LOCATION

In southern Delhi, on the Badarpur–Mehrauli Road, to the north of Asola greens

and Dr Karni Singh Shooting range, rise the ruins of the Tughlaqabad fort. The site
still affords a glimpse of a pre-gunpowder era medieval fort and the city it
enclosed, since it is still modestly well preserved. 

ORIGIN AND INFLUENCE

There is a saying that Ghiyas-ud-din Tughlaq advised his Sultan, Mubarak Khalji
to build a fortified city on this spot. Building a medieval city was a costly
proposition and Mubarak Khalji did not want to do so. He is said to have jokingly
replied to Tughlaq to build a fort when he (Tughlaq) were to become the sultan.
Tughlaq did become the sultan towards the end of 1320 CE and he did build a
fortified city at the spot known as Tughlaqabad.

PHYSIOGRAPHIC CHARACTERISTICS
It was built on a local high ground on a terrain that slopes gently from west to east.
It is surmised that a small stream (which may not have run throughout the year) ran
from west to east passing to the immediate south of this high ground, and to the
north of storm-water drains flowing eastwards. This made the approach to this
relatively high ground from south and north somewhat difficult. In addition, there
were low hills at a short distance to its south. This terrain made it possible to build
a dam, stretching from this local height to the hills to its south, to trap the waters
of the stream flowing from west to east and convert it into a lake. Even if the lake
shrank into a shallow marsh in summer, it represented an obstacle from south to
this local high ground. It was this aspect that caught the eye of Tughlaq
POWER & POLITICS/ADMINISTRATIVE BODY
The city was dreamed by Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq, but he could never witness the completion of
the fort, as he was murdered by his own son Mohammed bin Tughlaq, in 1325 at Kara, Uttar
Pradesh, when the emperor was returning from a military campaign in faraway Bengal.

Thus, Ghiyasuddin could never return to Delhi.

SOCIO CULTURAL
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ECONOMIC
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TECHNOLOGY
 As a pre-gunpowder era fort, it was defended by high walls with the  the
walls getti ng progressively higher from the city defences to the defences of
the functional palace area with the highest and strongest walls defending
the citadel
 The fortification consisted of straight secti ons called curtains with semi-
circular bastions jutti ng out at intervals designed to enfilade any attacker
and provide better observati on points. 
  The walls needed to be stronger at the base than at the top and yet be
plumb straight from the interior. To provide for such walls, the exterior is
sloped or has a batter.
 It has the characteristics of a fort entrance. It is placed between two
fl anking bastions and provides for no straight entry, in the sense, that the
way in turns at right angles to the left .

TOWN PLANNING PRINCIPLES

The perimeters of the fort stretch over 6 km, and had 52 gates at one time, of which only 13 currently
remain. It also had seven rainwater tanks, which are in a decrepit state today. However, the massively
fortified perimeter of the fort, with rubble-filled city walls, is witness to the grandeur of a bygone era.
The fort is divided into three parts:
1) the wider city area with houses built along a rectangular grid between its gates
2) the citadel with a tower at its highest point known as Bijai Mandal and the remains of several halls
and a long underground passage. On the western side is a Baoli ( water reservoir)
3) the adjacent palace area containing the royal residences. A long underground passage below the
tower still remains.

BUILDING TYPE
City -
 - has rectangular grids
- Built for city pepole to live
Functi onal palace area –
- there are the remains of a rectangular baoli and a well which served as a
provision for water. These are located near the south gate.

- it shares it west and south boundaries with outside

- it has a higher boundary wall than the city
Citadel –
To the east of the palace lies the smallest part of the fort, the citadel.
It is the most strongly defended part of the fort.
On its west lay the palace, north lay the city and to its east and south was
the lake. 
From the palace it was defended by high walls with a broad defensive ditch
in front of them.
Points of interest in the citadel are a mosque, a tank, palace walls, two
escape passages one in the southern wall and one in the eastern wall, silos
near the entry gate, the citadel’s defences, in its centre the highest part of
the fort, Bijay Mandal or Badi Manzil and to its east running on a north-
south axis a set of underground chambers or teh-khanas.
There are ruins of residential buildings as well but it is not clear whether
they belong to the Tughlaq era or to a later squatter populati on. In fact
even the mosque could belong to a later squatter era.
The citadel is the only part of the fort which has three ti ers of defences. Its
walls are appreciably higher than those of the palace area, whose walls
themselves are higher than those defending the city.  

ADILABAD FORT
The bund which dammed the stream to form a lake on the southern side of the
fortifi cati on had to be defended. Otherwise, any attacker could breach the bund
and drain the lake thereby depriving the fort of its southern obstacle defence. The
bund is actually defended on its northern fl ank by the Tughlaqabad fortifi cati on,
and the southern fl ank by another forti ficati on known today as Adilabad. These
two forti fications are joined by a fort wall which defends it from the east.  

TOMB OF GHIYASUDIN TUGHLAQ

It seems that there were areas south of the high ground that were above the
water line. One of these, probably a pentangular outcrop, was less than 200
metres from the high ground. If an enemy were to get a lodgement here, it would

prejudice the security of a fort built on the high

ground. To prevent that, a subsidiary pentangular fortifi cati on was built here
connected to the main fortification by a causeway. Later, he was buried in a red
sandstone tomb with a marble dome inside this pentangular fortifi cati on.

MAP MARKED ACCOUNDING TO OBSERVATIONS