Dambal fort and water tank

April 2011 was my first visit to Dambal. After a quick stop to see Doddabasappa Devastana and Someshwara Devastana, I headed towards the village in search of Dambal fort. After driving around the village the dirt track to a dead end - a fort wall, a tank bund and a waterlogged pit. I was hoping to see the inside of the fort but somehow that didn't happen. A villagers told me about a recently discovered stepped well in the vicinity. The well, a shallow one, had an elaborate construction around it ...an enclosure wall, steps descending into the and dozen small shrines all around it. After a tour of the well, I left Dambal and headed towards Mundargi fort.

June 15, 2022

Here I'm again at Dambal after eleven years. Nothing much had changed except for vehicular traffic. Now more number of bikes were seen. My agenda at Dambal was more or less the same as previous visit. After spending some time at the two Chalukyan temples, I saw Japada Bavi & Siddeshwara Devastana, and then thought of heading towards Lakkundi. However, the tour of Dambal got extended after meeting a local person named Rudrappa Yenigar, a farmer by profession. I asked him if there were any other ancient temples here. He said there's one inside the farm lands, from where we stood it was concealed by trees. I wasn't sure of finding it on my own so requested him to be my guide. After a short trek to the small temple which must of Chalukyan times, we came back to the spot where we met from where the fort walls and a bastion were visible. Rest of the fort is mostly concealed behind bushes.

This is a screenshot of Dambal fort in Google Maps. The fort is kind of oval except for the southern wall which is almost a straight line. Dambal I've marked a few key points of the fort for understanding:

A - tablet stating water tank development in the XIX Century CE
B - Partly submerged bastion
C - Bastion and Check Dam
D - moat entrance
E - moat and fort wall

This is the overflow pit of the checkdam. This water flows into one of the three irrigation canals which feed a few thousand acres around Dambal.

This bastion is marked as C in the maps image. Going by the looks, this fort must be built during Chalukyan times and renovated by subsequent rulers. Going by the monuments present here, surely Dmbal was a prominent place during Chalukyan times. The ravages of time has reduced it to a small village, yet Dambal's glory lies in its monuments. I hope people and political leaders take appropriate steps to preserve and protect these invaluable monuments.

To see the southern walls of the fort and the tank itself, we had to walk on the canal wall. The catch was overflowing water had made the walls slimy. Rudrappa asked me to walk slowly. I was hesitant but seeing other people walk, I decided to go. Water flowing over was barely 3" deep but the wall surface was really slimy, very slippery. With two DSLRs and mobile phone I can't be falling into 6' water. Instead of stepping, I slid my feet slowly - I learned this technique while fording the stream between Lalguli and Hanumana Kote. I managed to reach the other side safely. Relief for time being but the return trip was pending. Anyway, the mound seen on the right side is the tank bund.

 

This board gives some information about the tank.

Below is the transcript of the board.

GOVT OF KARNATAKA

GADAG DISTRICT

NAME OF VILLAGE: DAMBAL

TANK DETAILS

1) CATCHMENT AREA IN Sq Kms

WATER SPREAD AREA (HA) 180.1

LIVE CAPACTRY (MCFT) 205

2) BUND DETAILS

TOP WIDTH (MTRS) 3.00

MAX HEIGHT BUND (MTRS) 10.67

LENGTH BUND (MTRS) 1608.80

3) WASTE WEIR DETAILS

TYSE 88.83W

DISCHARGE CAPACITY (CUSECS) 425.00

4) CANAL LENGTH IN MTRS

LBC 4400.00

RBC 10200.00

HIGH LEVEL 1800.00

That's my friend Rudrappa Yenigar posing with the historic plaques of this historic water tank. Besides Dambal Lake this is also called Victoria Lake because this tank was enlarged during British rule under Queen Victoria. BTW, this lake was originally made much earlier, probably during Chalukyan times. Apparently this lake covered an area of 3000 acres. Silt and encroachments have reduced the lake area considerably.

Transcript of the plaque in English.

V.R.ET. I THE DAMBAL TANK.
This ancient work was considerably enlarged during the famine of 1876-77
And for fourteen months afforded employment for an average of 744 people of all ages. The highest number on any one day being 2003. The water level of the tank was raised 6 feet whereby the capacity was increased from 14¾ to 108 million cubic feet and the area when full from 300 to 436 acres. The expenditure was Rs 38,749 in wages and charitable relief and the value of the work executed was Rs 35,868 the enlargement was completed in January 1881 at a total cost of Rs.44,524.
H.G.Palliser. Executive Engineer for Irrigation.

Currently the tank is filled to capacity, thanks to good rainfall in May 2022. On the other shore is a Dargah and ruins of walls. I don't think those walls are part of the fort, may be enclosure of the Dargah. Now lets pan to the left and see the visible fort walls again.

Before the renovation of XIX Century, the water level of this tank was 6 feet lower, which means a part of the fort still touched the waters. Take a closer look at the wall, on the left hand side of the check dam, there are black colored stones. I think that spot had a water drawing system. When the British engineers decided to raise the water level, they effectively used the fort walls to advantage. This gift from the British ought to be utilized better. Government could develop tourism, may be having boating here.

Panning further to the left. Water is flowing over the dam for the past few days. Rudrappa told me that wind also blows water over the dam. The inside of the fort has been used as farm lands. Farmers have cultivated crops in there, I don't there are any houses.

The bastion as seen from the bund. I wish village folks remove those plants on the walls. 

These walls are pretty well built, meaning to be standing on wet ground.

Now the point where the bushes conceal the wall completely is where the moat starts. The moat is fed by water from the tank. As per Rudrapps the moat runs around the fort. However, presently only a short stretch of the moat gets filled, remaining is always dry and used as farm land.

This is the point where the moat ends. It seems that the moat was filled with earth to bring its level to ground level. Beyond the rampart walls, a farmer is cultivating land with a pair of oxen. That land is inside of the fort.

Moat has been repurposed into farm land by the smart people of Dambal.

I thanks Rudrappa, drop him off at the village bus-stand and head towards Lakkundi.

.........