Aurangabad with Daulatabad, Khuldabad and Ahmadnagar

This guidebook focuses on four cities and sites in Maharashtra of exceptional historical importance and architectural interest. While Aurangabad is well known as a convenient base from which to reach the celebrated cave-temples at Ajanta and Ellora, the citys tombs and mosques are hardly ever visited. Many of these were built during the 17th century, when the city served as the second capital of the Mughal Empire, taking its name from the emperor Aurangzeb who spent many years here. A short distance from Aurangabad is Daulatabad. This citadel is dominated by a rugged basalt hill, the sides of which have been artificially scooped into vertical faces, beneath which are situated a number of palaces and mosques dating back to the 13th-14th centuries. The nearby small walled town of Khuldabad is celebrated for its holy Sufi shrines, inside one of which Aurangzeb himself is buried. The city of Ahmadnagar, a day trip from Aurangabad, was capital of the Nizam Shahi sultans in the 16th century. From their era date a number of impressive mosques, tombs and palaces, also well worth visiting. All these buildings and more are described and profusely illustrated in this guidebook, the first ever published for this region.