History of the Tughlaqabad Fort

• Tughlaqabad Fort was built in 1321, by Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, the very first ruler of the Tughlaq dynasty in order to prevent the Mongol invasions.

• It was believed that during this time Sufi saint, Nizamuddin Auliya was working towards building a water tank, due to which workers defied to construct the fort. This angered Ghiyasuddin and he took a vow to punish him. Later it was believed that Auliya cursed him by a famous saying "Hunuz Dilli Dur Ast" or Delhi is yet far off.

• The curse apparently took shape and Ghiyasuddin died while returning from Bengal Campaign when the pavilion he stood on collapsed, in Kara Uttar Pradesh.

The Architecture of Tughlaqabad Fort:

• The entire fortification is made of granite and stands on a perimeter of roughly 6 kilometers. Once a majestic fort, Tughlaqabad Fort is now could be seen in ruins, scattered in bits throughout the way.

• The tomb is divided into 3 parts. The first is Wider city with houses built along a rectangular grid. The second part is Citadel with a tower at its highest point known as ‘Bijai-Mandal’. The third part is palace area containing the royal residences.

• Tudor arch : The horse-shoe shaped tomb has been customized into a “Tudor” outline with a slight decorative double curve at the crown. The typical style of combining of the arch and the beam in the tomb was used for the first time in the architecture during the Tughlaq dynasty.