Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Day 2 :: Daulatabad Fort (part I)

Daulatabad Fort was great - like a Disney theme, but real. It had a mote that used to have crocodiles. Hallways that lead to a drop from the side of the castle. Places where soldiers poured hot oil on the invaders and giant doors that were only opened at dawn. Plus, loads of bats - they were real.




^ The Fort. It was absolutely huge, no amount of pictures could capture it.



^ There is a large tower next to the fort, from whence the call to prayer came in years past. Today it is closed due to large numbers of people jumping to their deaths. Yeesh.



^ As we gathered to enter...



^ Many of the things we saw were in a dark hallway where we were encouraged not to take pictures.



^ And in those dark places - bats. Unspeakable things followed......



^ Outside, we saw something of interest. Hindu-era stones were placed into the walls of the Fort once the Mughals took over. This was a way of denigrating the Hindus after they lost control to the invading Islamic army of the Mughals.



^ A modern-day ancestor of the aforementioned Mughals. But he was just relaxing and smiling.



^ We saw various of the local folks. Here is an older woman with a bag on her head.



^ We found a Hindu altar where a man was exchanging dots on the head for a few rupees. To me, they looked like tongues of flame. ;-)



^ Tara with her tongue of flame.



^ Jonah getting his tongue of flame. The rest of the day he spoke in Aramaic, it was really surprising.



^ Langur monkeys were waiting outside for us. Tara is like a little girl every time she sees monkeys in the wild, it's awesome.