Chitradurga Fort: Palace of Stones

Chitradurga Fort (derives its name from Chitrakaldurga), or as the British call it Chitaldoorg, straddles several hills and a peak overlooking a flat valley in the Chitradurga District, Karnataka, India. The fort's name Chitrakaldurga, which means 'picturesque fort' in Kannada, is the namesake of the town Chitradurga and its administrative district.

The Fort was built in stages between the tenth and eighteenth centuries by the dynastic rulers of the region, including the Rashtrakutas, Chalukyas and Hoysalas as well as the Nayakas of Chitradurga, feudal lords in the Vijayanagar Empire. The Nayakas of Chitradurga or Paleygars (also called little Kings), were most responsible for the expansion of the fort between the 15th century and 18th century. They were defeated by Hyder Ali at Chitradurga in 1779 AD. Later the fort was expanded and strengthened by Hyder Ali and his son Tippu Sultan, who succeeded Madakari Nayaka V, the last ruler of the Nayaka clan. The fort is built in a series of seven concentric fortification walls with various passages, a citadel, masjid, warehouses for grains and oil, water reservoirs and ancient temples. There are 18 temples in the upper fort and one huge temple in the lower fort. Among these temples the oldest and most interesting is the Hidimbeshwara temple. The masjid was an addition during Hyder Ali’s rule.

It is also locally known as “Kallina Kote” or Stone Fortress, which is also formed of two Kannada words ‘Kallina’: “Stone” and Kote:“Fort”. Other names used in Kannada are ‘Ukkina Kote”: “Steel Fort” (euphemistically used to mean an impregnable fort) and ‘Yelusuttina Kote’: “Seven circles fort”.

Seven hills constitute the Chinmuladri range; the seven circles of the fort enclose these hills. In fact, the hills on which major part of the fort and the city rest belong to the oldest rock of granitic formation in the country. The highest hill peak of the area is located at Jogi Matti, 5 km (3.1 mi) to the south of Chitradurga. The highest elevation of the hills at the fort is 976 m (3,202.1 ft). The area covered by the fort is reported to be 1,500 acres (607.0 ha).

Bharamappa Nayaka who ruled from 1689 till 1722 is regarded as the greatest of the Nayaka rulers famed for building forts, palaces, tanks and temples, including several gateways and bastions. He fought valiant battles against the Mughals.

But it was during the reign of Madakari Nayaka V (1758 to 1779) that the city of Chitradurga and the fort were besieged by the troops of Hyder Ali. Madakari Nayaka used the fort effectively for defense during three battles that were fought against Hyder Ali. At times he had allied himself with Hyder Ali of Mysore Kingdom and at other times with the Marathas. But Hyder Ali attacked the Chitradurga Fort first time in 1760, the second time in 1770 and the third time successfully in 1779 when he defeated Madakari Nayaka, took him a prisoner and also killed him. Nayaka's gamble of playing with both Hyder Ali and the Marathas did not work out. He was betrayed by the Marathas and some local Muhammadan officers in his service.

It was during one such war that the heroics of Onake Obavva, the wife of a soldier guarding the fort became a legendary event. Heroic deeds of a woman named Obavva, wife of a soldier called Kalanayak guarding a fort tower, who for a while substituted for her husband during a lunch break at a crack opening, a secret opening (where only one person could barely squeeze through) in the Chitradurga Fort, have entered the annals of legendary lore of the Karnataka State. While fetching water, she heard the muted sounds of enemy soldiers attempting to enter the fort. With great presence of mind she immediately hid behind the crevice in the fort and hit at each soldier trying to squeeze through the crevice with Onake, the name given in Kannada to a masse or pestle, a wooden rod used for pounding paddy. In this process, she bravely killed several enemy soldiers, one by one without any hubbub. By the time her husband appeared on the scene, she had already dragged several bodies of dead soldiers into the fort wall and was standing around the dead bodies with the blood stained Onake in her hand. Kalanayak blew the bugle when other soldiers also joined him and killed all the enemy soldiers. This brave act saved the fort on that day from further attacks by Hyder Ali’s soldiers. Her heroic act has been commemorated with her impressive statue (sculpted by Ashok Gudigar) erected in front of the District Commissioner’s office in Chittradurga town. The stadium in the town has also been named after her. This act also earned her the epithet Onake Obavva and the crevice in the fort where she showed her bravery is called Onake Kindi (This crevice or kindi can be seen in the picture in the External link). However, in the battle for the fort, Madakari Nayaka V lost and Chitradurga fort eventually fell to Hyder Ali, in 1779. The fort, thus stands as a tribute to the Nayakas who ruled this part of Karnataka.

Folk legend links the hills surrounding the fort to the epic Mahabharata. It is said that a man–eating giant named Hidimbasura lived on the Chitradurga hill and had terrorized everyone around. When the Pandavas came with their mother Kunti in the course of their exile, Bhima had a duel with Hidimba. Hidimba was slain by Bhima and peace returned to the area. Legend further states that the boulders were part of the arsenal used during that duel.

The Chitradurga Fort at Karnataka comprises of the following structures:

• 19 Gateways to the fort
• Four secret entrances to the fort
• 38 Posterior entrances to the fort
• 35 secret entrances
• 4 invisible passages
• 2000 watch towers
• A beautiful palace
• A mosque
• Great granaries
• Water tanks
• Oil pits

The storage ware-houses, pits and reservoirs were primarily designed to ensure food, water and military supplies required to endure a long siege. All these facilities are still well conserved. Its architecture was thus primarily defensive in design. Each wall in the fort has a gate with an ascending access through winding, and turning narrow corridors which would make it difficult to use elephants for attacking the fort or to use “battering rams” to break down the gates. Small embrasures in the fort walls were provided for use by Archers to shoot arrows at the enemy. Four gates were provided in the outer most walls. The four gates (called Bagilu in Kannada) are called Rangayyana Bagilu, the second one called Siddayyana Bagilu, third one is called the Ucchangi Bagilu and fourth one is named Lalkote Bagilu. Among the elaborate gateways, the gateway to the east of the fort has architectural features, typical of the Bahmani Sultanate. Depending on the topography and the geological strata of the land, the fort walls were built with height ranging from 5–13 m (16.4–42.7 ft). Initially, it was built in mud but was subsequently strengthened in stretches with granite stone slabs in the eighteenth century. An outstanding feature noticed in several stretches of the fort walls is that no cementing material has been used in joining the large granite cubes that have been neatly sized, cut, trimmed and placed in position. The massive 'Palace of Stones' fort contained many buildings and many temples set in the rocky surroundings on the hill.

Subsequent additions to the forts were built with burnt bricks and set in mortar and plastered by a thin layer of cement or lime and also painted. But they now show deterioration. The mud brick walls of the storehouses and granaries at the fort are getting eroded due to monsoon rains.

Eighteen temples were built in the upper fort. Some of the well known temples were: the Hidimbeswara (an ancient legend is linked to it), Sampige Siddeshwara, Ekanathamma, Phalguneshwara, Gopala Krishna, Lord Hanuman, Subbaraya and Nandi.

Rain water-harvesting structures were built in a cascade development, which ensured large storage of water in interconnected reservoirs. It is said that the fort precincts never faced any water shortage.

Historical linkage has been established by an archeological inscription dated 1284 AD found in the Panchalinga (Five Lingas) cave in the Ankhi Matha area, to the west of Chitradurga. The inscription attributes the establishment of the Five Lingas (aniconic symbols of Lord Shiva) to the Pandavas. At Ankhi Matha, approached by stone steps, a series of ancient subterranean chambers cut out at different levels are seen, in addition to several places of worship and platforms.

In the lower fort, a Cutcherry (Administrative office) was added during Tippu Sultan’s rule. Another interesting find in the arsenal is a quadruple mill made of masonry of 3 m (9.8 ft) depth and about 7 m (23.0 ft) dia, which is inferred as a device used for preparing gun powder during Hyder Ali and Tippu Sultan’s rule. In Kannada language it is called 'Maddu Bisuva Kallu', which means "Gun Powder Grinding stone". The quadruple mill has four massive grinders with teeth or slots. These were rotated either by elephants or bullocks (in a central circular space) with independent collection point for each of the four slots to collect the highly explosive gun powder.