City or fort
Bathinda · Qila Mubarak
ਬਠਿੰਡਾقلعہ مبارک
One of the oldest forts in India, where Razia Sultan was imprisoned in 1240. Later held by the Patiala state.
Bathinda, in the dry south of the Malwa, has one of the oldest forts in India, the Qila Mubarak, with brick walls over thirty metres high, rebuilt many times since the early centuries CE.
In 1240 Razia Sultan, the only woman to rule the Delhi Sultanate, was imprisoned here. Guru Gobind Singh is said to have visited, and the fort holds a gurdwara. In the eighteenth century it was taken by the Phulkian chiefs and became part of Patiala.
Bathinda is now an industrial city, with a thermal power plant and an oil refinery.
