Visit to Great City of Gulbarga in India

I had been lucky to get an opportunity to visit most of the sightseeing places of South India during my last visit to India in January 2010. This has been due to the fact that I had some business deals to make in this region of South India. I am going to cover about my visit to great city of Gulbarga in this article, which is situated in the State of Karnataka. This great city has beauty of its own and is very popular amongst the tourists due to many historical monuments located here.

Gulbarga is well connected by air, rail, and road from most of the major cities of South India. However, we traveled to Gulbarga by hired car from city of Bangalore. Gulbarga was ruled by Hindu Kings till the end of seventeenth century. Thereafter, it was won by Muslim rulers. That is why most of the historical monuments of Gulbarga have mixed culture of Hindus and Muslims. The king Bahman Shah decorated this city with many unique monuments and this practice was followed by the other Muslim Kings. As a result, Gulbarga became a beutiful historical city.

The fort of Gulbarga is the most famous spot to be seen. This fort was built by King Gulchand and was strengthened later by the King Bahman Shah. This fort has 15 tall minars that were used as the observation posts during the time of war. There are around 30 ancient large canons in this fort, which were used in the wars by the Kings. One of the canon is 25 feet long and has capacity of firing up to the distance of around 6 miles. The famous Jama Mosque in the fort looks like the unique Mosque of Cardova of Spain. There are graves of Muslim rulers in the South of the fort. The holy grave of Khwaja Bande Navaz is the most vital of them all. The grave of Sufi Saint Khwaja Saiyad Mohamad Gesudraj is also situated in this fort. This grave is considered extremely holy by the Muslims. That is why Muslim visitors keep on visiting this grave for most of their religious functions. The religious urs is held at this grave every year and millions of people, both Hindus and Muslims visit it with equal faith. In addition to this, the grave of Sultan Hasan, Firoz Shah and other Royal family members are also located in this historical fort. The ancient Hindu Lord Shiva temple of Shree Sharanbaseshwar is located near the famous lake of Gulbarga and is really worth visiting.

There are many excursions available near the city of Gulbarga. The historical town of Bidar is situated at the distance of around 45 miles from Gulbarga. The fort of Bidar is considered really worth visiting in view of its design and various historical items stored in the museum of the fort. The ancient Mosque of Solah Khambh at Bidar also attracts thousands of visitors in view of its unique octagonal design.

There are few hotels available at Gulbarga for the tourists like Hotel Gul, Hotel Navroz, and Hotel Gira International. I had stayed at Hotel Gul that offers good facilities at the rates of around Rs.1600 ($35) per day for a reasonably good double room. The meals are not included in these rates. the stay of one night can be sufficient at Gulbarga to cover most of the site seeing places. it will be better to carry your supply of drinking water with you as the quality of drinking water may not be that good. The traditional spicy South Indian food delicacies are available in most of the restaurants of Gulbarga.

If you happen to love Indian history and are fond of visiting ancient historical monuments, Gulbarga is the place for you to visit during your next visit to India.