Skandagiri, also known as Kalavara Durga, is an ancient mountain fortress located approximately 50km from Bangalore city, and 3km from Chikballapur. It is off Bellary Road (NH-7 Hyderabad-Bangalore Highway), and overlooks Nandi Hills, Muddenahalli and Kanivenarayanapura . The peak is at an altitude of about 1350 meters. It is known as the "adventurer's paradise" and features a beautiful night trek, altitude camping, stunning sunrise, and serene and ocean like clouds.
The village at the foothill of th mountain is called Kandavara Halli and the hill is called Kandavarahalli Betta (aka Skandagiri and Kalwarahalli Betta).
Skandagiri is one of the hill forts in the Nandi Hill ranges. The dilapidated walls of Tipu Sultan's fort can be seen even today . This was built to be a sturdy, self sufficient fortress. It was built several centuries ago by local rulers and was later held by the Maratha Empire. Tipu Sultan reportedly captured this fort from a local ruler by bribing two milk women who used to supply milk to the ruler to poison him and his men to death. Tippu used the fort as a military base in his fierce fight against the British. It surrendered to British troops on 19 October 1791 and was later dismantled. It remained in British hands until the peace treaty of 1792, which concluded the third Anglo-Mysore war.
There are 2 caves, one starts from the base and as per locals, leads to the temple and fort at peak and another one is somewhere midway which is about 30 feet only. Both are yet unexplored, especially the first one. Locals say that there are pythons in the caves and have swallowed their goats who wander in the caves. Supposedly, there are 6 Samadhis in that cave and thus the area is considered holy.
No comments:
Post a Comment