Bellary Fort

Ballari Gudda, with a height of 480 ft is the World’s second biggest monolithic mount. From the northeast to southwest, this hill’s length is measured to be around 1,150 ft. The four sides of this hill is covered with some rocky structures like, the north is surrounded by open rugged ridges, the west has a complete pillar, and the south and east are flanked by serrated pile of boulders.

Bellary Fort is built on top of the Ballari Gudda or the Fort Hill. The Fort was built round the hill during Vijayanagara times by Hanumappa Nayaka. Hyder Ali, who took possession of the Fort from the Nayaka family in 1769, got the fort renovated and modified with the help of a French Engineer.

The fort is divided as the Upper Fort and the Lower Fort.

The Upper fort is a polygonal walled building on the summit, with only one approach, and has no accommodation for a garrison. There is only one way up to the fort, which is a winding rocky path amongst the boulders. It contains several cisterns, excavated in the rock. There is a small temple on the top. You can also see the remains of some cells and several deep pools of water. Muzzaffar Khan, the Nawab of Kurnool, was confined here from 1823 to 1864 for the murder of his wife.

The Lower fort lies at the eastern base of the rock and measures about half a mile in diameter, and probably had an arsenal and barracks. The entrance to the lower fort is via two gates, one each on the western and eastern sides. There is a temple dedicated to Hanuman just outside the lower fort on the easter side. Now the lower fort contains a number of public buildings, government offices, schools & educational institutions and churches.

Legend has it that Hyder Ali had the French Engineer hanged. It seems that the unfortunate engineer had overlooked the fact that the neighbouring Kumbara Gudda was taller than Ballari Gudda, thus compromising the secrecy & command of the fort. Some believe that he is buried near the East Gate of the fort while others believe it to be the grave of a Muslim holy man.

The Fort attracts plenty of visitors during the day and also towards the evening. Recently the fort has been illuminated on a 2 km stretch using 188 special lights.

Getting There

Bellary is well connected by road to different parts of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa. There are inter-city bus connection between major cities of Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra and Goa. The intra-city transport network is serviced by Bhuvana Vijaya Nagara Sarige a division of NEKRTC (North East Karnataka Road Transport Corporation) city buses connecting important points in the city.

There are two railway stations serving Bellary, both built during British rule. The city station (Bellary Junction) and the Cantonment station (Cantonment). The city is served by the Hubli - Guntakal line and the extended Bellary–Rayadurgam - Chitradurga line and falls under the jurisdiction of South Western Railway.

Bellary Airport and Vidyanagar Airport are the nearest airports to Bellary, both has had no scheduled services operating. The nearest international airport is Kempegowda International Airport, located at Bangalore, 286 km away from Bellary.

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