The Fortress of Adilabad lies on the south-eastern part of Tughlaqabad on the Mehrauli-Badarpur road in Delhi and was built a few years later connected to Tughlaqabad Fort via a kilometre long causeway. This fort was constructed by Sultan Muhammed Bin Tughlaq, son of Sultan Ghiyaas-Ud-Din Tughlaq that was designed to imitate the fort of Tughlaq and depicts ancient architecture of huge sloping walls with bare surface, crenulations and a corbelled archway which is nothing in comparison with the grandeur of the Tughlaqabad Fort and is a smaller version of it.

Historically, Muhammed Bin Tughlaq was also very fond of beautiful forts and spent most of his time planning the layout of his new found city named ‘Tughlaqabad’. Like his father, he continued the construction of this fort and later extended his city over huge acres of land smeared in abundant greenery and enclosing the space that was left unused by the previous ruler Alla-ud-din Khilji of the Khilji dynasty lying between ‘Siri Fort’, ‘Tughlaqabad City and the Qutb Complex in Mehrauli in Delhi that formed the new ‘Jahan Panah’ city of the Sultan and his dynasty.

The Fourth city of the Sultan unfortunately did not materialise due to his erratic decision of shifting the Turkic Empire from Delhi to Daulatabad that lies in the Deccan region of India forcing all administrative offices along with his people to move along. This new capital was found lacking many amenities for a normal population to survive and hence, upon realisation, after two years, the Sultan shifted his capital back to Delhi in Tughlaqabad but unfortunately lost most of his people on the way back due to lack of travel necessities and food arrangements which caused a great deal of to his kingdom and eventually collapsed. Even today many still wonder what made him take such a drastic step as he was known for his scholarly aptitude and even introduced coins during his reign because of this one decision, he is also still known as one of the most unconventional and controversial Ruler of India and sometimes called as the ‘Mad King’ by locals.

The Adilabad Fort took shape as a very small fort compared to the majestic Fort of Tughlaqabad and slowly took shape when fortified walls were built to protect the city and its people from untoward attacks. Upon completion of the massive walls, a citadel Palace was constructed that housed the Royal Family of the Turkic dynasty and Royal Courtiers along with a few Administrative Halls.

The Adilabad Fort houses the legendary ‘Palace of a thousand Pillars’ or ‘Qasrr-i-Hazaar Satun’ in Urdu language making it one of the best sites to visit. The idea to create a masterpiece structure was very popular during that era and is seen in many places including the famous Tombs like the ‘Taj Mahal’ to name one. Today, one can only get a glimpse of its ruined walls and gravels of a fragmented structure in complete ruins which made it a very inviting and popular tourist site.

Tourist can reach this site via cars, Buses and Auto Rickshaws. Entry into this site is free of cost and opened to public viewing from 0930 hours to 1800 hours daily.