Bidar Fort is located in old city area, Bidar, Karnataka, India. The fort, the city and the district are all affixed with the name Bidar. Sultan Ahmad Shah I of the Bahmanid dynasty shifted his capital from Gulbarga to Bidar in 1427 and built his fort along with a number of Islamic monuments. There are over 30 monuments inside Bidar fort.
The complex was put by UNESCO on its "tentative list" to become a World Heritage Site in 2014, with others in the region, under the name Monuments and Forts of the Deccan Sultanate. The Bidar Fort has stood witness to a lot of historical milestones – the rise and fall of Bahmani dynasty, rise and separation of the five Deccan Sultans, capture by the Barid Shahi and Adil Shahi dynasties, and finally being won by the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb in the blockade of Bidar in 1657.
Bidar was the capital of Bahmani Kingdom in the 14th century. This fort was built by Ahmed Shah Wali Bahmani. The Fort was renovated in the 15th century by Sultan Ahmad Shah-I as he shifted his capital from Kalaburagi (Gulbarga) to Bidar.
Geography
Bidar city and fort are located on the edge of the Bidar plateau, the northernmost in Karnataka state. The plateau area, comprising low laterite hills, ends to the north at the Manjira River, a major tributary of the Godavari River. The Karanja River, a sub-tributary, drains the surrounding low-lying areas and feeds into the Manjiri River. Bidar district comprises the only part of the Godavari basin in Karnataka.
Geologically, Bidar district is predominantly Deccan Trap with underlying layers of gneiss emerging along the eastern boundary. The plateau has an altitude of , and measures in length and in width at its broadest. The plateau encompasses a total area of . Bidar fort is built in the form of an irregular rhombus on the edge of the plateau with sheer walls built along the North and the East.
The ancient capital Kalyani (Basavakalyan) of the Western Chalukya Empire is situated about to the west of Bidar.
History
Bidar fort was built by Ahmed Shah Wali Bahmani; the exact layout of the old fort, with its double lines of defensive fortifications, is no longer discernible. Folklore suggests that the old fort was located in the western portion of the fort's present-day extent, from the Takht Mahal to the Kalmadi gate and the promontory on which Virasangayya's temple was built, with the old water tank at the base of its walls. This is confirmed in historical record in Tarikh-i Firishta, by the Persian scholar Firishta (1560-1620 CE), which states that the Government House or Darul Imara, today known as Takht Mahal, was built on the site of the old fort.
The old fort of Bidar was captured in 1321-22 AD by Prince Ulugh Khan of the Tughlaq dynasty from the Kakatiya dynasty, who later on became Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq of Delhi.
With the establishment of the Bahmani Sultanate (1347), Bidar was occupied by Sultan Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah. During the rule of Ahmad Shah I (1422–1436), Bidar was made the capital city of Bahmani Kingdom. Under Ahmed Shah's rule, the old Fort was rebuilt, and beautiful madrasas, mosques, palaces and gardens were raised. Firishta records that the reconstruction began in 1429 CE and ended in 1432 CE. As gunpowder had not yet been introduced into peninsular India, long and winding fort walls were constructed out of stone and mortar by Persian and Turkish architects, the stone being provided from the moat, which was excavated by Hindu masons.
Bidar fort was captured by the independent Bijapur Sultanate in 1619–20 but fell to then Mughal viceroy Aurangzeb in 1657, and was formally absorbed by the Mughal Empire in 1686. In 1724, Bidar became a part of the Asaf Jahi Kingdom of the Nizams. Nawab Mir Sa'id Muhammad Khan (also known as Salabath Jung), who was the third son of Asaf Jah I (the first Nizam of the dynasty), ruled from Bidar fort from 1751 to 1762, until his brother Mir Nizam Ali Khan, also known as Asaf Jah II, imprisoned him and later killed him in the fort on 16 September 1763. The old name for Bidar, "Mohammedabad" refers to the rule of Salabath Jung.
During the rule of the Nizams, almost all the palaces within the fort were used to house government offices, and one was used as a jail. After the formation of the archeological department, the fort was restored and the government offices removed. In 1956, when the state of Hyderabad was partitioned, Bidar fort became part of the newly formed Mysore state (now Karnataka).