Malkheda Fort

Malkheda Fort stands at Malkhed, roughly 40 km southeast of Kalaburagi city. The town, known in earlier times as Manyakheta, was the capital of the Rashtrakuta kings and a busy centre of commerce, learning and faith in the south. The fort is the main surviving trace of that city.

Its outer walls rise to around 20 feet and are built of local limestone blocks, the Shahabad stone of the area. Four entrances and 52 bastions guard the circuit; the main gate is flanked by two big bastions and still holds fragments of its old wooden doors. Watch towers along the ramparts are climbed by tight, winding stairs. Within the walls lie the ruins of a palace, pieces of cannon, a Hanuman temple, a Jain basadi with a Tirthankara image, a Jumma mosque and several dargahs, most of them now broken, a sign of faiths that once lived side by side.