One thing that strikes in everyone’s mind when they hear the name Devanahalli is ‘ Bangalore International Airport’, but Devanahalli is also known for its own identity in Indian history. Devanahalli is a small town on the outskirts of Bengaluru, this place is very famous as it is the birthplace of the tiger of Mysore Tipu Sultan. Earlier Devanahalli was known as Devanadoddi or Devanapura. Devanahalli Fort is located 35 km towards the north of Bengaluru.
The fort was built in the year 1501 by Mallebyre Gowda and later came under the possession of Hyder Ali and his son Tipu Sultan, where the original mud fort turned into the present stone fort. Tipu renamed this fort as Yousafabad, which was never popular and finally in the year 1791, Lord Cornwallis laid siege to the fort and took possession during the Mysore War.
The structure of Devanahalli fort is very interesting, unlike other forts in Bengaluru which are built on top of rocky hills, Devanahalli Fort is built completely on flat grounds. The Muslims have made a great contribution to this fort by replacing square bastions by circular bastions, hence the fort has 12 semi-circular bastions. Each of the semi-circular bastions has a cabin at its two ends. Each of the cabins has cannon gun points. The entrances are decorated with plasterwork, are quite small but spacious enough for the horses to pass through. The walls of this fort are made out of ’Surkhi’, which is a mixture of lime and coarsely powdered bricks.
Devanahalli Fort: Birthplace Of Tipu Sultan
The inner side of the fortification is provided with a spacious battlement. There are many new temples and old ones constructed along with the building. The famous temple which was built along with the fort area, the Venugopalswamy Temple of the 16th century, which is in the Vijayanagara style and still the temple looks excellent and deities in it remarkable. You can also other temples near to this place, just a few distances from Venugopalswamy temple you can find Siddalingeshwara temple and Raghavendraswamy Math. A walk on the fortification give you an amazing experience, you can find the very old Chandramouleshwara Temple, and on the left of the main road stands another temple dedicated to Lord Anjaneya known as Sarovaranjaneya temple. There is also a beautiful Nanjundeshwara temple, which is a small building with Navagraha.
People who visit this place hardly know this place as the birthplace of Tipu Sultan, popularly known as Tiger of Mysore. The Tourists Authorities or the Archeological survey of India has to develop infrastructure around the area of Tipu’s birthplace so that many tourists can visit this place and our future generations will be aware and protective of this historical place.
Devanahalli is just a few hours drive away from Bengaluru, you can reach this place either from city buses or your own vehicle. Although the buildings inside the fort are ruined, the fort still remains as a historical heritage.