Maharashtra's Daulatabad Fort to be known as Deogiri Fort

The Daulatabad Fort is located in the Aurangabad district and is one of the finest forts in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra

The Daulatabad Fort, located in Aurangabad district, would be renamed as Deogiri Fort even as Aurangabad has been renamed as Sambhaji Nagar.

The Daulatabad Fort, also known as Devagiri or Deogiri, is located in the Aurangabad district and is one of the finest forts in the Marathwada region of Maharashtra and is impregnable by military standards.

"In the earlier days, the fort used to be known as Deogiri Killa, but people started referring to it as Daulatabad Fort. But we have now decided to name it as Deogiri Killa," Tourism Minister Mangal Prabhat Lodha said on the occasion of Marathwada Mukti Sangram Din.

It used to be known as Deogiri, meaning 'Hill of Gods', but it was changed to Daulatabad which means 'The Abode of Wealth'. The town was part of the caravan routes in the sixth century.

The fort, in fact, had changed hands several times. In a period of nearly 1,000 years, those who ruled it went on improving or modifying it to include a dark passage, multi-layered fortification and strategically-placed cannons. According to historical records, Daulatabad was founded by the Yadavas of Deogiri in the 11th century under king Bhilamma V, who led a victorious campaign against the Hoysalas, Paramaras and Chalukyas of Kalyani.

During the rule of Ramachandradeva, son of Krishna, Ala-ud-din Khilji marched to Deogiri in 1296 AD and captured it. However, Ramachandradeva was allowed to rule as a vassal till Malik Kafur led two campaigns against Ramachandradeva and his son Shankardeva in 1306-07 AD and 1312 AD respectively. Shankardeva was killed during the second campaign. Harapaladeva was placed on the throne by Malik Kafur, the slave-general who later ascertained his independence.

This led to another successful campaign against Deogiri by Qutb-ud-din Mubarak Shah Khilji and the fort was annexed to the Delhi Sultanate yet again.

After that, Muhammad-bin-Tughlaq succeeded the Khiljis at Delhi Sultanate. He renamed Deogiri as Daulatabad and seeing the fort, he shifted the capital from Delhi in 1328 AD but various issues prompted him to go back to Delhi and rule from there.

Thereafter, it passed on into the hands of Bahamani rulers under Hasan Gangu in 1347 AD and Nizam Shahis of Ahmednagar in 1499 AD. Daulatabad became the capital of the Nizam Shah dynasty in 1607 AD.

The Mughals led several campaigns during the rule of Akbar and Shah Jahan and only during the latter’s period, the area was fully captured -- in 1633 AD -- after a long siege of four months.

The Mughals seized power and Aurangazeb was placed as the Viceroy of Deccan who led his campaigns to Bijapur and Golconda from Daulatabad. Briefly, it came under the control of Marathas.

Thus, the Daulatabad fort passed several hands, captured and recaptured by the Mughals, the Marathas and the Peshwas. It was finally placed under the control of the Nizams of Hyderabad in 1724 AD and was under their control till Independence.