Hike & History: Exploring Gooty Fort on the Hyderabad-Bangalore Highway

The Gooty Fort, also known as Ravadurg, is a fort located on a hill in the Gooty town of Andhra Pradesh, India. It is one of the centrally protected monuments of national importance.

Eight inscriptions have been found on the rocks close to the Narasimha temple located within the fort premises. These inscriptions are seriously damaged, but appear to be from the reign of the Western Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI (r. c. 1076-1126 CE). The earliest of the existing fortifications and other structures can be dated to the late Chalukya period. The fort later came under the control of the Vijayanagara Empire. During the reign of Venkata II (r. c. 1584-1614), the Vijayanagara lost the fort to the Qutb Shahi dynasty. The Mughals appear to have controlled the fort after their conquest of the Qutb Shahi capital Golconda. Around 1746 CE, the Maratha general Murari Rao captured the fort, and made it his permanent residence eight years later. He repaired the fort, and commissioned the stucco ornamentation of the small gateways.In 1775 CE, the Mysore ruler Hyder Ali attacked and besieged the fort. After two months, Murari Rao was forced to surrender, as he ran out of water supplies. The fort later came under the control of the East India Company. Its administrator Thomas Munro was buried at the cemetery located at the foothill.
There are several ruined buildings within the fort, including granaries, storerooms, and magazines. Some of these were used as prisons by the East India Company administrator Thomas Munro.

For More Videos Subscribe :    / ramkuchi