"A land without ruins is a land without memories. A land without memories is a land without history"-Abram Joseph Ryan
As the name suggests once upon a time Sat Manjil stood tallest in the citadel with seven-storeys. What we see today is hardly four floors, barely holding together. We were told few government offices occupy the palace now. There was no entry into the building. We circled around the property to no avail. There was a sacred fig tree nearby where we sat observing the one of the tallest buildings of Bijapura of bygone era.
Built in 1583 during the regime of Ibrhaim Adil Shah II as a pleasure pavilion. Prostitution may be legal back then. We do not have any information for this claim. However, having seen Sule Bazaar (Courtesan Street) in Hampi of Vijayanagara dynasty, it was only rationale to compare the two considering the timeline. Once known for stucco work and paintings now the building is in total dilapidated state. If timely action is not taken by the ASI there would not be any floor standing, forget the seven.
"Stone upon stone, a palace"-George Bernard Shaw
The stones are scattered, a palace gone. It is true for Gagan Mahal in Bijapura. The literal meaning is sky palace. It was built in 1561 during the reign of Ali Adil Shah I as royal residence with darbal hall. Three arches, wider centrally and narrow adjacently welcomes you to the ground floor which was supposed to be the darbal hall. The noble quarters were situated on the first floor. Unfortunately most of them are in ruins now. There is a beautiful garden in front of this structure. People were picnicking on the well-maintained lawn, mostly local. Several kids were enthusiastic to see us and volunteered to be photographed. They followed us asking various questions. We sheepishly admit they treated us like royals. Their version might be different than us. They might as well looked at us like specimens of interest.
History: Aurangzeb had his eyes on Bijapur for the longest time. However, his plans were halted due to a peace treaty between his father Shah Jahan and Adil Shahi dynasty with the help of Dara Shikoh in 1637. So, during the seize of Bijapur Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb personally arrived to establish the victory in 1686. The seize was the prolonged military undertaking lasting about 15 months from March 1685 to September 1686. The boy-king Sikandar Adil Shah of Bijapur who refused to be the vassal of Mughal Empire was brought in front of Auragzeb sitting on the Bijapur throne (pardon our GOT hangover) in Gagan Mahal. Shackled in silver chains Sikandar bowed three times to Mughal Empire and was sent to a prison in Daulatabad Fort where he eventually died.
Thus the almost two century old monarchy of Adil Shahi came to an end that ruled Bijapura from 1490 to 1686.
Nearby Attractions: Gol Gumbaz, Ibrahim Rouza, Saat Kabar, Bara Kaman, Navarasa Mahal, Malik-E-Maidan, Upli Burj, Jama Mosque, Mehtar Mahal and Taj Bawdi, Shivagiri
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