Bidar Fort, Bidar, Karnataka.

Bidar Fort, Bidar, Karnataka.

Bidar Fort is situated in Bidar city of the northern plateau of Karnataka, India. The fort, the city and the district are all affixed with the name Bidar.

Bidar is a hill top city in the north-eastern part of Karnataka state in south India. It is the headquarters of the Bidar District which borders Maharashtra and Telangana. It is a rapidly urbanising city which comes under Bidar Metropolitan area. The city is well known for its many sites of architectural, historical and religious importance.

Architecturally, the fort is a specimen of the Persian architectural style. This fort has a haphazard quadrangular layout. Surrounded by three-mile-long walls and comprising 37 bastions, this fort has five imposing entrances or ‘Darwazas’.

The entrance to Bidar Fort is through the Gumbad Darwaza, from where you can see Bidar’s fabled and unique triple moat, hewn out of solid rock. The yawning gap seemed sufficient to keep anyone out, but the fort’s builders apparently thought otherwise for low battlemented walls line one side of the moat, providing cover for soldiers firing on anyone trying to cross the moat.

The seven gates of the fort are named from East to West as follows:-

• Gate 1 — The Mandu Darwaza, the main gate
• Gate 2 — The Kalmadgi Darwaza,
• Gate 5 — The Delhi Darwaza,
• Gate 6 — The Kalyani Darwaza,
• Gate 7 — The Carnatic Darwaza,
• Gates 3 and 4 are without a name.