Tribhuvanagiri fort ~ Bhongir Qila

January 22, 2017

Bhongir fort was on my list of places to visit for months, somehow we could not decide on a trip. One Sunday morning we made a plan to leave afternoon so that the when we reached the hill sun should be down. The distance from Madhapur, Hyderabad to Bhongir is about 70 kms, estimated driving time would be 2 hours or so. We should reach by 4-30 pm; we should be able to see the fort in 2 hours and then leave by dusk. We had light brunch and napped until 2 PM.

We left home by 2-30 and took off towards Secunderbad. We had set the destination as Uppal, the route we took was the inner ring road. We managed to reach Warangal road at Uppal. From there the journey was little slow mainly because of narrow road. Once we reached ORR, the road widened and made good speed. About 6 kms before Bhongir we filled petrol at a IOC bunk, washed the windscreen. Soon the hill came into view. We turned off the highway towards the town and found our way to the hill. It was around 4-40 pm. I estimated a 25 minute climb to the summit.

The present day entrance to this fort might have been the original entrance. This is the least steep way up the hill. The entrance is manned by a entry fee booth, Rs.10 for adults. Close to booth is a slightly disfigured stone sculpture of a male god with four arms. This sculpture could be of Kakatiya time. These steps are recently made.

At the end of the new steps starts the ancient stairway, these are steeper than the steps below. One interesting thing in this picture is the wall at the end of the stairway. That's a curtain wall around the gateway. How the builders have maintained uniform height.

This is the gateway with the curtain wall on the right. There's a small opening in the curtain wall, that could be an escape route in emergency situations.

This path goes along rampart wall on the western slope. We reach another gateway with a small tower, large enough for one person to stand at the top.

This is the other side of the gateway. On the left is a short stairway with hairpin bend which leads to the third and final gateway. This entrance too is concealed by a curtain wall.

View from the bend in the stairway.. on the left is the curtain wall and on the right is the gateway. The wall construction technique is slightly different here. Notice the alternating layers of thick and thin blocks. The wall and door frame are of same period but the upper wall and merlons seem to be recent, probably built by Muslim kings. The curtain wall too is recent, mortar has been employed to bind the stones.

The final gateway opens up to a wide open space; there's a shallow pit on the left where rain water accumulates. Beyond the pit, the hill rises up with lot of rock formations. Though a natural barrier, builders have raised rampart walls for better security. Time was a constraint so we had to skip that part of the fort, instead we chose to go straight ahead.

The dirt path ended at this point and we'll walking on the rock.. the monolith. Yes, Bhuvanagiri is a monolith; oval shaped in plan; 1200 meters (3937') long, 626 meters (2053') wide and 160 meters (525) tall from the ground level. At this point we are about 60 meters above ground level. So have another 100 meters to ascend. By now Pushpa had already complained of aching legs two or three times. I told her that we are half way up already, she could relax for few minutes while I explored these ruins.

There's one Mantapa, three buildings and a small sentry platform. These were probably the officers and soldiers quarters. If you notice the wall towards the right, two arches have been filled in to make it a closed structure.

View from the sentry platform. I'm imagining how it would be at night, to be sitting here in a small group huddled around a fire. Surely, soldiers back then would done that.. those days without any glaring electric lights, sky would be dark with glittering stars. We can only imagine such things.. sigh!

We continue with our ascent. To our right a wonderful sight came into view.. a graciously smooth slope. If there was a sand-pit at the bottom and I guess one could slide down safely.. just a thought :) I want come back to Bhongir one day and take a shot up this slope, it would be a great sight.

This one straight steep path. On my left is an almost sheer cliff hence the railing to keep people in safe zone. I chose to walk outside the fence but remained close to it. On the right, there are three curved walls; two are in view here while the last one is behind me. These are dams to retain rain water. In fact beyond the second one, you can see another wall, there are two more such rain water tanks. All in all, we could count nine water tanks however, the only the one at the summit had water in it. From here, the summit is few minutes away, the ruined palace and a cannon platform were already in sight.

The palace-in-ruins. It would have been a grand structure in its heydays. Its architecture is Islamic, so it must have been built during Nizam's time. Perhaps the Nizam or one his commanders must have got it built. As mentioned earlier, the fort was renewed by Muslim rulers but the original fort was established by the Chalukyan emperor Tribhuvanamalla Vikramaditya VI. So the fort was known as Tribhuvanagiri which later shortened to Bhuvanagiri. Later the place got the present name "Bhongir" probably the British or Muslim tongues couldn't pronounce Bhuvanagiri so it might have become Bhongir!

The hill, no doubt gives a commanding view of the surrounding plains, lakes and neighboring hills. From the palace platform, the unexplored part of the fort came into sight. Wish we had reached an hour earlier, I could have explored those rampart walls too. Well, some other day. Pushpa was tired and she was all set to attack her snack and cool drink. So she settled down on the palace platform. I wanted make good of the remaining time, so I went exploring..

Besides the palace, there are three more structures. The tall columned structure is a hydro tower which supplied water to the palace. The foot of the tower is in the pit in which rain water is stored. This is the only tank which contained water. My guess is water was pulled manually using ropes & pails and poured into a tank. Surely pipe lines existed to transport water to the palace. In the palace we did see small tanks in the floor and also a larger pit which seemed like a mini swimming pool. So this palace must have been a resort for occasional visit. The other two structures are very recent creations; one seemed like a guesthouse (in neglected state) and the other one seems like a police transmission center.

This is the northern face, though steep walls have been built for better security. In fact at this point, you can see two parallel walls.

I'm standing on the shoulder, the merlons are 7 to 8 feet tall. In the floor are gun holes. Solid walls indeed.

I went down along the wall. The wall I stood on earlier is seen here.In the foreground is a wall, to the left of the wall is another rain water tank. From the look of the grass in the pit, it seems the tank had dried a month or two ago. At one end of the pit I found an embossed image of Lord Hanuman, the god of strength and valor.

This path went further, around the hill and comes around the palace, on the southern face. Rampart walls starting from the northern side, go around the eastern face until the southern face. I did not bother exploring further mainly because of time and also Pushpa was alone.

Back at the summit. The palace is small but spacious. In the floor level, we could see several water tanks (see inset). This must have been an courtyard. There were two halls with great arches. Up here it was quite windy, so these great archways allowed free airflow keeping the palace cool even on hot summer days.

I found the stairway to the palace terrace. That's Bhuvanagiri town. The royal members must have had a good time here. Nights would be absolutely peaceful with lot of fresh breeze.

The setting sun. That's the gun platform and the gun itself (see inset). There were several other groups of people when we came here, most had left by now. We too decided to leave before it got too dark.

The descent was quite fast, about 10 minutes. Back at the fee booth, we stopped by to shoot this statue of a warrior. I checked out the plaque embedded into the base of the pedestal, all I could read were names of politicians. Whoever this 'warrior with a scribe' is, is an handsome fellow.

Few minutes later, it was dark. We found a snack vendor and bought some bajji. We headed back towards Hyderabad. We were happy that our planning was a success. Back home Pushpa narrated her version of the trip. Here's the link to her article in Kannada- ಭುವನಗಿರಿ ಕೋಟೆ ~ Bhuvanagiri fort.

Mid-March we had been to Warangal. On the way back we got a shot of Bhuvanagiri from the highway. This is view of the hill from the highway, we are looking at the southern face of the hill. The hills reminds me of Savandurga near Bangalore. Of course Savandurga is much bigger and higher and wilder.

A closer view of the southern face and the summit.

One should visit the hill after rainy season, say between September and November, the hill would be cooler and lot of water bodies with freshwater.

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Ruins of Darbar hall and Treasury at Chitradurga fort

Chitra Durga the power centre of Palegars is one of the toughest forts of Karnataka. Built over a group of rocky hills, the fort has used natural rock formations to a create formidable defence lines.

March 16, 2014
These ruins of a stone-mud walled structures is said to be the administrative centre of  Chitradurga fort during the rule of Palegars. Within the admin centre were Darbar Hall and Treasury / Mint.

These mud walls have been standing for almost more or less 500 years. Integrated into these walls are wooden columns which probably held wooden beams of the building's roof. Even the wood of those times has preserved itself well.

A signage about these ruins has some interesting information.

Building with earth

This building uses one of the most popular construction materials - mud.
Mud is popular because its is easy to work with, cheap and easily available. And most important, buildings made of it are strong and stay cool during summers. Many houses in this region are still built of mud, using age-old techniques.

Preparing mud for construction is making dough for rotis - take soil, add water and knead it by stamping on it. You can add broken pottery (like in walls here), straw or even jaggery to reduce shrinkage and increase strength. When mud is of right consistency, place it directly on the wall base in layers, like here. Or, shape into bricks, dry and then use to build walls.

The mint's walls were made by throwing mud between two planks and compacting it. When the layer hardened, the boards were moved along ans the process repeated.

Mud's biggest enemy: water

The building - once a mint - still stands because it was built to resist water damage. Because the base is most vulnerable to splashing water, these walls have stone plinths. Plastered water channels safely carry rain water from roof to the ground without splashing. The roof probably had large overhangs to prevent splashing. And you can still see traces of the lime plaster further protected the walls from water.
A close look at one of the walls.. stone base supports the upper portion. Going by the construction process, we can see this wall has 5 layers here. Remnants of lime plaster can be seen to the right of this picture.

Mud wall building and making pottery are closely related. The dirt used in this wall has been carefully selected.. probably from a lake bed. The mud is dried thoroughly, then powdered and sieved to obtain a consistent powder. Then its mixed with water and mixed properly until the entire mass is uniformly consistent.  This process is labour intensive, every stage is closely supervised for quality and also security to prevent sabotage.

When the mud dries up, it becomes very hard, as hard as stone. It is said that even a crowbar cannot do much damage to these walls. There are examples of forts which have outer walls made of mud as seen here.. Gurmitkal and Chandriki forts are two good examples. Then there's Laxmeshwar fort.. the walls are 6 to 8 feet thick and upto 30' high.. however not much remains of it now. Anvatti fort is one more of the verge of disappearing. I guess once upon a time Karnataka had thousands of mud forts.

Coming back to the Chitradurga's administration building, we are looking at this little granite structure with sloped roof. Well, it s not a temple. The floor within holds a chamber with a 1.5' square mouth. Locals say this pit was the treasury which held currency of gold and silver.

The structure is about 12' x 12' x 14'. Around the base is row of dressed blocks embedded in the ground.. this could be the part of the foundation around the structure to strengthen the ground. The slope roof and the plinth helps rain water to flow away. Basically the structure is designed to be water-proof.

Here's the mouth of the pit right in the center of the floor. The pit is lined with dressed granite slabs and packed with mortar.. even the wettest of rainy season would keep this pit dry.

Obviously this building would be guarded by dozen or two heavily armed soldiers. No unauthorised person would be allowed to approach it.

Chitradurga was under siege for almost two years. Madakari Nayaka lost the fort to Hyder Ali and then Tipu Sultan. After the fall of Tipu, it would have gone into the hands of British who called it Chittaldroog. British officers, for some reason pronounced Durga as Droog :)

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Narasimhaswami temple at Penukonda fort

January 3, 2015

Driving from Bangalore to Hyderabad, I decided to venture into Penukonda town to see the fort. As I drove through one of the gateways, I realized a good part of the town lies within the fort walls. Having served as one of the capitals of Vijayanagara empire, Penukonda has its share of historical monuments.. fort walls & bastions, temples & wells, a palace, a jail, tombs, shelters for travellers.. The fort walls are not just on plain land but also on hills. One of the town residents suggested me to visit Narasimhaswami temple on the hill and it has a motorable road right till the temple steps. I thanked him and left, drove past Penukonda fire station towards the hills.. the road started climbing, curvy and deserted.. metalled road ended and dirt road started.. as I went higher, hairpin turns came frequently, ruins of forts walls came into view. At the highest point of the road was a gateway which opens up to a small plateau.

Close to the gateway is the temple complex occupying a large area has lot of structures... Gopura, Mantapas and a Kalyani (stepped well).. however, most structures are in bad shape, some in the verge of collapsing. Unlike other creations of Vijayanagara which usually are in good condition, this particular monument's condition is terrible.

The main temple is built on a high platform with a broad stairway leading to the Gopura. Definitely builder of this temple had a grand vision. It seems the temple was built hurriedly... probably not a well funded project.

This is the Mantapa opposite the temple entrance. As you see even this structure is built on a platform. While the Mantapa's base and midsection are made of dressed granite blocks, the Shikhara is a brick and mortar job.

The inside view of the temple gateway. Looks like the shikhara was vandalized by treasure hunters. A close look at the dressed stones; pillars and beams look rough cut - does this indicate a rushed job or a low cost project?

One of the mantapas, probably used for open air rituals.

The temple's mukha-mantapa. Coconut leaves tied to most pillars could be an indication of a fair here some days back... probably the annual fair.

A glimpse of the temple interior. I did not venture inside.

I went around the temple, the exterior is pretty plain. Every bit of the structure has been vandalized. Dressed blocks have either been disturbed or removed completely by treasure seekers :( The Garbhagudi Shikhara look good in this angle.

To the rear of the temple. Blocks spanning the entire width of the structure have been used here. I think this is the original temple, the front portions are all extensions.

I walk back to the temple gateway, standing under its fallen Gopura I look at the sight ahead. On the right side is another peak of this hill on which is a bastion. In the shallow valley between the two peaks is a stretch of rampart wall.

The temple complex was designed to accommodate hundreds of people, shelters were created where travellers could stay. Thinking of facilities for travellers.. Krishnadevaraya was an ardent worshipper of Tirupathi Thimmappa. So would the kingdom'd subjects be. It seems lodging & boarding facilities were made available on all routes leading to Thirupati. Shelters built about 500 years ago are still being used.

I walked along the shelter but little away, right next to the wall of dirt, boulders and bushes. The place was silent, only sound I could hear was pebbles crunching with every foot fall. The silence was suddenly broken by noise in the bush next to me.. I turned towards the noise.. a large pig or a boar was startled by human presence took off deeper into the bushes, out of sight. I was shaken for a moment. I composed myself and walked towards the Kalyani. Water seems fresh and deep.

Looks like originally the entire perimeter of this stepped well had shelter. For some reason some parts are missing now. Also some part of the steps has collapsed.. probably the foundation of the steps must have given away.

A close look at the hill's peak, on it is a bastion, a good sentry point for the plains and the town below. On the left hand side of the picture you can see rampart walls. From here is a foot path on the hill slope leading straight down to Penukonda town on the plains below.

View of the temple complex from the plateau end. Was there more time, I might have explored the peak and reached the rampart wall and bastion.

I walk back towards the main temple and take a last look at the shelters and the peak in the background.

I get into my car and drive down slowly, stopping on and off to check out the fort walls. About three-fourth way down, I stopped on a gentle slope, freshened up and had breakfast.. I still plans to go back into Penukonda town with hopes that Gagan Mahal gates were open..

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Saluva Thimmarusu jail, Penukonda

Jan 3, 2015
1990s I'd travelled between Bengaluru and Kurnool countless times and those days Penukonda did not have a bypass road. The highway passed right next to the fort wall yet I never ventured into the town to explore the ruins :( Today, driving alone from Bengaluru to Hyderabad I stopped at Penukonda with an intention to see the fort. At the fort entrance, on the wall's granite blocks were a bunch of inscriptions in either Kannada or Telugu. Driving in further I saw several temples and a palace named Gagan Mahal. Right opposite Gagan Mahal is Thimmarusu Bhandikana ~ Thimmarusu's jail. I realized Penukonda fort occupies a vast area both on plain land and on hills.Today within the fort are temples, wells, tanks, watch towers, a palace and a jail - all built during the empire's glory days. Without doubt Penukonda was an important place of Vijayanagara empire.

Saluva Timmarusu was a prime minister of Vijayanagara empire during the rule of Tuluva Narsimha Raya and Krishna Deva Raya. Timmarusu was instrumental in putting Krishna Deva Raya on the throne after Narsimha Raya's demise. Krishna Deva Raya addressed his mentor Timmarusu as Appaji (father). Appaji guided Krishna in taking Vijayanagara empire to its glory days. During the last years of Krishna's rule traitors murder his young son and the suspicion falls on Timmarusu's family. All members of Timmarusu's family were arrested and imprisoned. Krishna, though a great intellect was also known for fits of rage on occasions. Grieving his son's loss, Krishna Deva Raya loses his mental balance and orders Timmarusu to be blinded. Later realizing that Timmarusu was innocent Krishna falls sick unable to bear the agony. Krishna suffers and dies soon after which his step-brother Achyuta Raya takes over Vijayanagara empire. Thus was the story of how a great relationship of Saluva Timmarusu and Krishna Deva Raya ended bitterly.

Though a jail building, the structure is simply beautiful. The floor plan is square, the four walls are almost plain except for beam ends jutting out of them, All four walls have short arches at the middle with shutters; one of them will be a door while other three would be windows. For a door, the passage is really narrow and low. The roof is a eight-sided stepped pyramid. The roof has a balcony too.. wonder if it has a staircase.

The roof's summit  is a lotus-shaped creation. The piece is identical (in shape) to the cap-stones pieces of Chalukyan temples at Aihole and Pattadakal.

The roof is held by an array of beams. Four beams are outside the walls supported by columns in the walls. Brilliant piece of engineering.

This is the Gagan Mahal, the summer palace of Vijayanagara rulers. In the background is the hill on which the ruins of fort can be seen. The palace gate remained locked well into its open timings :( Hope to see the inside of the fort some other day.

A few minutes walk from the jail are two interesting monuments: a water tank and a stepped well.

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