CityDekho
Chitradurga Fort

Chitradurga Fort

heritage site · Karnataka

State
Karnataka
Type
Heritage Site

Chitradurga Fort, also called "Kallina Kote" (Stone Fortress) or "Yelusuttina Kote" (Seven Circles Fort), sits on rocky, hilly terrain in Chitradurga, central Karnataka, known for its seven concentric defensive walls, massive uncemented granite construction, and its association with the Nayakas of Chitradurga.

Chitradurga Fort is known for

seven concentric stone wallsNayaka dynasty strongholdOnake Obavva legenduncemented granite masonryHyder Ali and Tipu Sultan sieges

A short history

Construction occurred in phases between the 11th and 13th centuries under the Chalukyas and Hoysalas. The fort later passed to the Nayakas of Chitradurga, feudatories of the Vijayanagara Empire, who expanded it between the 15th and 18th centuries. The last ruler, Madakari Nayaka V (1758-1779), survived three sieges by Hyder Ali in 1760, 1770, and 1779, before being defeated and killed. During Hyder Ali's assault the heroics of Onake Obavva, wife of a soldier guarding the fort, became a celebrated act of resistance. Hyder Ali held the fort from 1779; his son Tipu Sultan later added a masjid within its walls. British forces took the fort after defeating Tipu Sultan in the Fourth Mysore War (1799). The fortification has 19 gateways and about 8 km of walls covering roughly 1,500 acres, with no cementing material used in joining the stone blocks. [Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chitradurga_Fort]

Why Chitradurga Fort matters

Chitradurga Fort is regarded as one of the most formidable hill forts in India, celebrated nationally for its ingenious seven-layer defensive design and for the legend of Onake Obavva's heroic last stand against Hyder Ali's forces.

When to go

October to March

Why visit

Seven rings of granite defences threaded through a boulder field — one of South India's most dramatic forts.

How to reach

The fort is about 3 km from Chitradurga Railway Station, reachable by cab or auto.

Chitradurga Fort guide & itineraries

Reviews & ratings

What travellers say about Chitradurga Fort

CityDekho traveller reviews

★★★★★★★★★★

No CityDekho reviews yet

Be the first traveller to review this place.

Sign in to write a review

Community

Ask questions and share tips about Chitradurga Fort

Sign in to ask a question or share a tip about Chitradurga Fort.

Loading…

Been to Chitradurga Fort?

Write what you would tell a friend — where you stayed, what you would skip, the thing you wish somebody had mentioned before you went. We read every submission before it goes up.

Share your story

More heritage & forts

More places you'll love

Tripura

Unakoti

Unakoti, in the forested hills of northern Tripura, is an ancient Shaiva pilgrimage and archaeological site famous for its colossal rock-cut carvings and stone images dating back over a thousand years. Legend says there are one less than a crore of images here, giving the site its name, set amid waterfalls and greenery.

Tripura

Neermahal

Neermahal is a striking water palace rising from the middle of Rudrasagar Lake near Melaghar in Tripura, built by the Manikya king in the 1930s as a royal summer retreat. Blending Hindu and Mughal architectural styles, its white-and-red pavilions are reached by boat and beautifully reflected in the lake.

Assam

Sivasagar

Sivasagar, once the capital of the mighty Ahom kingdom that ruled Assam for six centuries, is a town rich in monuments around its great tank. Its highlights include the Rang Ghar, often called Asia's oldest surviving amphitheatre, the Talatal and Kareng Ghar palaces, and the towering Sivadol temple.

Delhi

India Gate (Delhi)

India Gate is a 42-metre war memorial arch on the ceremonial Kartavya Path, designed by Sir Edwin Lutyens and completed in 1931. It honours around 74,000 Indian soldiers who died in the First World War and the Third Anglo-Afghan War, their names inscribed on its sandstone walls.

Rajasthan

Kumbhalgarh Fort

Kumbhalgarh, a UNESCO-listed Mewar fort in the Aravalli Hills, is famed for its immense perimeter wall, which stretches roughly 36 km and is often called the second-longest continuous wall in the world after the Great Wall of China. Built mainly in the 15th century by Rana Kumbha, it was the birthplace of Maharana Pratap and a refuge of the Mewar rulers.

Andaman & Nicobar Islands

Cellular Jail (Port Blair)

The Cellular Jail in Port Blair, known as Kala Pani, is a colonial-era prison built by the British between 1896 and 1906 to hold Indian freedom fighters in solitary confinement. Its original seven wings radiated from a central tower like spokes; today the surviving structure is a national memorial to the independence movement.

Maharashtra

Daulatabad Fort

Daulatabad Fort (historically Devagiri) stands atop a steep 200-metre conical hill roughly 15-16 km northwest of Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar (Aurangabad), Maharashtra. It is a massive fortified hill-city built up over about 1,000 years, enclosed by three concentric fortification walls and two moats, best known for Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq's failed 14th-century attempt to shift the Delhi Sultanate's capital here.

Delhi

Lotus Temple (Delhi)

The Lotus Temple is a Baha'i House of Worship and one of Delhi's most photographed modern landmarks, shaped like a half-open lotus with 27 marble-clad petals set among nine pools and landscaped gardens. Completed in 1986 and open to people of all faiths, it is kept silent, and that is the point of going.

Delhi

Safdarjung's Tomb (Delhi)

Safdarjung's Tomb is a garden-tomb built around 1754 for Safdarjung, the powerful Nawab of Awadh and a prime minister of the Mughal empire. Set in a formal charbagh garden, its red-and-buff sandstone dome and symmetrical layout make it one of the last great monuments of the Mughal era.

Maharashtra

Bibi Ka Maqbara (Aurangabad)

Bibi Ka Maqbara in Aurangabad (Chhatrapati Sambhajinagar) is a grand Mughal mausoleum built in the 1660s to 1670s for Dilras Banu Begum, the wife of Emperor Aurangzeb. Closely modelled on the Taj Mahal, its marble and stucco dome earned it the nickname the Taj of the Deccan.

Gujarat

Shatrunjaya Hill

Shatrunjaya Hill, near Palitana town in the Bhavnagar district, is a world-famous sacred mountain rising above the Shatrunjaya River. It stands as a unique structural wonder, being the world's only mountain holding a fortified complex of more than 860 carved marble temples built over a millennium. Considered an entirely holy landscape by the Jain community, no vehicles are permitted past the base database, requiring pilgrims and travelers to scale approximately 3,500 stone steps to reach the mountaintop complex.

Gujarat

Pavagadh Hill

Pavagadh Hill is a volcanic plateau rising about 822 metres from the plains of the Panchmahal district, at the heart of the UNESCO-listed Champaner-Pavagadh Archaeological Park. Its slopes hold Rajput fortifications, medieval gateways and reservoirs, and a much-visited Kalika Mata (Shakti Peeth) shrine near the top.

Trending in Karnataka

Mysuru (Mysore Palace)

Mysuru (Mysore Palace)

Mysuru is a small, orderly, easy city, and it has the one palace in India that is worth seeing lit up. Mysore Palace switches its exterior lights on for a short window on Sunday evenings and through Dasara — around a hundred thousand bulbs on the outline of the building. Check the current timings locally, because they change, and be there before it happens rather than after. Inside, the Durbar Hall and the marriage pavilion are the rooms to slow down in. Photography is not allowed in the interior and shoes come off at the entrance. Chamundi Hill above the city is the standard sunset trip. The steps up — around a thousand of them — are a better way to arrive than the road, and the Nandi bull two-thirds of the way up is the reason to walk rather than drive. Devaraja Market is the working market: flowers by the kilo, sandalwood, bananas in a dozen varieties. Go in the morning while it is being restocked. Dasara in September or October is the city at full volume, with a caparisoned elephant procession. It is also when every room is booked. October to February otherwise.

Hampi

Hampi

Hampi is an open-air archeological destination along the banks of the boulder-strewn Tungabhadra River in the Vijayanagara district. Spanning a massive area of over 41 square kilometers, it preserves the ruined remains of the imperial capital of the historical Vijayanagara Empire. The architectural ruins feature a cross-section of palaces, military bastions, symmetric bazaar corridors, and complex stone temples. From the delicate carvings of the Hazara Rama Temple to the stone chariot structure at the Vittala complex, Hampi brings out the high-water mark of medieval South Indian artistic expression. The entire landscape is inscribed as an UNESCO World Heritage Site.

Badami Fort

Badami Fort

Badami Fort sits atop a red sandstone hill about 2 km from Badami town in Bagalkot district, Karnataka. Badami (ancient Vatapi) was the capital of the Chalukya dynasty, and the fort overlooks the town's famous rock-cut cave temples, an artificial lake, and the Bhutanatha temple complex.

Bandipur National Park

Bandipur National Park

Bandipur National Park, in the Chamarajanagar district of Karnataka, is one of India's tiger reserves and part of the Nilgiri Biosphere Reserve. Once a hunting ground of the Mysore maharajas, its teak and rosewood forests shelter tigers, leopards, elephants, gaur and dholes, and it forms a continuous wildlife corridor with Nagarhole, Mudumalai and Wayanad.