GOLCONDA, a strong fortress of Hindustan, situated on a hill about six miles west-north-west from Hyderabad, strongly defended both by nature and art, but being situated on a rock, is excessively hot and unhealthy. The principal inhabitants and bankers of Hyderabad are permitted to reside in this fort, to which they retire with their property on any alarm. It was once the capital of an extensive kingdom of native Hindu princes, and afterwards a principal division of the Bhamencee sovereignty, on the fall
of which it again became the seat of a monarchy under the Gatab Shahee dynasty. It was taken by Aurungzebe by treachery in 1687, after a siege of seven months. In its vicinity are numerous handsome tombs.