Koppal Fort

A granite hill fort above Koppal town, held in turn by the Chalukyas, Bahmanis, Vijayanagara Empire, Bijapur Sultanate, Marathas and Hyder Ali — a compact record of the northern Deccan's centuries-long contest for control of this corridor.

Koppal Fort occupies a rocky outcrop directly above the town it names, its two concentric rings of dressed-stone ramparts enclosing bastions, gateways and gun platforms built up in successive phases rather than in a single campaign. The lower fort and the citadel above it reflect the different regimes that reworked the site to their own military needs.

Control of Koppal passed from the Chalukyas of Kalyani through the Kakatiyas and into the orbit of the Vijayanagara Empire, before the fort was taken by the Bijapur Adil Shahis in the sixteenth century. It later came under the Maratha Peshwas and then Hyder Ali and Tipu Sultan of Mysore, who strengthened its defences, before it passed to the British following the Anglo-Mysore Wars — a succession that makes the fort a physical timeline of Deccan power struggles.

Getting there: Koppal town sits on the Hosapete–Gadag rail line and NH50, roughly 30 km from Hampi. The fort hill rises directly above the town centre, a short climb from the post office.

The site itself

Where to get your stamp cancelled

Sources