March 8, 2013
This fort was on our list during Raichur-Yadgir tour but we ran out of time on that day. Today we just finished a tour of Shirguppa district of Bellary district and entered Sindhanur district to see two forts- Mukkunda and Roudkunda.
It was close to 4-30 PM when we reached Mukkunda village, the fort was visible since it stand on a rocky hillock. Its a tiny fort, one of the smallest I've seen. As drive through the village I notice two ancient temples.. could be Vijayanagara time construction.
That's the fort gateway. This is an indication of presence of a wall around hillock.
As seen from the inside, the passage is hidden from view.
We asked few people if they could show us their fort. All would tell how to go but none were willing to come. Somehow two boys- Rohit and Virupakshi -agreed to lead us. The path was filthy and stinky, the worst I'd ever experienced. Anyway, we have trained ourselves to ignore unpleasantness.
Part of the fort wall has collapsed here exposing the interior.
These rocks have steep faces, almost vertical.
The 30' climb to the top was really tricky. Without the boys help we might have struggled.
Looking to the east. This is the fort summit, a oval shaped plateau.
Looking towards west. A small shelter at the end might have been sentry barrack.
Virupakshi the boy in blue shirt slithered through a narrow gap in the rocks and reached the lower level and then clambered back to the top level.
Part of Mukkunda village.
Having seen the fort, we climbed down. this is the full length view of the fort. Lying about carelessly are several ancient sculptures. We felt bad to see the Shiva Linga and a column with inscription (see inset).
Closer look at the inscription.
This is the inside of the gateway, I don't remember seeing this sleeping man on our way in. The boys found it funny that I was shooting a sleeping man :-)
We tanked our hosts and rushed towards Roudkunda, about 20 kms from here. I did not want to miss climbing Roudkunda hill for the second time.
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