Qila-e-Ark is a 17th-century palace/citadel complex in

Aurangabad Aurangabad (), officially renamed as Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar in 2023, is a city in the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarters of Aurangabad district and is the largest city in the Marathwada region. Located on a ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. Built by

Mughal emperor The emperors of the Mughal Empire, who were all members of the Timurid dynasty (House of Babur), ruled the empire from its inception on 21 April 1526 to its dissolution on 21 September 1857. They were supreme monarchs of the Mughal Empire in ...

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

when he was a prince, it served as his royal residence during his subsequent reign as emperor. The site is currently ruined, and has no legal protected status; several modern-day buildings also encroach the complex. Notable surviving structures include a royal mosque (today known as the Shahi mosque), and a palatial building.

History

The Qila-e-Ark was constructed by

around 1656, during his second princely stint as governor of the Deccan (1653-1658). The palace was constructed on the northern edge of

, Mughal capital of the

Deccan The Deccan is a plateau extending over an area of and occupies the majority of the Indian peninsula. It stretches from the Satpura and Vindhya Ranges in the north to the northern fringes of Tamil Nadu in the south. It is bound by the mount ...

, past an older palace complex called Qila Naukhanda (built by

Malik Ambar Malik Ambar (1548–1626) was a military leader and statesman who served as the Peshwa (Prime Minister) of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate and its ''de facto'' ruler from 1600 until his death in 1626. Originally a slave from modern day Ethiopia, ''C ...

of the

Ahmadnagar Sultanate The Ahmadnagar Sultanate was a medieval Marathi Muslim kingdom located in the northwestern Deccan, between the sultanates of Gujarat and Bijapur, ruled by the Nizam Shahi dynasty. It was established when Malik Ahmed, the Bahmani governor o ...

). In 1683, Aurangzeb (now emperor) permanently shifted to the Deccan to oversee campaigns in the region. The Qila-e-Ark served as the imperial residence when Aurangzeb was in Aurangabad, which acted as the de-facto capital of the empire during this period. The palace is an example of Aurangzeb's preference to build new palaces in the Deccan, rather than occupy pre-existing ones of the conquered Deccan Sultans. Scholar Pushkar Sohoni has used the palace to argue that Aurangzeb's patronage of architecture diminished with his age; Sohoni notes that the Qila-e-Ark dates to his time as a prince, but there is no comparable imperial residence dating to his actual reign as emperor. The palace was used as a government college during the

Nizam Nizam of Hyderabad was the title of the ruler of Hyderabad State ( part of the Indian state of Telangana, and the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka). ''Nizam'' is a shortened form of (; ), and was the title bestowed upon Asaf Jah I ...

period; later the college was shifted. It was a notified monument of the state archaeology department, but was denotified in 1971. Local organisations and experts have suggested that the palace be restored and be opened to the public, in order to revive the site as a tourist hub. Some organisations in Aurangabad conduct heritage walks in the Qila-e-Ark to spread awareness about the monument.

Architecture

The fragmentary nature of the citadel complex has made its original structure and layout difficult to identify. Some gates associated with the palace site include Aurangabad's Naubat Darwaza, Makkai Darwaza, and the Dilli Darwaza. Michell & Zebrowsi consider the Naubat Darwaza to be the southern entrance portal. Sohoni theorises that the maximum extent of the palace complex may be marked by the Makkai Darwaza. Very few of the palace-fort's original structures survive, as many have fallen into ruin or have been converted for use by modern institutions. One surviving monument is today known as the Shahi mosque, built by Aurangzeb in 1693 for his private use; this is situated in the eastern flank of the complex. The site also contains remnants of a terraced palace building, which Michell and Zebrowski describe as Aurangzeb's private pavilion. Its extant central chamber features a bangla-vaulted roof. The structure has been converted for use by Milind Arts College. Another structure of note is the remnants of a water channel and ''chadar'' (water ramp), found around the center of the terraces. The Qila-e-Ark once contained a Subahdari, a mansion used for hosting suboordinate officials.

Gallery

File:Delhigate1.jpg, Delhi Gate,

File:Naubat.jpg, Naubat Gate,

File:Makai gate.jpg, Makai Gate,

File:Alamgir mosque.jpg, link=, View of the Alamgiri mosque within the Qila-e-Ark site, 1880s photograph by

Lala Deen Dayal Raja Lala Deen Dayal (; c. 1844 – 1905; also written as 'Din Dyal' and 'Diyal' in his early years), famously known as Raja Deen Dayal) was an British India, Indian photographer. His career began in the mid-1870s as a commissioned photographer ...

References

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