|
|
The fort is situated 45-km from
Anantapur. Gooty fort is one of
the oldest hill forts of Andhra Pradesh.
As the gateway to the south Gooty Fort was coveted by all rulers from the
days of the later Vijayanagar Kings till its occupation by British. It has
not yet been exactly established as to who constructed this fort.
The earliest inscription is in Kannada and Sanskrit, and is assigned to
about the 7th century. An inscription refers to a fort, 'Gadha', while an
inscription of Bukka, the Vijayanagar monarch refers to it as the 'King of
Forts'. The Marathas under Murari Rao conquered it.
The 'Gooty Kaifiyat' records that fort was captured by Mir Jumla and was
subsequently under the charge of Qutub Shahi chiefs. It was taken over by
Haider Ali in 1773 and eventually fell into the British hands. After the
attack of British Col. Browser, who took over the fort, found it to be
commanded by a Zeruwar Khan, a Brahmin who became Muslim.
The fort is situated at a height of 300m above the plains in Gooty. The
citadel of the fort is constructed on the westernmost circle of hillocks.
It is a huge precipitous mass of bare rock and towers over the adjacent
ones. The fort is approached by a paved path leading first to an outlying
spur strongly fortified and known in former days as 'Mar Gooty'. After
passing through the fortifications, the pathway winds upward round steep
sides of huge rock and reaches the summit where the citadel or 'qila' is
situated.
The Form
The fort is built in shape of a shell and having 15 forts with 15 main
doors ('Mukhadwaralu'). The fortifications include a series of walls
connected by 14 gateways flanked by bastions. None of the buildings in the
fort is of any architectural importance. There are two edifices,
apparently a gymnasium and a powder magazine, and a small pavilion of
polished lime stone called Morari Rao's seat, on the edge of the cliff.
This commands excellent view of the town below and is said to have been a
favourite resort of Morari Rao. There are also number of wells in the
clefts of the rock. One of them is believed to have been connected with a
stream at the foot of the hill.
Road: Tourists can access this place from Anantapur, which is well connected by APSRTC buses with most of the cities of the State. It runs buses daily to this place from Anantapur. Cycle Rickshaws and autos are available.
Hotels are available at
Anantapur.
){kind=link}