The forgotten Dakhanni town

Allaudin Khilji in the 1308 chose to march and conquer the city of Devgiri, the capital of the Yadavas for two reasons. To defy the royal command given by his uncle and in turn lure him to the city for it was full of riches. Within 20 years Muhammed Tughlaq marched from Delhi to Devgiri changing his capital. The city was later named Daulatabad (riches in aplenty). The citadel fortress stands there holding ground with a story to tell on the suburbs of Aurangabad. The fort is supposed to be extremely shrewdly. With several entrances, caves to confuse the attackers, narrow entry points to break the enemy charge and only one entry exit point. The Yadavs while building this fort are said to have altered the rock surface a great extent. They cut off the bottom slopes of the hill and created a smooth surface on the basalt rock. This negated chances of utilising the mountain lizards being used as climbing agents for the enemy. 

Tughlaq greatly appreciated the security of this fort. Away from the sudden attacks of the north west province tribesmen, the Mongols and the Rajputs. He saw it as a centre point for his kingdom and a trade route between the east-west as well as north-south Hindoostan. However, he didn't take into account the dry arid region of todays Marathwada. He built his people a reservoir with a siphoning system but the odds weren't in his favour. The "mad king" as christened later because of his indecisiveness had a shrewd governor called Hassan Gangu. He had come in from Badakshthan in Afghanistan and was incharge of the Miraj-Sangli areas. As soon as the king made his way back to Delhi, there was a first generation Muslim dynasty founded by the governor. Thus, the Bahamani Sultanate was founded. Now this king was fond of minting coins and minted two versions in his lifetime. Something very intriguing is the Chand Minar he commissioned after being inspired by the Qutub Minar in Delhi. He outsourced its construction to Iranian architects. They used the Lapis Lazuli and then red ochre for colouring. This Lapis Lazuli is a blue metamorphic rock with white and golden striations. For the geologically inclined, the white comes from calcite, blue from the sodalite and metallic yellow from pyrite. Meanwhile the theoretical physicists will insist the blue is from the trivalent sulphur present in lazurite. In either case, let me tell you that the lapis lazuli is rarer than diamonds and can be found in the north west province of Afghanistan called -no prises for guessing - Badakhstan! 

Now whether it was just co incidence or Hassan Gangu wanted a piece of his homeland here is guess we will be taking. Even today as you whizz into Aurangabad, there is a tall red structure as the railway lines meander around it and bring out into the city. 

  

Picture courtesy: Maps of India

Meanwhile unlike Khilji, we picked Aurangabad for our Diwali break because it had great accessibility via train. We reached the bustling Tier 2 city, with fancy escalators but underdesigned overbridge widths- just in time for lunch at 1pm. This town has a fist full of nostalgia to throw at you every time you think know what to expect. The cuisine one finds in the kitchens here will leave you savouring every bit of morsel you take it. If you have forgotten what it means to really enjoy a meal, take a day trip here. There are mutton based dishes I haven't heard of before and even for the vegetarians the Malai kofta (Subha aur Shaam), the Paneer tikkas, tarkari biryanis are dishes that open up a part of your soul to the old world.

Post a rich, creamy gluttonous meal we decided to go out to the Bibi ka Maqbara - Tomb of the wife. Here's some trivia; we all know that Shaha Jahaan built the Taj Mahal for his wife Mumtaaz. Some of us have also heard about their greedy son who, after his mothers death, imprisoned his father at the fort of Agra. The much revered king spent his last 8 years looking at the Taj from behind bars. 

Aurangazeb, his third son, who was incharge of the Deccan or Dakhani part of his fathers kingdom in his younger days had already established Daulatabad as his capital and built the magnificent city of Aurangabad adjacent to it. He took inspiration from his fathers marvel and commissioned one for his first wife who he lost at childbirth. The son of the chief designer of the Taj Mahal was called upon and replica was on plan.

The sum allotted for this construction was frugal and 

hence one can observe the use of marble only upto 5 ft height as seen in picture above. 

The rest was made in plaster with lime which holds good even today. As you enter the gardens of probably the only notable building commissioned by Aurangazeb, you cant help help but notice the exemplery finish of brass filigrees on the doors. Many stamping, embossing and casting units can be found in the old city even today if you look closely. The entrance is lined with several paintings of flowers along with trellis on the ceiling.

Entrance to the tomb

Brass work on the doors of the entrance 
Picture credits: Kat Bourlotos

Chacha, our driver for the evening told us of his daily haunt, a pan shop in the old city -called the Tara Pan Shop. As we pulled into the street, the waiters ran up to our car to take orders instead we decided to walk out into the galli to take in the experience. The surma laden men behind brass bowls with rose petals, had large counters and an even more extensive menu card. Right from the Maghais, Kalkattas, Maghai, Zarda -nicotine based to the Kohinoor- libido currency these guys know their art. Packaged in cute cardboard boxes we got ourselves beetle leaf pods stuffed with coconut, arrecannut, fennel and gulkand that were a relish.

On our way there we saw open tandoors lined with fluffed naans, rusk, toasts and other sweet cookie wafts that took over the narrow by lanes of the city. The tussled streets gave rise to heated exchanges among the drivers but shawarma makers were at their job, revolving the chicken slowly over the open fire greasing them as their keen eye suggested. We also noticed that the joys of a small city lived on where people intervened to break up these tiffs saying "Jaane deejay vakeel sahib" (let it go Mr. 

lawyer )

Sons of the owner

Picture credits: Kat Bourlotos

Menu card of Tara Pan Center
Picture credits: Kat Bourlotos

As we drove around the city our driver, a resident of the old city pointed out to us that the administrative capital of Tughlaq for a brief period of 7 years (1327-1334) had 42 gates. One could briefly see the crumbling walls joining these gates along the banks Kham river. Alongside one such gate, the Jaffar Gate nestled away in the backroom was a 7 generation old weave artistry called the Himroo. Himroo comes from the word Hum-Roo which means 'similar' to Kinkhwaab - the weave of gold and silver threads for royal families in Persia. A silk on silk weave in a double shade as if royalty and elegance were flirting with each other lay in my palms. The designs were intricate and the fabrics light as air. The weavers here usually weave the Mandala patterns seen on the ceilings of the Ajanta along with local flowers and fruits. Himroo was reserved for royalty only in the early days and once the Tughlaq king returned these weavers stayed on to serve the royal household of the Maratha, thereby also producing Paithanis. Perhaps one of the few fabrics with dual side patterns and no unended string. Faisal, the heir holding together this beautiful art tells us the warp (base) and the weft are woven by first drawing the pattern on a graph paper and then line by line converting it into a binary code using punching cards. The needles drop down through the holes of the punching cards to produce beautiful patterns on the downward side. Each of these sarees take a minimum of a month and sometimes upto a year to complete.

A woman working on her loom  

A Himroo saree

Picture credits: Kat Bourlotos

As we retired to our beds I was encompassed with the misty smile of the forgotten world. The tough world but a beautiful one.