Gol Gumbaaz

Bijapur has a lot to offer in terms of history, and in between meetings I was lucky enough to get a few hours to catch some of that.

Gol Gumbaaz

What was best is that, as guide, I had Manjunath, a youngster from Bijapur who has just joined Selco as intern. I guess he started with hesitation, not sure where my interest lay, but soon he was enthused enough to show me not just Gol Gumbaaz, but a lot more of Bijapur of which he was very proud. In fact, enthused enough to show me his school,  talk of his dreams......he was an under eighteen national level hockey player! Good stuff that....all in all, made for a super interesting afternoon.

Gol Gumbaaz, an amazing architectural feat;  the second largest unsupported dome in the world, after St.Peters Basalica in Rome, and said to be the structural triumph of Deccan architecture. Its the mausoleum of the Sultan of Bijapur, Mohammed Adil Shah, built in 1656. It's said to be one of the largest single chambers in the world and it's truly awe inspiring in simplicity and size.

Inside the dome - The Whispering Gallery

It's known for its amazing acoustics, where even the slightest sound is enhanced and carried through multiple echoes across what is called the Whispering Gallery. Like even the ticking of a watch can be heard on the opposite side of the dome.

I visited the place all of twenty four years back when for whatever reason there were no visitors at all, and it was just ravi, me and the guide and I remember being totally mesmerized by the echoes. Just to sidetrack, that was the day the Babri Masjid was demolished, and we were driving back from Goa to Hyderabad and had no clue, and when we reached Hyd we weren't allowed into the city as the city was under curfew.

Today the place was abuzz with tourists and there was so much screaming and echoes, that it felt like a banshee house. Gave it a haunted house feel which also added to the mysterious feel I guess, but would be good to experience it in silence.

It has these creepy narrow doors everywhere

Running through the mausoleum is a labyrinth with multiple entrances (more than twenty) at varying levels through the eight floors , all but two of which have been closed out now, as people would get lost in the labyrinth and because of the echoes there would be no way of finding them. Strange fantasies of the royal and rich.

Extremely scary corridor, as it's so narrow that only one person can pass and its a steep fall the other side

It offers  breathtaking views of the city

The staircase was a nightmare....eight floors of narrow, dark, twisted, steep and slippery steps. Each step was like two feet high I felt. My knees were trembling by the time I was done, and if it wasn't for Manjunath who kept was insistent I do it, I'd have given up I think.......  thanks there Manjunath...it was totally worth it.

The tomb contains the graves of Adil Shah, his two wives, his daughter, grandson and his mistress, Rambha,  That bit was a surprise, but his love story with her is legendary; the final one being that they were both in Gol Gumbaaz, and he asked her what she could do for him, and she said anything, and he asked if she'd jump, and she did.

All larger than life stuff, the dome, the acoustics, the labyrinth, the love story, the death, the mausoleum.