Fort Vallabghad

October 5, 2013

Vallabhgad hill fort is 5 kms north of Sankeshwar town. The twin peak hill is situated right besides National Highway 4.

There's a road going up the hill, between the two peaks is the village and on the western peak is the fort.. a fort built by Chatrapati Shivaji. Few important spots are marked in the aerial view of the fort. The path to the main entrance starts close to point E. I went around the south-western perimeter to reach the entrance.

This hill is similar to Hunnur fort, the same rock type- laterite. Before the fort came into being, a rough rock existed here; sides were hacked away to make them unscalable. Also walls were built to close gaps.

This is one of the three entrances to the fort; a short flight of steps going straight into the fort level.

That's Nishan Burj ~ flag bastion and Mahadwara ~ main entrance. The entrance passage curves around the bastion; this is typical in forts constructed by Chatrapati Shivaji.

Southern side of the fort.

I climb down, pass through the gateway and look back at the entrance. The gateway wall is built of harder stone- dressed blocks of granite.

One side of the bastion has collapsed exposing the dirt packed into it.

I explore the western periphery on the outside, nothing much to see there. I climb back into the fort and look around few ruins.. few standing mud walls, an old house and then this huge pit!

The pit was wide and deep with vertical walls.. very scary indeed. It had no wall around it. God protect people who venture during night here. This is a well locally called Andhar Bhav, sadly its dry. Walls of the pit are laterite.. this is one massive rock bed forming the summit of Vallabhgad hill.

I move to the eastern edge of the northern part. Here we have an ancient-recent temple and a small burj ~ a watch tower perched on the edge.

That's the tower with a very narrow flight of steps.

View from the tower, that small cubical structure is the temple.

This is definitely a sentry point. The grey line stretching to the left is NH4 pointing towards Belgaum.

View of the village and the other peak of Vallabhgad. Looks like there's a fort like structure at the top.. to guard the eastern side of the hill.

A very narrow path on this side went down the side and lead to this cave. It's a Hindu shrine, a temple dedicated to Siddeshwar, an avatar of Shiva. The temple was pretty clean and tidy. Local folks must be performing rituals regularly.

I continue down the path which went past houses and linked to the main street of Vallabhgad. Looking back the temple and the fort.. that's the watch point I stood on some time back.

Prakash the cab driver was waiting patiently. We drove down through the only motorable street, some houses looked pretty old, perhaps 150 years. Close to the base of the hill was this board proclaiming the fort's title. I just remembered- Vallabhgad is also known as Hargapurgad.

The website www.vallabhgad.com does exist, just one page with beautiful pictures of Shivaraya alias Chatrapati Shivaji.

Vallabhgad coordinates: 16°16'47"N   74°27'36"E
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Honnurgad

October 5, 2013

After Belgaum and Kakati forts, Honnurgad was the third fort of the day. I still had three more on my itinerary- Vallabhgad, Samangad and Gokak forts.

Hunnur fort as seen from 1 km east

The fort is situated on a hill on the bank of Hidkal reservoir. While the fort is situated at the highest point of the hill, a government guest house is situated at a lower level of the hill. A road connects the guest house to the state highway below. Thanks to the road, we could drive up very close to the fort.

The summit is a large bed of laterite rock. Fort builders have hacked out portions of the hill to create a vertical face and built a wall on the top. Builders have wisely utilized natural formations to their advantage.

Here's the Google satellite view of the fort; its a triangle with curved sides. On the east is state highway number 134 and on the west is Hidkal reservoir (out of sight). Few spots of importance have been marked-
A - Mahadwara ~ main entrance
B - water tank
C - deep well
D - Nishan Burj ~ flag bastion
E - bastion
F - small gateway

I approach the fort from south and take the narrow footpath along the eastern edge hoping to find an entrance. A cleft in the rock wall with a curving path.. this should be the fort's entrance.

Yes, it is. This is typical Maratha architecture. This curved entrance will conceal the gateway completely when seen from a distance. Laterite hacked out to form this passage would have been used to build walls at the top.

Sentry chambers at the end of the passage.

This chamber is spacious enough for one man. In the wall is a nest for placing a lamp.

This is the eastern side of the fort. back then walls would be free from vegetation.

Part of the wall has collapsed. That's Hidkal reservoir in the background.

Lower part of the hill and the guest house.

Builder of this fort had planned storage/supply of water. There's one small water tank and a deep well, close to each other. This pit here is the well. It is roughly 30' x 30' and 60' deep. Sadly the well is dry and the bottom is littered with dry leaves. A flight of steps descends to half the depth.

This is the western wall, looking towards north..

and looking towards south. The mound on the edge is a bastion.

It's the only bastion and it has to be a flag bastion. In the foreground is a cleft.. this is a smaller entrance descending to the base of the fort wall. This passage is narrower and steeper than the main entrance.

I exit the fort through the smaller passage and climb down little to get this view of Honnurgad. It does look daunting to anyone planning to sneak into the fort.

I could not find any useful information about this fort. Hence what ever I've shared here is guess work based on experience.

Hunnurgad coordinates: 16°9'33"N   74°36'47"E
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