Raichur Fort

Raichur Fort occupies a hilltop in the heart of Raichur in north Karnataka. Defences stood here from the time of the Chalukyas of Badami and were renewed under the Chalukyas of Kalyani, but the present fort dates from 1294, in the Kakatiya period. An inscription records that Raja Vithala built it on the orders of Raja Gona Gannaya Reddivaru, a minister of Queen Rudramma Devi.

The Raichur Doab passed between many powers, and the fort grew with each. The Bahmani Sultanate, which prized it for its strategic position, enlarged it considerably; the Vijayanagara king Krishnadevaraya built the north entrance to celebrate one of his conquests; and the Gadwal Samasthanam later made use of it too. Inscriptions in several languages are a notable feature of the fort. In March 2011, engineers cleaning the north-west wall came upon a 13th-century cannon and 95 balls of red granite.