Balapur Fort

The Mughal fortress of Balapur stands in the town of that name, Akola district, at the junction of the Man and Bhains rivers. Work was begun by Mirza Azam Shah, son of Aurangzeb, who is said to have lived here, and completed in 1757 by Ismaeel Khan, Nawab of Elichpur. In 1616 the subedar of Berar, Shah Nawaz Khan, was camped at Balapur when Malik Ambar attacked him near Kirkee, and under the Treaty of Purandar the Balapur pargana was granted as a jagir in the name of Sambhaji.

Nearby stands Raja Man Singh I's chhatri, a canopied pavilion measuring 25 feet square and rising 33 feet built by Mirza Raja Jaisingh when he was governor of the Deccan. A great flood more than a century ago badly damaged its foundations, which were repaired with Rs 3,000 sent from Jaipur. The town also has the Raozah Masjid, a later Mughal mosque dated 1737 by a finely carved inscription.