Hosdurg Fort

Hosdurg Fort, 'new fort', also known as Kanhangad Fort, stands on a low hillock in Kanhangad, Kasaragod district. Somashekara Nayaka of the Keladi Nayakas of Ikkeri built it in the early 18th century to hold northern Kerala after defeating the Kolathiri chiefs, and from its height the Nayakas could watch the coastal trade routes. Hyder Ali's forces overran the area in 1763, and the East India Company later ran local administration from the fort until it declined in the mid-19th century.

The fort is built almost wholly of dressed laterite set in lime. Its roughly square plan has round bastions at the corners, linked by wide wall-walks, and a rectangular watchtower on the south-eastern rampart is reached by a ramp cut in the stone. Traces of vaulted rooms and paved courtyards survive inside. South-west of the fort is the Poonkavanam Karpooreswara Temple to Shiva, also built by the Nayakas, and the Nithyanandasram with its 45 caves is nearby.