FORTIFICATION

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Fortifications are military constructions and buildings designed for defence in warfare and
military bases. We have constructed defensive works for many thousands of years, in a
variety of increasingly complex designs. The term is derived from the Latin word fortis
("strong") and facere ("to make").
Many military establishments are known as forts, although they are not always fortified.
Larger forts may class as fortresses; smaller ones formerly often bore the name of fortalices.
The word fortification can also refer to the practice of improving an area's defence with
defensive works. City walls are fortifications but not necessarily called fortresses.
A defensive wall is a fortification used to protect a city or settlement from potential
aggressors. In ancient to modern times, they were used to enclose settlements. Generally,
these are referred to as city walls or town walls, although there were also walls, such as the
Great Wall of China, Hadrian's Wall, and the metaphorical Atlantic Wall, which extended far
beyond the borders of a city and were used to enclose regions or mark territorial
boundaries. Beyond their defensive utility, many walls also had important symbolic
functions - representing the status and independence of the communities they embraced.

CHITRADURGA
The old walled Town houses the impressive fort, built on the north eastern base of a cluster
of rocky hills, qualifying it to be a Giridurga, or hill fortress. Known as Yelu Suthina Kote, the
fort is fortified by seven circular walls, three of which are on the ground and four on the hill.
Chitradurga fort is said to have had 19 majestic doors, 38 smaller doors, 35 special entry
points and four secret entrances. The fort is entered through four gateways of the
outermost wall. The foothills of the fort constitute the main residential area of the town.
History:
A rock cut edict of Emperor Ashoka, near Bharamagiri reveals that Chitradurga was part of
the Mauryan Empire dating to the 3rd century B.C. After the fall of the Mauryans, this land
was under the rule of royal dynasties like the Rashtrakutas, Chalukyas and Hoysalas. But it
really achieved fame, as a feudatory state of the Vijayanagar Empire, under the dynastic rule
of the Nayakas or “Paleyars”. The most eminent of the feudatory chieftains, was Madakari
Nayaka, who after the fall of the Vijayanagar Empire, declared his suzerainty and
consolidated his power. This hill fortress built by the Nayakas during the Vijayanagar era,
became their stronghold later. In 1779, the fort was captured by Haider Ali, who along with
his son Tipu Sultan, was responsible for its expansion and strengthening. After Tipu Sultan’s
defeat by the British, the fort came under the rule of the Royal Mysore family.
It is known as the "stone fortress" (Kallina Kote). The landscape looks much like a
mischievous giant's playground, with boulders thrown around, forming silhouettes against
the sky. According to a story in the Epic Mahabharatha, a man-eating gaint named
Hidimbasura lived on the Chitradurga hill and was a source of terror to everyone around.
When the Pandavas came with their mother Kunti in the course of their exile, Bhima had a
duel with Hidimba. Hidimba was slain by Bhima and peace returned to the area. Legend has
it the boulders were part of the arsenal used during that duel. In fact, the boulders on which
major part of the city rests belong to the oldest rock formation in the country.
Timmana Nayaka a chieften under the Vijayanagar empire rose to the rank of governor of
Chitradurga as a reward for his excellence in military achievements, from the Vijayanagara
ruler. This was the beginning of the rule of the Nayakas of Chitradurga. His son Obana
Nayaka is known by the name Madakari Nayaka 1588 CE. Madakari Nayaka's son Kasturi
Rangappa 1602 succeeded him and consolidated the kingdom to rule peacefully. As he had
no heirs to succeed him, his adopted son, the apparent heir was enthroned but was killed in
few months.
Chikkanna Nayaka 1676 the brother of Madakari Nayaka II sat on the throne, and his
brother succeeded him with the title Madakari Nayaka III in 1686. The unwillingness of
Dalawayis to accept Madakari Nayaka III's rule gave an opportunity to one of their distant
relatives, Bharamappa Nayaka to ascend the throne in 1689. He is known as the greatest of
the Nayaka rulers. Somehow, the subjects of Chitradurga did not experience a good reign of
the successive rulers as they ruled on the throne for very brief periods. The Hiri Madakari
Nayaka IV 1721, Kasturi Rangappa Nayaka II 1748, Madakari Nayaka V 1758 ruled this area
but there is not much to mention of their rule.
Obavva
During the reign of Madakari Naayaka, the city was besieged by the troops of Haider
Ali. A chance sighting of a woman entering the fort through a crack in the rocks led to a
clever plan by Hyder Ali to send his soldiers through the crack. The gaurd on duty had just
gone home for his lunch break and his wife Obavva was his temporary replacement.
Noticing the soldiers emerging out of this crack, Obavva was not nervous. Using the Onake
(wooden stick used for pounding grain) she killed and quietly moved the dead, so that
hundreds of them entered and fell, without raising any suspicion. The guard, Obavva's
husband was shocked, when he returned from his lunch break. His wife was standing there
with a blood stained Onake and strewn around her were the bodies of soldiers.
Culture:
Various festivals are celebrated in and around the Chitradurga fort. An annual festival in
Chitradurga is organized every year in Thipperudraswamy’s Temples of Nayakanahatti
(dedicated to sage) in the month of phalgun (monsoon).
The main language spoken in Chitradurga is Kannada.
Laxmi Tiffin Room, the most popular restaurant in Chitradurga located near the fort. Its
famous for its masala dosa and khali dosa. As people famously say, ‘it’s the MTR of
Chitradurga’ has been around for a couple of years now and it’s the most visited restaurant
followed by aishwarya fort located near the highway.

Climate:
The climate here is considered to be a local steppe climate. During the year, there is little
rainfall in Chitradurga. The Köppen-Geiger climate classification is BSh. The temperature
here averages 25.3 °C. The rainfall here averages 576 mm.
April is the warmest month of the year. The temperature in April averages 29.4 °C. In
December, the average temperature is 22.3 °C. It is the lowest average temperature of the
whole year.

Materials:
Building with earth
Mud is popular because it is easy to work with, cheap and easily available. And most
important, buildings made of it are strong and stay cool during summers. Many houses in
this region are still built of mud, using age-old techniques.
Preparing mud for construction is - take soil, add water and knead it by stamping on it. You
can add broken pottery (like used in the walls here), straw or even jaggery to reduce
shrinkage and increase strength. When mud is of right consistency, place it directly on the
wall base in layers, like here. Or, shape into bricks, dry and then use to build walls.
The mint's walls were made by throwing mud between two planks and compacting it. When
the layer hardened, the boards were moved along and the process repeated.
The building - once a mint - still stands because it was built to resist water damage. Because
the base is most vulnerable to splashing water, these walls have stone plinths. Plastered
water channels safely carry rain water from roof to the ground without splashing. The roof
probably had large overhangs to prevent splashing. And you can still see traces of the lime
plaster further protected the walls from water.

Figure 1 showing mint plaster and the base been made of stone
http://karnatakatravel.blogspot.in/2016/08/ruins-of-darbar-hall-and-treasury-at.html

one looks at the walls and can see that a stone base supports the upper portion. Going by
the construction process, we can see this wall has 5 layers here. Remnants of lime plaster
can be seen to the right of this picture (figure 1).
Mud wall building and making pottery are closely related. The dirt used in this wall has been
carefully selected. The mud is dried thoroughly, then powdered and sieved to obtain a
consistent powder. Then its mixed with water and mixed properly until the entire mass is
uniformly consistent. This process is labour intensive, every stage is closely supervised for
quality and also security to prevent sabotage.
When the mud dries up, it becomes very hard, as hard as stone. It is said that even a
crowbar cannot do much damage to these walls.
The stones used in forts construction are mostly long pieces which itself makes it a massive
structure of stone.
The fort has some natural rock art. Elephants, frogs, ships and more are shaped among the
rocks. There are temples (fourteen to be exact), granaries, water tanks, oil pits, watch
towers that are all made of stone.

Figure 2 elephant rock art

BIBLIOGRAPHY:
http://www.crystalinks.com/Fortress.html
http://karnatakatravel.blogspot.in/2016/08/ruins-of-darbar-hall-and-treasury-at.html
http://barry-lewis.com/research/chitradurga/
http://www.chitradurga.nic.in/history.html
http://www.world66.com/asia/southasia/india/karnataka/chitradurga/history
http://www.wikipedia.com/chitradurga