Fort Bhairavadurga, Kuduru Betta

 Ever since we read about the existence of  Navadurgas (Nine Forts) around Bangalore, our hunt for these were on. It is rather surprising that information on the Navadurgas is limited along with the ambiguity about the nine forts and the basis of them being called as Navadurgas. We were confident about eight forts out of the nine namely Savanadurga, Kabbaladurga, Huthridurga, Devarayanadurga, Makalidurga, Channarayanadurga, Nandidurga and Huliyurdurga. The ninth one listed, Bandallidurga, did not sound convincing since its location ( M M hills) somehow seemed to be  far away from the Bangalore circuit. When we read about  Bhairavadurga , we thought that it fits this list perfectly, though not sure. Not much of history of this place is known except that it was built by Kempe Gowda II and later was conquered by Tippu Sultan and the British.

Bhairavadurga Hill

The Path

 Every now and then, we were haunted by our incomplete trek to Fort Bhairavadurga. On a early Sunday morning, we decided to conquer this fort second time around and set out towards exploring Bhairavadurga. Having chosen a wrong path along with a wrong time for climbing this hill last time, we ensured all was well during our ascent this time. We inquired about the right route to the hill top from locals . We began our climb slowly and steadily and after some time, we came across a fleet of steps which gave us some relief since the trek until then was quite tiresome.  The end of flight lead us to the first tier of the Fort. Hereon, we followed the trail up to the next tier and continued until  we reached a spot which looked tricky to climb without any support as it was very steep. There were remains of  iron rods embedded in the rock which probably served as a support system for climbing. After crossing this, it was a leisure walk to the top tier.  There is a water spring or Dhonne (in Kannada) in between two massive rocks on the hill top with well laid steps. The water in this spring never dries up even in the severest of the summers. There are big boulders and a few ruined structures on the top .The views from the hill top were outstanding.

Final Tier of the Fort

 Spring (or Dhonne in Kannada)

Balancing Act

Boulders and the Ruined Structure

Base of a Grinding Stone

Bird's eye view of Kudoor village

Glass/ Poly-House

Lord Anjaneya

There is a cave temple dedicated to lord Bhairaveshwara on the other side of the hill . The Antaragange temple in Kudoor village is considered to be more ancient than the Fort. Unfortunately, this temple was closed during our visit.

View of Shivagange

Crumbling Walls 

Panoramic View

Sun Basking

 Directions from Bangalore - NH 48 - Solur - Right Turn -Kudoor - Left Turn - Travel a kilometer, then take a Left Turn to find an Arch Entrance - Reach the Fort Base
 Distance from Bangalore - 55 km

References:
1. Navadurgas 
2. Deccan Herald
3. Fortmapper

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