- Type
- Fortress
- Location
- Tamil Nadu, India
- Heritage
- part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site (an old town or a valley, for example)
- Coordinates
- 12.2508°, 79.3958°
History
Tradition says the first defences on the Gingee hills were raised in the 13th century by chiefs of the Konar clan. The great fortress enclosing the hills of Rajagiri, Krishnagiri and Chandrayandurg was built in the 16th century by the Nayaks of Gingee, vassals of the Vijayanagara Empire. Shivaji captured it in 1677, and from 1690 to 1698 the Mughals besieged his son Rajaram here. In the early 18th century the fort was held by Tej Singh, remembered as Raja Desingh, who died fighting the Nawab of Arcot in 1714. The French took the fortress in 1750 and the British in 1761.
What to see
Walls link the three hills in a triangular circuit several kilometres long. A steep climb of a few hours leads through a series of gates to the summit of Rajagiri, crowned by a temple, storehouses and a cannon. In the lower fort the Kalyana Mahal stands out with its tall tower under a pyramidal roof, alongside granaries, an elephant tank and the Venkataramana temple. The site is cared for by the Archaeological Survey of India.
Wikipedia article Wikidata Q3536493
Popularity: articles about this site in 14 Wikimedia projects (Wikipedia language editions and others).