Bidar fort is considered to have been built during the reign of the Western Chalukya dynasty which was established in 977 AD at Kalyani. Subsequently, it was captured by the Yadava dynasty of Devagiri and fell yet again, to the Kakatiyas of Warangal. Architectural relics of the Hindu period, such as the shrine to Goddess Bhawani and the Vira Sangayya temple, can still be seen in the fort.
While the exact layout of the old fort, with it's double lines of defensive fortifications, is no longer discernible, folklore suggests that it was located in the western portion of the fort's present day extent, from the Takht Mahal to the Kalmadgi gate and the promontory on which Virasangayya's temple was built, with the old water tank at the base of its walls. This is confirmed in historical record in Tarikh-i Firishta, by the Persian scholar, Firishta (1560-1620 CE) which states that the Government House or Darul Imara, today known as Takht Mahal, was built on the site of the old fort.
The old fort of Bidar was captured in 1321-22 AD by Prince Ulugh Khan of the Tughlaq dynasty, who later on became Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq of Delhi.
With the establishment of the Bahmani Sultanate (1347), Bidar was occupied by Sultan Ala-ud-Din Bahman Shah. During the rule of Ahmad Shah I(1422–1486), Bidar was made the capital city of Bahmani Kingdom. Under Ahmed Shah's rule, the old Fort was rebuilt, and beautiful madrasas, mosques, palaces and gardens were raised. Firishta records that the reconstruction began in 1429 CE and ended in 1432 CE. As gunpowder had not yet been introduced into peninsular India, long and winding fort walls were constructed out of stone and mortar by Persian and Turkish architects, the stone being provided from the moat, which was excavated by Hindu masons.
Bidar fort was captured by the independent Bijapur Sultanate in 1619–20 but fell to then Mughal viceroy Aurangzeb in 1657, and was formally absorbed by the Mughal Empire in 1686. In 1724, Bidar became a part of the Asaf Jahi Kingdom of the Nizams. Nawab Mir Sa'id Muhammad Khan Siddiqi ( also known as Salabath Jung ), who was the third son of Asaf Jah I ( the first Nizam of the dynasty), ruled from Bidar fort from 1751 to 1762 till his brother Mir Nizam Ali Khan Siddiqi, also known as Asaf Jah II, imprisoned him and later killed him in the fort on 16 September 1763. The old name of Bidar, Mohammedabad, refers to the rule of Salabath Jung. In 1956, when the state of Hyderabad was partitioned, Bidar fort became part of the newly formed Mysore state (now Karnataka).(wiki)
