TUGHLAQABAD FORT

This ancient city founded by the Tughlaq dynasty in the early 14th century originally had walls 27 meters high in places. It is the third capital built in Delhi, after Mehrauli and Siri. Today, the fortress is reduced to a few ruins that still give a glimpse of its past splendor. You can appreciate the thick wall and its defensive bastions erected on two levels. The enclosure was pierced by 52 doors of which only 13 still remain. The city was organized in three sectors: the residential sector, the citadel and its observation tower known as Bijai-Mandal and the royal quarters. A long tunnel connecting the citadel tower to the sultan's residence can still be walked through in part. Tughlaqabad is now largely overgrown by dense vegetation which prevents exploring most of its corners. Also be careful, the fort is populated by monkeys. If it is fun to watch them, do it from a distance. Their behavior can sometimes be snarky and their antics particularly annoying. Some monkeys specialize in pickpocketing, so put away your glasses, cap, or whatever.

Legend has it that the fort is cursed. Sultan Ghiyas ud-Din is said to have issued an edict forcing all workers in Delhi to come and build his fort. The Sufi saint Nizamuddin Auliya in charge of the construction of the baori (well) would have put a stop to the work. Furious that someone dared to oppose his will, the sultan harshly scolded the religious. In return, Nizamuddin Auliya pronounced the curse that the fort would remain uninhabited or that it would fall into the hands of the Gujjars. In fact, upon the death of the sultan in 1325, the fort was taken by the Gujjars and abandoned in 1327. On the other side of the road is the walled tomb of Sultan Ghiyas ud-Din Tughlaq, the founder of the dynasty, which is more reminiscent of a fortress than a funeral monument... and is not without reminders of the rather harsh customs of the time. It was connected to the fortified city by a passage, which is now cut by the highway that connects Merauli to Badarpur. The tomb is entered through a high door in the wall. The pyramidal tomb is topped by a dome. It houses three tombs, that of the sultan, his wife and his son who succeeded him by simply killing his father. Right next to it is a huge reservoir(kund) dug by the hand of man and which was intended to supply the city with water.