Wednesday, February 2, 2011

Bijapur Sultanate

My next few posts would be on a short but rich trip to historic towns which houses architectural wonders of eons gone by. Let me start with Bijapur. It is well known for historical monuments of historical importance built during the rule of Adil Shahi dynasty.

The city is rich in historical monuments mainly forts and tombs designed in Islamic style built post 13th century. Most of the monuments were designed by architects from Iran. What I noticed was most of these structure was built to be a tomb and they all housed remains of the members of the sultanate family.

It was a nice opportunity for me to try out my new camera. As such, I could not experiment for the fear of spoiling good photos and thus stuck to minimal settings and tunings. Anyway here are few of them.

The Gol Gumbaz. This is the second largest dome in the world with a diameter of 37 meters next only to St. Peter's Basilica in Vatican.


The Gol Gumaz complex houses the Naqqar Khana in the foreground where trumpets were stored. Now its a museum.


A mosque in the complex
The dome and the whispering gallery where even the minutest of the sound can be heard 37 meters across and every sound is echoed seven times. Acoustical wonder!! 


Underground tunnel covered now. Seems few people got lost in the maze and is now shut forever


Just outside as we were walking these sociable girls caught my attention. When I asked if I could take their picture they readily agreed.


Ready for pictures.......
 

The final product....


The curious one; checking out the picture
 


The entrance to the Jami Masjid; the oldest and first mosque built in Bijapur, Kanataka.


Its a massive structure with huge onion shaped dome.


Here is the main area which has the copy of Koran written in gold.

 

Ibrahim Rauza. Its said that its design served as inspiration for the famous Taj Mahal.


Chatty, gregarious and bubbling to grow up to beautiful ladies. Met them and they never wanted me to stop taking their pictures.


The symmetry and the details are noteworthy.


Inside the hall.


On wooden doors are carvings as these.


It houses the tomb of Ibrahim Adil Shah II and his family.


Another angle...


Light at the end of the tunnel....


The boy on the extreme right wearing a white shirt and posing wit style told me thus "Mera photo delete kar nakko ji..mein ek din famous hoonga ji, rakhlo ji" :-)


Barakaman - A mausoleum that remains unfinished.

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25 comments:

  1. KaviFebruary 2, 2011 at 9:02 PM

    Amazing ! Well done. the contours of the place have come out really neat !

    Prompts me to think of a visit !!

    Thanks for sharing !

    ReplyDelete
  2. R. RameshFebruary 2, 2011 at 9:29 PM

    vallah..top clicks...way to go...

    ReplyDelete
  3. AkumFebruary 2, 2011 at 9:39 PM

    Reading and watching all these pictures made me realize that there is so much I have to explore. THanks for sharing this post with us.. Yeah, you should not delete his pic.. LOL.. Thanks again for sharing

    ReplyDelete
  4. EnigmaFebruary 2, 2011 at 9:44 PM

    Nice clicks! :) It seems you are getting used to your new camera.

    BTW, is that you in "ready for picture", the girl in black and grey? If yes, who is taking 'that' photo?

    ReplyDelete
  5. Anu...:)February 2, 2011 at 10:41 PM

    Nice pics you've taken :)

    Seems like the pictures have some story to tell :P

    ReplyDelete
  6. SGFebruary 2, 2011 at 11:56 PM

    Thanks for sharing these nice pictures with us. Things we read in history books came live through your pictures.

    ReplyDelete
  7. AmritFebruary 3, 2011 at 1:33 AM

    Good pictures. Who is taking your pictures?

    ReplyDelete
  8. Shesha ChaturvediFebruary 3, 2011 at 1:39 AM

    Loved the clicks.. :)

    ReplyDelete
  9. smFebruary 3, 2011 at 2:20 AM

    beautiful post
    full of info, knowledge and entertainment.
    congrats for new camera.

    ReplyDelete
  10. anilkurup59February 3, 2011 at 8:10 AM

    So there goes another travelogue .
    Really good , Bindu. Perhaps , perhaps you could have also put in a bit more notes on the Sultanate, their brief history etc.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Shilpa GargFebruary 3, 2011 at 10:01 AM

    Wonderful picture travelogue!!
    You are an ace photographer!! :)

    ReplyDelete
  12. InsigniaFebruary 3, 2011 at 10:27 AM

    Kavi,

    Thank you. It was a hot and dry day; the light was everywhere; more than required. But managed to get these shots.

    You should make a visit :) Thanks again.

    Ramesh,

    Thanks, glad you liked them

    A.K

    Yes, the world is big and our country is rich. Start exploring. No way, I would never ever delete his picture :)

    Thank you.

    Enigma,

    Thanks a lot. Yes, I am sort of getting used to it.
    Yes its me in the picture. The pictures where I am showing up was being taken by a friend.

    Anu,

    Thanks. Each picture have a story to tell :)

    SG,

    Thanks so much. Glad you liked them.I wanted to visit these places since the time I read about them in m Social Studies in my primary school

    A,

    Thanks. A friend.

    Shesha,

    Thanks, glad you liked them.

    sm,

    Thanks a lot. I didnt write much about the place though.

    anil,

    Hahaha hope you are not jealous :-P
    Thanks Anil. I thought about it; writing a bit of Adil Shahi dynasty. It was running to pages. I will have to talk about the Bahamanis and before them the Chalukyas. So I decided to not write. Anyway we have the ever helpful Google.

    Shilpa,

    Thanks a lot. Glad you liked them. i am not sure Shilpa, My camera for sure is ace :)

    ReplyDelete
  13. chitraFebruary 3, 2011 at 11:21 AM

    Loved the trip. Beautiful photos.
    Loved those 2 girls who posed for the pic.

    ReplyDelete
  14. anilkurup59February 3, 2011 at 10:38 PM

    no 'perhaps' let me assert my point of view. I think it will have enhanced the post if you give a brief narration of the history of the dynasty and how the constructions came about.
    Forget Google , that is a different aspect.

    ReplyDelete
  15. BK Chowla,February 5, 2011 at 9:00 AM

    Did you click these?
    Very nice and look forward to more posts on this subject.

    ReplyDelete
  16. AnonymousFebruary 5, 2011 at 9:54 AM

    Wow! Awesome pictures. Two pictures made me smile. The photo where the little one checks out the photo: so sweet.
    And the photo with little girls in colourful dresses and make up. What made me smile was the manner in which the hand purse was being carried by one of the girls. innocence. they all want to be big girls soon! little do they know that all the troubles will start when they grow up. :-)

    ReplyDelete
  17. InsigniaFebruary 5, 2011 at 12:41 PM

    chitra,

    Thanks chitra. Glad you liked them. Those 2 girls were very cute :)

    anil,

    True :) I agree. I was a bit lazy :)

    Chowla sir,

    Yes I clicked all those except for the 3 pictures where I am in.

    Gautam,

    Thank you Gautam. The little girl was really very very sweet. She was so interested to see how her picture came out. Gautam, this is what I thought about those bunch of girls. They were so keen to grow up; dressed like women, spoke and behaved like them. Keen to grow up :)
    Thats what interested me in these young girls :)

    ReplyDelete
  18. dr.antonyFebruary 5, 2011 at 1:09 PM

    Good pictures !
    Most of the Islamic architecture,if we can call it so,have the same looks.When I went to Delhi,I was surprised to see that there were only Islamic monuments everywhere.They all looked the same to me.

    ReplyDelete
  19. RGBFebruary 5, 2011 at 4:55 PM

    Bijapur looks like a must-visit place, thanks to your photographs. Enjoyed the virtual visit with your fabulous pictures and interesting commentary.

    ReplyDelete
  20. ashokFebruary 6, 2011 at 10:27 AM

    Beautiful ..you've got a good eye, keep them comming..

    ReplyDelete
  21. InsigniaFebruary 6, 2011 at 2:34 PM

    dr.antony,

    Thank you. Yes, they sort of have the same style and built for the same purpose - tombs

    RGB,

    Yes, it is a must visit place. Near it are also some of World Heritage sites like Badami, Aihole, Pattadakkal and Hampi. Dont miss if you get a chance.

    ashok,

    Thanks. Glad you liked them

    ReplyDelete
  22. NehaFebruary 8, 2011 at 6:32 PM

    Hampi clicks took my breath away! I have shared my views on these already :)

    I am sure you are gonna make most of your baby..so, Rajasthan in may..all set? :P

    ReplyDelete
  23. InsigniaFebruary 10, 2011 at 10:06 AM

    Neha,

    Yeah wait for them here :)
    Yes yes, I m actually not happy with myself. Havent read the manual yet.

    Rajasthan....hmmmm....tempting :)

    ReplyDelete
  24. elizajoApril 17, 2011 at 12:39 AM

    Beautiful pictures. I love the captions too.

    ReplyDelete
  25. InsigniaApril 17, 2011 at 7:41 PM

    thanks joseph

    ReplyDelete

I'd love to know what you thought :-) Please shoot!

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