Devanahalli Fort

Devanahalli Fort stands on the northern edge of Bengaluru, in the town of Devanahalli. It began in 1501 as a mud fort put up by Malla Byre Gowda, a chieftain under Vijayanagara whose family, according to local tradition, had come from Kanchipuram after their leader Rana Byre Gowda was told in a dream to settle here. His line held it until the mid-18th century, when Nanjarajaiah, the Dalwai of Mysore, seized it; it then passed to Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan, who renamed the town Yousafabad, a name that never stuck. Lord Cornwallis captured it in 1791 during the Anglo-Mysore wars.

The oval enclosure covers about 20 acres. Its granite walls carry 12 semicircular bastions with gun points, and the east and west gates are decorated with cut plaster work. Inside are Hindu temples and remains of a residence of Hyder Ali. Tipu Sultan was born close by, a spot now marked by a small memorial.