Standing beside a 'kachi kabr'
a tomb where the earth is still wet, as is prescribed in the Quran, you feel
what was it that makes someone renounce all the wealth and leave behind a
non-descript grave for generations to come and wonder! For a man preceded by an
opulent lineage, who ruled for almost five decades and had wealth and power
beyond the wildest imagination, this would have been difficult I assume or may
be the most easiest because he had no ego. His last wish , to be buried at the
feet of his guru, the last of the Chisti clan
and so he lies in peace at the foot of his guru.
When I first heard about the Tomb, rather the Kabr, I was astonished, coz I never
thought about it, as it was not too often mentioned. And when I finally saw it
here at a non-descript corner of the world, absolutely bare, I was very
intrigued. Taj Mahal was built at a cost of 3Cr rupees and all the other tombs
and mausoleums built by loving husbands and wives that
exude opulence is a stark contrast to this one; this was built with a mere
14 rupees;
It is said Aurangazeb was a gifted calligrapher,
he made copies if the Quran and sold anonymously, he also knitted prayer caps
and all that was used for his grave was the revenue he made from the sale of
the caps; the 350 rupees from the sale of the Quran was distributes among the
poor; some of the surviving copies of his hand written Quran are supposed to be
in Mecca, Madina, HAzrat Nizamuddin Aulia's tomb in Delhi and in a
few museums. One of the unique thing about this place is that it also has a
piece of cloth, believed to be of the Paigamber Mohammed himself. This is
displayed once every year.
Aurangzeb in our text books is a fanatic, ruthless,
treacherous and intolerant ruler. But what really drove him to this extreme is
what intrigues me; either he was an extremist and he followed the
holy book to the T or it was his penance, but whatever it is, it has left quite
an impression about the man on my mind.
That was the zing of History and as a diehard
history junkie, thought will start my post with what I was influenced the most.
Now for the road trip, I have now come to believe that there is always a
special season for a special place and luckily most of these are off season for
tourist and therefore the best trips in terms of deals and also the places
being relatively chaos free.
Monsoons in India are not a favorite travel
time for most Indian travelers, coz th
I have also concluded that irrespective of the
enormous risks of the monsoon, the western parts of the country, specially the Konkan
coast and places in Maharashtra-Andhra-Karnataka-Kerala are a delight both
in terms of perfect temperature and green-scenery; its so much green everywhere
that the eyes start aching after some time.
The road trip we took was approximately 400+kms
and we did it from Pune; You can also fly into Aurangabad or travel in from
Nasik or Mumbai; But the road between Pune-Aurangabad I thought was very
scenic, better laid and four lane; Its about 235 Kms and takes a good 4 hrs,
but no one is complaining as the views keep you quite engaged. And if you are a
wretched soul from the northern part of the country, I bet for once you would
want to renounce everything and not want to come back!
In Aurngabad city, there is the Bibi Ka
Makbara, referred as the mini Taj Mahal; Built by Aurangazeb's son in memory of
his mother; It’s also the city of gates, 13 of the original 54 have
survived the test of time and you will see them everywhere. Apart from a
whole lot of 
A little ahead is the Daulatabad fort (this is
where the initial portion of the Allah Jane song from Teri Meri Kahani was
shot) with the dark passage and some real heavy duty cannons on display; You can check out the old coins ( i am assuming all duplicates); the hawkers sell them all over this region and you can drive home a hard bargain.
Further up there is a quaint village called
Khultabad, where Aurangazeb lies at the feet of his mentor.
About 15 kms ahead are the famous Ellora caves
and further on are the Ajanta caves; Honestly, after the initial enthusiasm, I
was quite bored; the irritating and noisy tourists and the stink of the caves
really got on to me by the time I was past the 2nd set of caves.
So if you are a history junkie and a road
person or a road person who likes to explore history, it’s a must do
circuit.
You can find more info in the link below
