I'd not heard about Subapur Fort until a week before this visit. After some research and planning, I was all set to visit 5 forts on a Sunday- Subapur, Munvalli, Toragal, Ramdurg and Nargund ...in this order.
March 6, 2011. We grouped near Kala Bhavan around 5-30AM. With barely any traffic we soon passed Saundatti. On the way to Munvalli we saw two handsome looking peacocks but went out our view in seconds. We passed by Munvalli, stopped at Benakatti to ask directions for Tallur, at Tallur we asked for Subapur. The terrain changes- we drive past hills into a valley with a hill with a fort on the top comes into view.
7-15 AM we are Subapur, we got a few surprised looks. We asked for directions ann coaxed a young fellow to be our guide.
The uphill dirt path was littered with rocks of varying sizes and dirt was loose at places. Wild shrubs stuck out their thorny bushes into the path snagging our tee-shirts.
15 mins climb, we were close to the gateway, we paused to catch our breath. That's Subapur village... our guide Fakirappa said it's pronounced Subbapur.
That's the main gateway facing North. As you see the walls and bastions are carefully piled stone walls... nothing binds them.
Wikimapia screen shot marked with few important points we checked.
A - Fort gateway
B - Well
C - Well
D - Well
E - Grainery
F - Bastion
G - Gateway
H - Outer wall
I - Well
J - Palace Ruins
According to Fakirappa this is a grainery. The top of the grainery is the highest point in the fort. We spent some on it. Unfortunately the structure is crumbling badly ...probably we contributed to it's deterioration by climbing up & down.
South end of the fort is double walled. Probably there was another gateway here. Beyond the walls is a valley. Subapur hill is undoubtedly the highest in the vicinity.
Another view of the neighboring hill.
As we climbed down the grainery, I noticed this strange looking sign on one of the stones.
Chetan pointed out this bunch of insects ...did not notice if they had wings. Two dots on their backs gives an illusion of a pair of eyes.
We explore the southern wall and bastions.
As you see this wall is at a lower level than the one we are standing on. I guess it's an extension to the main fort wall. If you look carefully you can see 3 black-face monkeys sitting on the rocks. A minute before I shot this picture the group was larger and Fakirappa had pointed out to two of them and said "that big fellow and that small fellow are worst of the lot, they steal groundnuts from our village" :) I'm amazed that Fakirappa could recognize monkeys just like people.
We walked along the wall to our left and standing at the edge. These are probably living quarters for guards.
Fakirappa climbed down easily while I struggled with my Canon hanging from my neck. Neel and Chetan and took their own sweet time posing for pictures. Neel was trying to imitate a pose from ________.
The shallow depression enclosed by the walls probably was used for water storage.
Fakirappa told that government carried out repair work in this fort. I wish more is done to preserve this monument.
Back then construction was environment friendly.
If you take a close look just below root running horizontal you can see two concentric circles... lichens. This plant is common in this fort and likes to grow through gaps in rocks. Wonders of Mother Nature.
This hill range flows right up to Ramdurg.
One of the seven wells in this fort, three of them have proper steps descending into them. Couple of them had water. Whoever planned this fort made sure his soldiers would never go thirsty.
We are balancing on heap of rocks which were walls in their good days, walls of a royal residence with a dozen rooms.
I'm sure Subapur hills would look like paradise after a good rainy season. I made a mental note to visit some time between September and December.
I was happy with Fakirappa's patience... he would talk only when needed. I'm glad meet wonderful people most places I visit :) Going downhill was relaxed but not really easy, we had to watch every step. We said bye to Fakirappa... Srikanth was waiting for us.
Our next destination was Tallur Vaade. Fakirappa told us that Tallur Desai's people visit the fort every year to gather firewood. On a hunch I asked if there's a Vaade at Tallur. Yes. We'll check it out.
That's the route we traveled through the day.
Few videos made at Subapur Fort.
Subapur Fort Coordinates: 15°54'8"N 74°58'51"E
.........
March 6, 2011. We grouped near Kala Bhavan around 5-30AM. With barely any traffic we soon passed Saundatti. On the way to Munvalli we saw two handsome looking peacocks but went out our view in seconds. We passed by Munvalli, stopped at Benakatti to ask directions for Tallur, at Tallur we asked for Subapur. The terrain changes- we drive past hills into a valley with a hill with a fort on the top comes into view.
7-15 AM we are Subapur, we got a few surprised looks. We asked for directions ann coaxed a young fellow to be our guide.
The uphill dirt path was littered with rocks of varying sizes and dirt was loose at places. Wild shrubs stuck out their thorny bushes into the path snagging our tee-shirts.
15 mins climb, we were close to the gateway, we paused to catch our breath. That's Subapur village... our guide Fakirappa said it's pronounced Subbapur.
That's the main gateway facing North. As you see the walls and bastions are carefully piled stone walls... nothing binds them.
Wikimapia screen shot marked with few important points we checked.
A - Fort gateway
B - Well
C - Well
D - Well
E - Grainery
F - Bastion
G - Gateway
H - Outer wall
I - Well
J - Palace Ruins
According to Fakirappa this is a grainery. The top of the grainery is the highest point in the fort. We spent some on it. Unfortunately the structure is crumbling badly ...probably we contributed to it's deterioration by climbing up & down.
South end of the fort is double walled. Probably there was another gateway here. Beyond the walls is a valley. Subapur hill is undoubtedly the highest in the vicinity.
Another view of the neighboring hill.
As we climbed down the grainery, I noticed this strange looking sign on one of the stones.
Chetan pointed out this bunch of insects ...did not notice if they had wings. Two dots on their backs gives an illusion of a pair of eyes.
We explore the southern wall and bastions.
As you see this wall is at a lower level than the one we are standing on. I guess it's an extension to the main fort wall. If you look carefully you can see 3 black-face monkeys sitting on the rocks. A minute before I shot this picture the group was larger and Fakirappa had pointed out to two of them and said "that big fellow and that small fellow are worst of the lot, they steal groundnuts from our village" :) I'm amazed that Fakirappa could recognize monkeys just like people.
We walked along the wall to our left and standing at the edge. These are probably living quarters for guards.
Fakirappa climbed down easily while I struggled with my Canon hanging from my neck. Neel and Chetan and took their own sweet time posing for pictures. Neel was trying to imitate a pose from ________.
The shallow depression enclosed by the walls probably was used for water storage.
Fakirappa told that government carried out repair work in this fort. I wish more is done to preserve this monument.
Back then construction was environment friendly.
If you take a close look just below root running horizontal you can see two concentric circles... lichens. This plant is common in this fort and likes to grow through gaps in rocks. Wonders of Mother Nature.
This hill range flows right up to Ramdurg.
One of the seven wells in this fort, three of them have proper steps descending into them. Couple of them had water. Whoever planned this fort made sure his soldiers would never go thirsty.
We are balancing on heap of rocks which were walls in their good days, walls of a royal residence with a dozen rooms.
I'm sure Subapur hills would look like paradise after a good rainy season. I made a mental note to visit some time between September and December.
I was happy with Fakirappa's patience... he would talk only when needed. I'm glad meet wonderful people most places I visit :) Going downhill was relaxed but not really easy, we had to watch every step. We said bye to Fakirappa... Srikanth was waiting for us.
Our next destination was Tallur Vaade. Fakirappa told us that Tallur Desai's people visit the fort every year to gather firewood. On a hunch I asked if there's a Vaade at Tallur. Yes. We'll check it out.
That's the route we traveled through the day.
Few videos made at Subapur Fort.
Subapur Fort Coordinates: 15°54'8"N 74°58'51"E
.........
Dont you have pictures from the other forts?
ReplyDeletePosts on other forts are in the queue, will get published in due time. All posts will have pictures.
ReplyDeleteThank you for marking Subapur Fort on Wikimapia.
Awasome work,
ReplyDeleteAppreciate your patience to go around these remote place.
Thanks!!
Thank you.
ReplyDeleteI was looking for tippapura and singatalur forts apart from korlahalli fort chachadi wade and tallur wade. kindly post their photos.Thanks
ReplyDeleteThank you for the suggestions. Will try to visit these ancient abodes.
DeleteI was driving in the night and passed by Subbapur 2 days back and happened to spot a hyena, I was surprised!
ReplyDeleteThere are hyenas in the northern districts. In fact I too was surprised when locals mentioned their presence. Hyenas are called kattekiraba in Kannada. There are prehistoric rock paintings of hyena fur pattern in Bagalkot district. Also there's a cave occupied by hyenas, locals avoid going near that cave due to the stink. And spotting a hyena is a rare happening.
Delete