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| Maharajanadurga Hill |
Maharajanadurga is a hill located in Alur taluk of Hassan district. Having read about it previously, we wished to visit the same as we were around Hassan. We drove to Alur the next morning and tried locating this place on google maps but in vain. Since all our efforts (including inquiry with locals) to locate this place failed to yield any positive result, we decided to drive ahead and check with the locals in the neighboring village for any information. We met an auto-driver who on questioning seemed blank and absolutely had no idea what we were looking for! When we specified it was about a fort near by, he replied with the answer of Manjarabad, which is a popular fort and not the one we were interested in. As a last chance, we tried explaining the story related to a King who ruled that place and finally, he realized we were searching for a place named 'Magana Thinda Maharayanabetta' for which he gave us further directions.
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| Path Through the Undergrowth |
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| Third Gateway |
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| Lord Hanuman |
Following his directions we reached the village of Magge. A kindly person guided us towards the base of this hill, though reaching the same was quite tricky. We followed a route we found, passing through thorny shrubs and dense undergrowth until we reached the first gateway of the fort. We were glad to know that we were on the right path and equally astonished to witness the much intact fort walls. After we crossed four such gateways, the path led us to the top of the fort. Hereon, it was a steep climb to the hill top. We found remains of a few ruined structures here and there and broken pieces of pottery which resembled that of the Vijayanagar period.
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| Fort Wall Above Rock |
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| Soaked in History |
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| Fourth Gateway |
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| Fifth Gateway |
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| Steep Slope |
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| Bird's Eye View |
As per the local legend " There was a king by name Veera Raja, who was a brave ruler. It is said that his own people conspired against him by killing his son and making him eat his son's flesh. The king remained unaware of his actions until one day when he came to know of his eating his son's flesh, felt guilty and committed suicide by jumping from the top of the hill. Thus the hill got its name of "Magana thinda Maharajanadurga", translated as "the fort of the king who ate his son's flesh". This beautiful fort certainly requires some restoration and maintenance. Little is known about the history of this place apart from the information that the fort was built by the local Palegars though it seems to belong to the 16th century, post Vijayanagar era.
Great find!! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeletelooks like a wonderful walk, thanks for sharing this part of your world :)
ReplyDeleteBeautiful!
ReplyDeleteSeems to be a beautiful n peaceful place...
ReplyDeleteI long to go on trips to places like these. Love the post. Have a great day!
ReplyDeleteSeems a rare gem of a find steeped in mystery rather than history.
ReplyDeleteWonderful exploration.
ReplyDeleteI have to plan trips with you.
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you organize one. I am telling you there will be many to join.
This is one of the intersting place to visit.but one must have good courage as you will find lot of journey problem.once if you reach you will deffenetly enjoy the location
ReplyDeleteI have visited this place in 1975 October
You will also find one small cave and ghee storage pond and go with sufficient precaution
I am from a nearby town called Magge. This was our picnic place in our childhood, once or twice a year we used to scale this Rocky hill. Nearest four wheeler approach to get to this hill is 1 Km. Also around this place there was a cave . From the St Francis convent school Magge, staff and students and sometime family and friends used to take food and go there and used to have fun. Other rocky hills like Haydi kallu, though i never visited it, others were Parvatammana betta on the way between Magge and Ballupet, 10 km away Rangana betta (not rocky but green there was also small temple) . Karadi betta Coffee plantation Area ( You May need to obtain permission to go to this place from the estate owners there is a British Bungalow which is more than a 100 years old.)
ReplyDeleteThe people hesitant to visit this place because of wild elephants stray around in the surrounding forest and coffee plantation . One will not know when they are in the woods. You can check with the villagers around and make sure before you venture. there have been stray incidents of deaths. Some time you may come across bee hives but do not disturb them. They are indeed dangerous. Even if you find one or two close by do not attempt to chase by any means.
Carry First Aid box and Odomus, torch, ointment with you to protect from mosquito bites. If you are above forty years carry trekking poles. Before the sun sets you should get out of these places. The nearest lodging place you can find in Hassan or Sakleshpur.
Best time to venture is during the summer and winter as the rocks get slippery during monsoons.
These places could be developed as tourist spots and Rock climbing by the state government.