3 day trip to Bijapur, Aihole, Pattadakal and Badami. This was a trip through the ages covering various rock temples, rock-cut cave temples, tombs, palaces and mosques ranging from 4th century to 17th century. This post covers the places visited in Bijapur on Day 1.

Trip in detail –

Trip through the ages – Bijapur

Day 1 – 18/09/2018

Location –

Left Bangalore on the previous night. After a long drive, reached Bijapur at around 6 am. Searched few places for stay but then ended up going to Gol Gumbaz first.

Gol Gumbaz

Early morning is the best time to visit Gol Gumbaz. There is a museum, park and a walk way around therefore lots of local people come here for the morning walk. We just missed the sun rise, but most importantly got the beautiful view of entire Bijapur city and the fort surrounding the city from the top of Gol Gumbaz. The structure is all about size and symmetry. It is the second largest dome in the world. It contains the tomb of Mohammad Adil Shah, Sultan of Bijapur. The four towers on the corners has seven levels of stairs to reach the top and then we can enter the top part just below the dome. Even the smallest whisper on one side of the dome echoes and multiples to the other side of the dome. It is described as a very trippy experience.

There is also a small mosque next to this structure in the same complex. The museum was closed because of the early hours and so we had to miss it.

Next we decided to book a room in Hotel Basava Residency and spend the afternoon resting here. Evening time we went out to cover rest of the places in Bijapur.

Ibrahim Roza

First we went to Ibrahim Roza. It contains the tomb of Ibrahim Adil Shah II and his wife. There is also a mosque in this complex. This structure is said to be the inspiration behind Taj Mahal in Agra. This structure is about delicacy and intricate details. There are some fine inscriptions probably in Arabic on the walls and windows of the tomb. There is also a stone pond like structure between the tomb and the mosque. This structure was not very clean because of all the pigeon droppings in the complex. There is also a long passage underneath the tomb and mosque.

Malik-e-maidan cannon

Next we went to see the majestic Tipu cannon called Malik-e-maidan cannon. It is huge in size and there are some inscriptions in Arabic on the cannon. There is also a lion or tiger structure with elephant in its teeth around the opening of the cannon. It is said that the Britishers had planned to take this cannon with them, but because of its huge size and weight they had to leave it behind.

Upli burz, Bara Kaman, Gagan Mahal and Shivgiri temple

Upli burz was close by to Malik-e-maidan cannon and therefore visited it next. This is a watch tower with two long cannons on top of it and a good view of the surrounding structures. We then went to see the Bara Kaman which houses the Ali Adil Shah II tomb. It is a half constructed tomb. Not sure why this structure was not completed. It is said that it would be a bigger and grander structure compared to Gol Gumbaz if it was completed. We then went to see the Gagan Mahal. It looked like only a small part of this Mahal is standing today. We can only imagine the size of the mahal based on the structure that is there today. Finally we went to see the Shivgiri temple which is on the outskirts of the city. It has a park and a big statue of Shiva.

It was already getting dark when we were getting out of Shivgiri temple. We had our dinner and went back to the hotel for the night.

There are multiple other structures in bits and pieces scattered around the city. But due to time constraints and long drive, we decided to skip the rest.

Places visited – Gol Gumbaz, Ibrahim Roza, Malik-e-maidan cannon, Upli burz, Bara Kaman, Gagan Mahal and Shivgiri temple