Kasturi Rangappa Nayaka Fort, Sira

The Kasturi Rangappa Nayaka Fort stands in Sira town, Tumkur district, on NH-48 about 123 km from Bengaluru. It is named after Kasturi Rangappa Nayaka, who held Sira as a palegar under the Vijayanagara Empire in the early 17th century and founded both town and fort. Legend says the site was chosen after the good omen of a hare chasing a hound. Before the work was finished a Bijapur army took Sira; Afzal Khan's force killed the Nayaka, and the new governor, Malik Husen, completed the fort and built a mud wall round the town. Sira later passed to the Mughals, Marathas, Wadeyars and the British.

Built of stone and brick, the fort spreads over 197.5 acres and contains many historic monuments. A moat and a glacis once protected it. Restoration by the state Archaeology Department drew criticism from INTACH after bulldozers damaged original brickwork, and heavy machinery was then stopped; a 90-metre margin now separates the fort from the widened NH-69.