Medieval Indian History

Hyderabad sits nestled amongst one of the oldest rock systems of the world. These granite rocks are 2500 million years old. Rain, sun and wind have for aeons, through their collective and continuous physical and chemical actions, worked them into weird shapes. Some appear perched upon each other so precariously that you feel some giant-children playing at house making must have kept them there. From times immemorial they have stayed like that without tumbling down. They will remain like that long after we are gone. Golconda Fort was once a mere hillock, a hump of a giant camel, a mass of scattered misshapen granite. It was sheer wilderness. There cow and goatherds used to graze cattle and sheep belonging to the nearby villages. It was so popular with graziers that it took the name of 'hillock of the graziers' - Golla Konda in Telugu, the local language. Golla Konda later on became 'Golconda'. Hyderabad is the daughter of Golconda Fort which stands in ruins now, eight kilometres away from the centre of the city. The fort was built about a thousand years ago, during the Kakatiya rule (AD 1000 - 1321) which had its capital at Warangal - a city about 150 kilometres to the north of Hyderabad. Rudramba Devi, queen of the Kakatiya dynasty, ruled for 34 years from AD 1262 to 1296. She withstood the combined attacks of the Pandyas, the Yadavas and the Hoysalas with the help of her grandson, Prataparudradeva who succeeded her (AD 1296 - 1323). He too was an illustrious ruler but was subjected to repeated attacks by the Sultans of Delhi: there were five during the two decades after AD 1303. Finally, he was defeated by Ulugh Khan, imprisoned and taken prisoner to Delhi. On the way he committed suicide. Ulugh Khan later became the Sultan of Hindustan, and is known as Mohammad Tughlaq. Since his empire had extended to the south, Delhi was no longer the centre of political gravity. He, therefore, ordered that the capital of India be shifted from Delhi to Daulatabad. For two decades this city remained the capital of India.