Bijapur is a city of domes. Wherever I went in the city, there was always a dome in sight. The most illustrious dome is of course Gol Gumbaz that stands proudly at one end of the city. Being the second largest dome in the world it invokes quite a bit of curiosity. We reached Bijapur or Vijaipura as it is now called early morning and as luck would have it – our hotel was right next to Gol Gumbaz. While checking in, I was trying to get hold of a city map and the manager pointed out the futility of it as said Gol Gumbaz is 2 mins walks – just across. So after a quick breakfast, we walked to the big dome. Bijapur, thankfully is still a horizontal city than a vertical one, so the domes stand out in the middle of big and small settlements.
We could see the dome as soon as we started walking but the tall walls prevented the view later as we walked right next to it. City was still waking up and the sun has just started rising on the horizon. At the entry gate, my eyes got the full view of the dome for the first time. Two rows of trees were still trying hard to hide the structure behind them, but the dome is too high to let them do it meaningfully. We buy the tickets, go through the demanding guides who tell us what is the use of seeing a monument without a guide and finally reach a little closer to the Gol Gumbaz. Now it is the Naqqarkhana turned museum that is blocking the view and coming between the Gol Gumbaz and me. Little did the architect of 17thCE know that one-day travelers with cameras would come and the Naqqarkhana would not let them have wide-angle pictures? With a sigh, skirted the yet to open museum and proceeded on the other side to get a full view of the main monument. It was a very simple yet immensely elegant building with minimal ornamentation and four minars or towers stuck on four corners. At first look, they looked like the deepstambh or the lamp towers that you find in the temples of Maharashtra and Goa. The arched openings at each floor look amazing from ground and give exclusive views of the city when you are climbing them up.
Entered the monument to hear the chirping of birds and to feel the empty space with a few tombs at the very bottom. You have to look up as much as your neck permits to see the dome from inside. Interiors are rather plain, unlike some of the domes in Delhi that are painted. Engineering wise it is a feat that most engineers would be proud to have on their resume, a free standing dome – standing tall for more than three and half centuries. The best place to read the vital statistics of Gol Gumbazis on the ASI website. Soon we started hearing whistles and shouts from the whispering gallery on top – that looks like a small railing from the bottom. After appreciating the carved wooden frame on top of the Adil Shah’s grave. We moved towards the right front minar to go on top.
You need lot of physical endurance to climb the narrow, steep and winding stairs of the Gol Gumbaz. Thankfully after every storey, there is a platform where you can regain your normal breathing and also appreciate the top view of the city from the arches on the hexagon of the minar. What is interesting is that each arch offers a unique view and the view of adjacent arches have no overlap. As you keep going up the city keeps expanding before your eyes and by the time you reach the top you can see most of it. A guide on top showed me all the monuments I had in my list to see in Bijapur, most of them identified by – what else – their domes. You can also see the Bijapur fort walls around the Gol Gumbaz – probably the only place where you can see them with a perspective. Parakeets are flying all around adding a bit of color to otherwise drab walls.
We entered the whispering gallery through an opening in one of the lotus petals carved around the dome. There is a small circular gallery that you can go around and see the monument top down. The acoustics of this gallery are well know – the slightest sound said to the walls can be heard across the dome and the shouts and shrills reverberate many times – some say up to 35+ times. However once the crowd builds up, it is impossible to count them. You can hear the sound as clearly outside the dome as inside. I was wondering – it is a tomb, where a dead family rests. Why would they build these acoustics – what was the purpose or it happens by default inside domes?
We came down and walked towards the museum that was now open. There are a couple of notable pieces in this museum that is spread on two storeys – one is a intricately carved door of a temple and another is a Vijay Stambh or victory pillar from Mahakoota temple in Aihole. Other displays are nice too but it is a small museum and you do not need to spend too much time here. There is also a mosque on the western side of the monument that is quite dwarfed by the height of Gol Gumbaz.
After a quick tea at a canteen inside the Gol Gumbaz campus we walked around the lawns to meet many excavated pillars and carved stone idols lying around. We walked around the horse stables to come back to the gate to be pounded by Tonga wallahs who competed with each other to plan the rest of the itinerary for us. My camera and cap increased the rates quoted by multi-fold.
We came back in the evening to see if the monument is lit up as we had seen many flood lights all around it. But it was not. Incidentally an ASI officer was standing there he blatantly refused that monument can be lit or was ever lit. When I asked him about the flood lights – he just walked away.
You need good 3-4 hours to see Gol Gumbaz, unless you choose not climb to the top in which case you can do it in less than an hour.
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