Mirjan Fort

Mirjan Fort stands on a bend of the Aganashini River at Tadri Creek in Uttara Kannada, 8 kilometres north of Kumta and 21 kilometres from Gokarna; a series of broad steps leads inside. Its origins are disputed. One version credits Rani Chennabhairadevi of Gersoppa, a Jain queen who ruled for 54 years under the Vijayanagara Empire and lived here, whom the Portuguese called the Pepper Queen; pepper, saltpetre and betel nut left Mirjan's port for Surat. Another names the Bijapur noble Sharif-ul-Mulk as builder or restorer, and the Archaeological Survey of India dates the building to 1608–1640.

The fort changed hands often. The Keladi queen Chennamma took the country up to Mirjan in 1676, the Marathas seized the fort in 1757 during unrest at Bednur, and a British force under Major Torriano captured it between 1783 and 1784. Some 18th-century writers identified Mirjan with Muziris, the trading port named by Ptolemy.