Jaladurga - A remote river island fort

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I had established a temporary base in Raichur and daily I rode out to explore nearby places. While chatting, the locals got me interested in checking out Mudgal and Jaladurga forts. My previous day's ride to Deogarh and Gabbur on rough under-prepared gravelly roads had taken a heavy toll on my body, hence I decided to go by Government bus to explore these forts.

A mistake...

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Routes look easy on Maps. 

My idea was to go to Mudgal first and then onto Jaladurga and return to Lingsugur to catch the evening bus to Raichur. 
On arriving at Lingsugur town I found out there is no direct route between Mudgal and Jaladurga, one has to return to Lingsugur and head to Jaladurga. And it was already noon! I resigned to the fact that I had to give Jaladurga a miss and headed to Mudgal.

But providentially,help was at hand..

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Mudgal Fort (and the town inside) was in grand decay - well, I'll cover this later.

By the time I had explored the fort and returned to the bus-station it was around 3 PM, I wanted to slake my thirst and headed to the nearest stall. The owner of the stall Mr. Rashid started a conversation with me. After the initial round of expected questions like 'Where are you from?', 'Why are you not married?', 'How much you earn?' etc. we got talking real.

When he heard that I am riding the Deccan solo and I came to Mudgal to do a photo- shoot he was thrilled.

And he said "Saab, Paisa degha tho b koi nahin aatha hai idar! Aur aap khud ka paisa karch karke aaye ho. Main bahut khush hua."

(Rough translation : Sir, even if money is paid people don't come here! And you have spent your own money for this trip. I am very happy")

When I told him how disappointed I was that due to time constraint I wouldn't be able to cover the Fort at Jaladurga, he immediately held his hand up to silence me, and began talking to someone on the cellphone. 
Then he said :"Saab, Aap ka kam ho gaya." (- your work is done)

The good Samaritan had spoken to his auto-rickshaw friends and had convinced them to take me directly to Jaladurga through a country road which he claimed existed. I thanked him profusely and our Rickshaw took off. 

And we got lost... 

After a few of wrong turns and reverses we finally could sight the fort at Jaladurga in the distance.

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I must say the location of the fort is spectacular. And the surroundings look like some Giant had smashed and pulverized few mountains to smithereens - there were mass of boulders and stones all over.

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I checked the internet but very little has been written about this picturesque fort. Wikipedia has a brief entry:

Jaladurga (ಜಲದುರ್ಗ) is a fortified village in Raichur district in the Indian state of Karnataka, about 20 km northeast of Lingsugur town. The Adil Shahi Kings of Bijapur built the fort. Meadows Taylor has given a fine description of this fort in his book, Noble Queen (1874).

The Krishna River cascades down here and is known as the Jaladurga Falls.

This is one of the famous tourist destinations in this region. It has natural beauty with thrilling views. Jaladurga can be reached by taking right after 8 km from Narayanapura Dam.

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By the time we reached the high ramparts of the fort the sun was going down fast. I shot as many snaps as possible in the fading light.

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Most of the gateways, structures etc. within the fort have gone to ruins..even navigating around was a challenge..

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Rumor has it that captured enemies were thrown off the rampart onto the boulders below at this spot:

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Even my Rickshaw friends were amazed at the views on offer all around:

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We took a final look at the river forking it's way around the fort and headed back to Lingsugur.

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Comments

  1. Thanks a lot. We are visiting jaladurga and your post has been very helpful.

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