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THE ORIENTAL ANNUAL. 
This famous fortress is of a date so remote, that 
native antiquaries, when inquired of concerning it, 
content themselves by asserting that it has existed 
from the beginning. Certain it is, that long before 
the Kootab Shahi dynasty, it was the capital of the 
Bhamani empire, and for hundreds of years prior to 
that period was the seat of government under the 
primeval Hindoo princes. Until the introduction of 
European modes of warfare in India, the fortress had 
been deemed impregnable. It is situate upon an 
isolated rocky hill, and is defended by a succession 
of intricate lines of fortification, rising one over the 
other, upon the northern and eastern faces ; the 
other sides are inaccessible to troops. At the base 
of the hill, an enormous advanced work, enclosing a 
space seven miles in circumference, occupies all the 
practicable ground. This work consists of a high 
and strong wall, furnished at the angles with bastions 
and towers, and surrounded by a dry ditch of ample 
dimensions ; it is, however, too extensive to be de- 
fended except by a large army. Its palaces and 
mosques are now fast falling to decay ; but the 
massive and yet elegant mausoleums of its former 
kings and princes appear likely to transmit the fame 
of its bygone might to many a future generation. 
There is one small solid structure about half way 
between Hydrabad and Golkonda, which, about 
a. d. 1540, was raised to the memory of one Mool- 
lana Mohummed, who immortalised himself by 
