Golkonda

GOLKONDA, ancient city and fortress in India, part of the Nizam’s possessions, 1O kil. (6.25 miles) N.-W. of Hyderabad. The fortress is used today as a prison and a place where to store the treasure. Approximately 600 m. (656 yards) away from this fortress stand the splendid mausoleums of former kings of Golkonda. Each mausoleum stands at the center of a vast quadrangular platform which can be reached on any side by a granite staircase. These monuments are almost entirely built of gray stone, decorated with stucco and hindu porcelain, whose colours have retained their original brightness. Golkonda was formerly famous for the quantity and the quality of diamond produced in its surroundings. It was, for a long time, the capital of a kingdom which bore its name and that was formed at the fall of the Bahmani empire; it was later taken over by Aurangzeb and attached to Delhi.

Extract from the Trousset encyclopedia, 1886 – 1891.