Hankuni fort

Hankuni fort is bout 6 kms south of Humnabad town. Humnabad was ruled by King Ramachandra Jadhav. It is said that Ramachandra Jadhav got a fort built at Hankuni and used it as the kingdom's treasury. The reason for having the treasury away from the capital Humnabad was its safety during raids by enemy forces The name Hanakuni can be split into two words- Hana + Kuni where Hana means money.

October 4, 2014
After Humnabad fort gateway, the next place on our list was Hankuni. We found the village easily, road was good. We has to pass through the village to reach the fort. The village is to the south-east of the fort. As I walked towards the fort a man on a moped joined me.. the man in green lungi, Mallikarjun, a farmer by profession, The gateway seen here is a side entrance. The main entrance is facing east and unusable because vegetation had blocked it.

The fort's walls and bastion about 30 feet tall, are made of hard black granite blocks. The very look of the walls exudes strength, not easy to break through. At the top are slits for firing missiles.

The deep trench ran along the outer perimeter of the fort. Probably it was filled with water infested with unfed crocodiles.

The fort's interior is quite bare except for vegetation, in fact plants have taken over Hankuni Kote.. this is an indication that people hardly venture into these ruins, except for some characters who use it as a gambling den.

Our guide Mallikarjun suggests we walk around on the wall's shoulder, we decide to go counter-clockwise.

Just as were about to start the tour, Srinu decides to join us. All the while he was guarding his bike which was hitched on a rack on his Maruti Swift's rear. The wall's granite block are held by lime mortar.

Srinu is ahead of us, heading towards a stairway to climb up. This fort, though small has a inner fort and an outer wall. A closer look at the structures.. the core structure is made of laterite blocks while the outer is hard granite. Very close to the base of the tall tree in is the fort's entrance. A bunch of people the village had joined out of curiosity.. why have these city folks have come to this godforsaken place would be their question.

We go pas the gate, vegetation was thick on this side, On this side the outside layer of the wall is harder compared to the inner side which is laterite.

A go around the fort in less than 15 minutes and come back to where we started. The highest part of this fort is near the tall tree i.e. close to the fort's main entrance (see inset).

Stairway to the shoulder. I think originally the granite was built, later the laterite wall was added to increase the walls strength and also provide a platform for guards. It is also possible that builders used laterite for cost reasons.. black granite blocks has to be imported while laterite was available locally.

Done with the fort we were ready to leave but our host Mallikarjun insisted us on visiting his home for a cup of tea. His house is a typical village house, a joint property of seven brothers. We relaxed in the frontyard, enjoyed a hot cup of tea while chatting various topics. The boy in black T-shirt Mallikarjun's son, an engineer working with Hyundai in Bangalore. His other son is pursuing graduation.

We thank our host and head towards Jalasangi Kalmeshwara Gudi, built during the reign of Vikramaditya VI of Kalyana Chalukya empire.

Hanakuni fort coordinates; 17°42'53"N   77°8'25"E


To know more about Bidar district check out- What to see in Bidar district?
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