Gummanayaka fort was an accidental find while looking at the google maps. Very little information was available on internet about the place. The place looked nice and I added to my backlog.
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| View from the temple on the fort |
Last week, when our grand trekking plans fell apart, me, Subbu and Girish looked for some places for a day trek near Bengaluru. I then remembered this little known place which when put across the table was immediately accepted by everyone.
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| Fort seen from the base |
The drive to Gummanayaka fort would have been uneventful. But as we were driving on the village road after Bagepalli, at a turn a two wheeler guy came at a very high speed from the opposite direction and lost his control. He would have directly rammed to our car but a bike in front of us took the hit. The impact was heavy and the guy fell just couple of feet in front my car. We were totally shocked to react. The guy seemed motionless. The two people who were hit had minor bruises and managed to get up. They were so agitated that they started hurling invectives on the unconscious person who was riding bike carelessly. Questions were running in my head like “what should we do?”, “call an ambulance?”, “What if he is dead?”. After couple of minutes, the guy showed signs of waking up. By then locals had come and started taking control of the situation. We decided to proceed further. I do not understand why people drive so carelessly putting their and others life at risk.
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| View from the fort on the way to Gummanayakana palya |
The Gummanayakanapalya village looked backward and uninteresting. We parked at an empty place near an old temple. It would have been centuries old but the villagers had turned into a cowshed.
The village was a mix of Kannada and Telugu speaking people. They understood that we were looking for the fort and showed us the direction. The entrance of the fort gave clear indication about its condition. It looked like the structure could fall apart any time!!
The wall of the fort and also on the temple had some erotic sculptures. Something that is not a regular feature in other forts.
The fort had buildings with Indo Islamic art. It might be the construction after the fall of Vijaynagar empire. The villagers had also converted some of the land into fields. There is absolutely no maintenance in the fort.
We met a very old woman on the way. She was explaining about the history of the fort. But unfortunately she only spoke Telugu, the language which we could understand only with subtitles!! I took a video of her. Hopefully will get it translated from my friends!!
The climb to the fort was not at all difficult as the steps were present most of the places. One thing we noticed was the precariously placed(?) rocks. Some of these rocks were supported by stones while few were almost ready to slide down. We thought of testing but could not muster courage to do so!!
On the way to the top was a temple. It was a nice place to sit and view the surroundings. Interesting to see solar panels on the top of the temple!!
The last gate before we reached the top. As it started raining, we spent a long time in the gate discussing about various things. It was a long time since we had trekked together.
The top was a rocky area where the traces of quarrying was present. It would have been for the construction of the fort. The rocky protrusion on the top was interesting. We also saw a very deep well at the central portion of the fort.
The views from the top was good. As expected!!
View of Gummanayakana palya and the road leading to it.
After spending a good amount of time, we got down from the fort. On the way back, we had a quick look at the Kalyani.
Information
Gummanayakana Palya is about 130 km from Bengaluru. From Bagepalli on Hyderabad road, take a turn towards Chelur. The fort is said to be contracted in 13th century by the “palegara” of the area, Gumma Nayaka who was under the control of Vijaynagar. After the fall of Vijaynagar, the control of the fort changed many times but today it is in decay and total negligence.
Vineeta Yashswi
Lovely…
aravindgj
Vineeta,
Thanks.
Unknown
One day trip it's like super nd lovely
Badrinath
Can we reach this by bus
Bayyareddy G
If u give me a chance I can share more information regarding this place, thank you
aravindgj
Thank you. Please do share the information.
IRSHAD AHMED
Thanks for such a wonderful pictures and detailed info.
aravindgj
Thank you.
Prasanta Baruah
I had visited the place after going through the article of yours and others. My experience at this place is published in my blog, do visit if when you find time 🙂 https://ophiophagus.assamonnet.org
aravindgj
Thank you.