April 12, 2018

My TripAdvisor Review No.306: Chitradurga Fort, Karnataka.

Picturesque Fort.

This amazing stone fort located in the town and district by the same name, in the state of Karnataka, was originally called Chitrakaldurga, which means picturesque fort in Kannada language. It is about 200 km north of Bengaluru city on the National Highway No.48, which connects with Pune.

The fort is laid out in a series of seven concentric fortification walls with interconnecting passages. There are many warehouses for grains and oil, interconnecting tanks to harvest rain water, many temples and one masjid. The fort was built in stages between the 11th and 13th centuries CE, by the dynastic rulers at that time including the Chalukyas, the Hoysalas and the Nayaks of Chitradurga. The fort was taken over by Hyder Ali in 1779, and captured by the British 20 years later when they defeated his son Tipu Sultan.

We stayed overnight at Hotel Mayura Yatrinawas and visited the fort early next morning. The gates are open from 6 am to 6 pm and there is a token entry fee of Rs.15. There are no charges for still camera. Guides are available for around Rs.300, but not really necessary because there are boards, put up by the ASI, near the monuments with interesting details about each monument.

We had a lot of walking and climbing to do, as we ascended to the higher reaches of the fort, which is spread out over 1500 acres of hilly and rocky terrain. The huge blocks of granite which make up the ramparts blended well with the boulder strewn landscape, and reminded us of the terrain of the Hampi heritage site, with its monuments and temples in the midst of huge rocks and boulders.

We visited the Ganesh temple, the Hidimbeshwara temple, the ‘Onake Obavva Kindi’, the granaries, and the water and oil tanks. It is said that the fort never faced any water shortages because of its unique rain water harvesting tanks.

Hyder Ali besieged the Chitradurga Fort thrice between 1760 and 1779. Obavva, the wife of a soldier guarding the fort, was substituting her husband during a lunch break, on one such attack. She heard some attackers trying to infiltrate through a crevice in the fort, and hiding behind the crevice hit and killed many of Hyder’s soldiers with an Onake (pestle). Her heroics have made her a legend in the folklore of Karnataka state, and there is a statue commemorating her bravery in Chitradurga town.

We had only about 3 hours to explore the fort and so we did not attempt to climb the surrounding hills and battlements. But I can definitely say that there is much more to see here. A history or archaeology buff can easily spend the whole day at Chitradurga Fort, especially if he also likes rock climbing. It is also a landscape photographer’s delight.
This review is the subjective opinion of a TripAdvisor member and not of TripAdvisor LLC

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