remains of Yamakanmardi fort

Yamakanmardi is a town situated off AH47 (formerly NH4), about 40 kms north of Belgaum. This town was on my list of places with forts.

Nov 15, 2015
While driving from Dharwad to Hukkeri, as we were passing by towards Yamakanmardi, I could see a bastion rising above the small buildings. I'd expected to see proper fort.. bastions ans rampart walls. On our return journey, we ventured into the town. Instead of going back to the highway, we took a short cut to the town from the AH47-Hukkeri road. The road passed over a lake bund on the northern part of the town. The lake was dry, a ancient looking grave stone was in view. It was of dark grey stone, well sculpted, probably of a military leader. Also on the bund was another ancient looking temple, but I wasn't sure. We found our way through the narrow streets to the bastion, its completely surrounded by recent built structures. This is all that remains of Yamakanmardi fort.. Nishan Burj ~ flag bastion. Just a tower..no rampart walls. The presence of flag at the top gave hopes for reaching the top.

The badly damaged stairway steps lead up to the narrow entrance to the bastion. The inner stairway was dark and steps were uneven, several blocks were missing, has be careful where our feet landed. We made it to the top!

Like most monuments of our state (if not country) this too is a place for society's certain elements who while away time doing nothing worthy. A gang of young boys mostly in teens or early twenties were playing cards. Our presence disturbed their privacy.. all eyes on us. I ignored their looks and looked around the structure. The circular platform is encircled by a 7' wall with peep and gun slots. The tower further rises higher at the core.. I did not bother to check if there was a way to reach trhe flag, the highest point of this tower. seems like the tower's construction is incomplete.

Kannada flag flies high above Yemkanmardi.

The structure is well built, meaning the workmanship is good. The walls are still holding good. I was in no mood to climb the wall to get a view of the town.. I was not dressed for that :(

We went around the bastion to catch another view. Seems like this workshop has encroached over town's common area.

Close to the Nishan Burj is a smaller bastion. This one seems to be part of the fort's outer ring.

Yemakanmardi has its share of Hindu temples and Mathas, the noticeable ones are-

• Shri 1008 Bhagwan Parshwanath Digambar Jain Basadi
• Venugopal Swamy temple
• Hunshi Kolla Math

The Jain Basadi sports a well maintained clock for public convenience. Good job on that. I'm guessing this tapering tower must be Venugopal Swamy Gudi Shikhara.

On the map I happened to notice a spot marked as 'Five god's Temple' a historic temple. Guessing this could be the temple on the town outskirts, on the lake bund.
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