Stretching over an area of 94 hectares and looming above the city, the Daulatabad fort built in 12th century AD still intimidates visitors with its three-layer defense system and booby traps that would be working today if the fort was awake and in battle-mode.

With its strategic location, incredible architecture and clever military functions, this Aurangabad fort was once the most powerful hill forts in India during the country’s medieval period and was considered invincible. Multiple trap doors, pitch dark staircases, a moat with crocodiles and heavy set of stairs made invasion and seizing of this powerful fortress almost impossible. And visitors still feel it’s effects today.

The fort is huge and laid out in all directions. To really explore the grounds, you would need a good 3 hours, a strong pair of legs and lungs to climb the 600 plus stairs strewn about the place. While all kinds of people visit the fortress, it’s design usually forces its visitors to hike and climb throughout the area. It’s made for physically active folks and curious minds that can withstand tough climbs to learn about how this marvel’s defense worked and what made it impenetrable.

It’s truly one of the most historic places in Aurangabad and a must-visit when you’re in the city. For easy access to Daulatabad Fort, you can stay in the prestigious Rama International Hotel Aurangabad where it’s also close to the Ellora Caves and the rest of the sight-seeing spots.

An Impenetrable Fortress

There are numerous things that makes Daulatabad fort invincible till date. Starting from the entrance itself, the gates to enter the Fort from the outside was unidentifiable. The fake left-side doors would trick enemies into thinking that that was the way in while the actual way in was on the right-side, remaining hidden and unseen.

This was something unusual at the time as forts tended to only have one entrance and exit. If the enemies did somehow find the actual entry doors, opening them were another task altogether. The heavy entrance doors were made with iron spikes to prevent elephants ramming into it to get it open. Even heavy wooden beams were useless as the spikes would just split them open and render them useless.

If somehow the enemies did get it open, they would be stopped in the huge courtyard with canons and soldiers staying hidden in the small niche rooms tucked into the fort’s walls. The heavily armed fortress also had a moat where the bridge opens, sending the enemies plunging hundreds of feet below into crocodile infested waters.

But nothing compares to the dark set of stairs which was a booby trap where enemies and soldiers met their doom. While it’s accessible to tourists today, visitors are urged to practice caution, and many don’t find the courage to explore its dark caverns, twisty stairs and misleading paths.

Courtyards

Like mentioned before in this article, Daulatabad Fort’s courtyard is more than just a picturesque scene where visitors can chill and rest before walking the 600 steps to the top of the fort. It was an area of defense, packed with canons and ammunition in niche holes drilled into the walls of the fortress. There would be soldiers hiding in here too, springing out to attack whoever was dumb enough to make their way in.

There are still some canons used from the 12th century during the fort’s defense kept under the arched niches that you can see today.

The Andheri – A Dark Trap of Stairs

Once you start the climb up the stairs to the top of the fort, you’ll eventually come up to the Andheri (Blind Passage) – which is a dark passageway tricking enemy soldiers into believing that’s how they would get through the fort to siege it. But the Andheri is nothing but a dark trap where enemies would meet their demise.

Even today, a board with a warning is kept at its entrance, urging visitors to venture into it at their own risk. Wicked traps, genius engineering and stairways designed to slip, and fall is how the passage is constructed. Most visitors only gaze at the entrance before making the wiser decision to take the stairs outside (newly built for tourists to get to the top safely) rather than testing their courage in the Andheri.

The Andheri is filled with twisting stairs that are uneven. Some are only small enough to keep half your foot and while you think it continues like that for the next flight of stairs, the very next step you take would be two steps down, causing you to fall. While there are lights and handrails to guide you, this passageway is a nightmare come alive to whoever decides to go in alone.

There are cases of tourists falling (without injuries by luck) while making their way down this path. Thanks to the railings, you’ll be guided to the exit without much directional needs. Make sure not to venture away from this railing, as there are trap doors, and oxygen deprived rooms snuck into the place.

This is how the soldiers never ceased the palace back in the medieval times. As they would fall into the moat below or get trapped in a dark room until they were choked without oxygen. If they would make their way to the top, they would be too exhausted to fight.

While today, you can follow the safer path to the view top with the outside stairs in broad daylight, you can still miss a turn when coming down and venture into the Andheri without knowing. So be extra careful and vigilant when exploring the fort.

Though it might sound a bit nerve-wrecking, experiencing the Andheri is one of the most recommended things to see in Aurangabad.

View From The Top

Once you’ve accomplished climbing the 600 and more steps with legs feeling like Jell-O, you’ll be rewarded with the views of the fort stretching for miles. This shows the layout of the fort’s defense systems and the city it surrounded while being covered in dense green (depending on the season you visit).

While the view isn’t particularly unique, the layout of the fort shows you how the kings of that time thought so broadly about its defense. And once you make it all the way to the top, you’ll find yourself feeling like you’ve conquered a fort that was otherwise impenetrable.