave. Just as I was to about to approach near the chancel,on my right side on the first row of the seating chairs I saw these two iconic chairs . Iconic because these chairs were occupied by King George and the queen on 3rd Nov, 1911.

Copper plate on the seats

Just before that there is this pew on which was used by Mother Theresa on 08.01.1989. I get goosebumps when I find myself so near the history and could actually feel the presence of this blessed soul.

After this I move towards the altar area or rather the chancel, what catches your eyes is the lovely stained glass windows with colour paintings of St Thomas and many others.

Some beautiful designed stained glass windows 

The chancel

One of the paintings at the cathedral shows St Thomas with a Bible in his hand and a T square in the other hand perhaps reminding the viewers  that at on time he was a builder by profession standing next to him on both his sides are archangels St Gabriel holding a lily symbolising purity and truth. and St Micheal holding a double edged sword, symbolising truth and justice.

No wonder that such beautiful Church is considered as a heritage site and is a recipient of UNESCO Asia-Pacific Heritage Conservation Award.

Stained glass window of St Thomas,St Gabriel and St Michael

I was simply overwhelmed by what I experienced here. I sat for sometime soaking in all the grandeur and the peace the place had to offer. Paid my respect to the lord and came out of the Cathedral as a contented man.

Thank You