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14
MODERN HYDERABAD.

history of the fort and the records of its great strength and vastness.

At Raichur I saw the fort built in 1294 by the Hindu minister of a Hindu raja, and I was told that a huge stone, 42 ft. by 3 ft., which forms a portion of the inner wall, and on which the date of the building is written, was placed in position by a woman. Here, as at the fort of Warangal, huge stones were laid one above another, and no cement was used; and looking at the walls, I said to myself, "These Hindu builders must have been giants!"

Of the fort at Gulbarga nothing remains to-day but a fragment of the ancient citadel; but the enormous strength of this ruin impresses the visitor, as do also the ruined forts at Mudgal, Naldrug, and other places.

And while travelling over the State, the garhis, or walled villages, cannot fail to arrest attention, speaking as they do of the unsettled condition of Hyderabad until about one hundred years ago.

The Muhamadan Invasion.—Returning to Daulatabad I was greatly interested in the history of Mahammad bin Tughlak, the sultan of Delhi, who tried to move his capital there in 1339 a.d. I read that the people