Sultan Muhammad Qutb Shah, who had ascended the throne in 1611, wanted to shift the location of his palace and fort far away from Golconda and then Hyderabad which was centred around Charminar, and he started building a new fortress.

[2] The area selected was at Saroornagar which was about 6 miles (9.7 km) east of then Hyderabad.

[3] By 1620 work was in full swing for the new fortress which the king named after himself as Sultan Nagar.

Sultan Muhammad Quli died suddenly in 1625 leaving behind his wife Hayat Bakshi Begum who was still very young and a toddler Abdullah Qutb Shah who would later become the seventh ruler of Golconda.

Hayat Bakshi felt that the sudden death of the king at an age of around 32 years was an ill omen and decided to abandon the construction of the new fort.