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Defence Architecture in Early North Karnataka c13: Chapter - V

Defence Architecture in Early North Karnataka c13

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Contents

Chapter - V

c13.1

| (i) | The fort in Māḷkheḍ - the Description and the critical analysis. |
| (ii) | Appendix |

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Malkhēd (Lat. 17⁰-15' & Long. 77⁰-7') is the most enchanting and inspiring name in the history of early Karnāṭaka to her people and also the scholars of history, for it was the prestigious capital of one of the most powerful dynasties with enlightened rulers patronising on a grand level the art and letters, namely the Rāṣṭrakūtas. But today, the place (Fig. 34) is nothing but a small village with mounds of ruins within two forts. There is not a single monument of the Rāṣṭrakūtas of any type worth the name excepting a small Jaina Basadi (Nemināth temple) of the usual type and style of the period. People as well as scholars, who with some have some ideas about the glory of Maḷkhēd, visit the place, will find themselves in a state of utter disillusion and deep disappointment. This is a hard fact.

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Malkhed was of course subjected to series of unspeakable destructions by the Cholas and later by the Muslims during the Sultanate and Moghul periods. But when we recall the picture of Hampi, the capital of Vijayanagar rulers, which was subjected to ruthless and systematic destruction over months together or Halebidu or Dwārasamudra plundered by Malik Kafur, it is very difficult to explain the total destruction of even temples not leaving even a detectable trace, by the Chōlas and the Muslims. In fact, the present state of preservation of the place makes an enquiring onlooker to think, if the place was really of the Rastrakutas.

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Within the fort is at present a Jaina temple (Fig. 35, Schedule No. 9) mentioned above and a few sculptures, door-frames, pillars of some temples of the period scattered here and there or used as building material in the fort walls. It is, therefore, at present, almost impossible to know from the ruins about the probable date of the beginning of using the place as the capital on the one hand and the construction of the fort on the other. One has to, therefore, be content with study of the fort alone and to try to determine the probable period of the construction of the fort.

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The place has a long past history. On the left bank of the river Kāginā (Fig. 34) which forms the western boundary of the locality, are traced remains of an early historical habitation (I.A., 1968-69, P.67). According to Jaina work, 'Samyakwa Saptati, its author Hari Bhadra suri, was in Mal̄khed̄ during 1st century A.D.; it was a centre of Swetambara Sect. Also another jaina saint Konde-Kundacharya is said to have visited the place at the beginning of the Christian era.

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Malkhed was raised into political prominence by the Rāṣtrakūṭas, probably in the early part of the 9th century A.D. (Altekar,A.S., 1967, PP. 46-48). The existing outerfort was then constructed and then again some time after the destruction of the fort (Ibid., 1967, P.124), when it was made again, the Head Quarters of a division by the Muslim conquerers (Yazdani, G., 1960, PP. 290, 310, 320-27) another fort was built within the existing one. Let us recount the political history at relevant places below.

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Malkhed is located on the left bank of river Kāginā, a tributory to the Bhîma (Fig.34). The river Kāginā flows southwards roughly (Illn. D 1). Away from the left bank of the river, there is another small rivulet flowing westwards and then takes a sudden turn southwards and then south-westwards and joins another longer rivulet. The latter flows westwards and joins the river Kagina. It is in the ares, that is mostly surrounded by the two rivulets and the Kāginā, was located Malḵhēḍ (Fig.35). The whole area is a plain land with thick black cotton soil cover overlying the laminated sedimentary rock beds consisting of lime stones etc. of the Bhīma series. Comparatively speaking in the whole region the area where Malḵhēḍ is located is peninsula surrounded by waters on three sides and thus has considerably the natural defensive charecter. Probably it is this aspect of the site that had made the imperial rulers to select it to found their capital.

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The Fort: (Fig. 35)

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The fort is raised in the area closely surrounded by the rivulet on the east and south and the river Kāginā on the west. Now, on the northern side nearly half the length of the eastern side from the north-east corner, there is no channel or rivulet, hence a moat was dug immediately by the side of the fort on the northern side and on eastern side connecting the river Kāginā to the rivulet on the eastern side (Fig.35). The river water flows through the moat into the rivulet. Thus, while the fort has natural defensive river and the rivulets as moats on the western, southern and half the eastern side, the moat fulfils the need on the remaining sides. What is particularly noteworthy, here, is the exploitation of the natural resources of the water, with minimum effort for providing moats round the fort (Illn. D 1) on the exterior. Superficially speaking, one does not immediately realise this aspect, therefore one may not find any consideration in the selection of the site, in the whole region, which is plain over a vast area.

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The width of the moat is 20 m. and the depth 7.5 m. which are almost equal to those of the rivulet, to which it joins. The river Kagina on the west, which is right at the foot of the fort, is wide (Illn. D 1).

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There are two forts: (Fig.35) a large outer fort at the ground level, and within it, a small fort on the artificially elevated ground. Architecturally too, the outer and the inner differ considerably. It appears that the outer is much earlier than the inner. This point will be discussed in detail below.

The Outer Fort:

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The outer fort is irregularly polygonal in plan. However, roughly the plan is semi-circular with rectangular knob like projection from the imaginary diametre side (Fig. 35). Consequently, outside the fort,at the North-west (Illn. D 1) and south-west corners are narrow open spaces surrounded by the river Kagina and the moat or rivulets on the two sides. The plan, therefore, is peculiar; but it appears to have been deliberately resorted to. The fort measures east-west 550 metres and North south 640 metres along with its principle axis. There are altogether 39 bastions (Illn. D 4) on the exterior side.

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On the exterior side of the fort, there is a narrow space of varying width up to the moat rivulets and the moat (Fig. 35). This is altogether another peculiar feature, for usually in the other forts of earlier or later period, the moats run just by the side of the fort.

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The fort has got two exits, one (Fig.36) and (Illn.D 2) near the north-west corner looking west and another (Fig.35) in the middle of the eastern side looking east. They are not in alignment. On the exterior side of the fort are rectangular bastions (Illn. D 4),numbering 39, as already mentioned above, each measuring 5 x 3 metres at regular intervals of 30 to 40 metres. The width of the wall is 3 metres and the wall rises to a height of 6 metres. It has clayey earth and other waste material in the core and stone encasing on the sides. The wall is tapering towards the top. The top part, for almost all the length, is in ruins, excepting the western side. The parapet wall, that is extant at the top of the western wall, appears to have been renovated; hence it is not possible to know the architecture of the top most part of the fort.

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On the western side, at the level of the foot of the fort wall on the left bank of the river Kagina, the foundation has been strengthened by providing horizontal offsets of boulders, since this part is directly hit constantly by the river water. This is a feature that is functionally necessitated in the case of ground forts located on the low lying lands generally flooded by overflowing river. In our survey of the forts, in the chronological order, this has been met with for the first time in this fort.

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The western entrance (Illn. D2) has got a gate of about 2 metres wide leading to the passage of about 3 metres wide. Outside the gate, on both sides are semi-circular projections fla thinking the gate (Fig.36). On the inner side of the gate,in the northern wing of the entrance is a guard room and on the other side of the wing, a flight of steps leading to the fort wall. On the inner side of the southern wing, is another guard room in ruins. The fort walls ending in the wings are not in <mark>a</mark>lignment.

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As mentioned above, the plan of the fort (Fig.35) is so peculiar, that it leaves roughly rectangular open spaces at the north-western and south-western corners enclosed by the rivulet, the moat and the river on the other sides. Superficially leaving so much space between the fort and the rivulet/moat/river looks as though purposeless and even perhaps unwise. But, the builders with accumulated experience in war-fare would not be so innocent and casual. Of course, the idea, behind leaving the spaces, of the builders is not evident from the remains, but a careful observation of the relative positions of the rivulets, river and the fort would make one to surmise reasonably thus. It is probably to entice the enemies attacking the fort to get into these spaces, where they could plan to scale the fort without difficulty. Once they get into the narrow spaces, soldiers from the fort can incessantly attack them, taking them by surprise and creating confusion among the enemy soldiers. The latter cannot quickly escape from incessant attack by the soldiers on the fort, for they are obstructed by the river, rivulets and the moat. Perhaps, there does not seem to be any other explanation for the peculiar feature under study. Thus, here probably we find a new way of successfully attacking the enemy.

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Citadel:

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Within the fort, there was every probability of another wall across connecting the points at the junction of the knob like projection and the semi-circle. The wall is zig-zag. It has main entrance looking north-east wards (Fig.37). The area therefore, enclosed by this wall, was meant for the rulers and their important officials. It measures 330 metres east-west, 440 metres north-south. This area can very well be enclosed by the second wall on the eastern side and therefore may be described as citadel. Here we get, / for the first time, a clear cut division of a fort and a citadel, within the fort. The wall originally was as wide as the outer wall on the eastern side (3.00 m) and similar in construction (Fig.35).

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But, this fort including the citadel was destroyed ultimately perhaps during the severe conflicts of the Rashtrakutas with the Cholas who invaded the capital-city and ruthlessly carried on their destructive campaign - They claim with pride their victory over the Rastrakutas, with graphic description of the destruction they carried out, in their inscriptions (Altekar A.S., 1967, pp. 124-125). As a result, enormous debris accumulated all over the citadel area.

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Later, again this locality became the Head quarters of perhaps, a Muslim chieftain owing to allegiance to the Bahamani ruler Bahaman Shah, who made Gulbarga as capital and ruled for 11 years from 1347 A.D., or one of his immediate successors, Mohammad I (1358-1375 A.D.) etc. (Desai, P.B. *et.al.* 1970, P.394). During his reign the fort must have been built with considerable modifications by renovating the earlier fort. Within the fort, are Jummā Masjid, Kāli masjid (Fig.40) typical of the Bahamani style, together with the colossal bastion known as Upli Burj (Fig.40). Unfortunately no inscription of the Bahamanī period mentioning about the chieftain here, who reinforced the existing fort and got constructed the masjids etc. are available to be decisive regarding the author and date of the reinforcement as well as the masjids and Upli-Burj.

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The chieftain must have carried on the renovation work of the citadel part. The exterior side of the citadel was provided with round bastions (Illn. D3) on the northern and eastern sides, and also at the junction of the citadel-wall and fort-wall.

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Among the bastions (Fig.41) the one immediately near the western gate, on the inside, is comparatively peculiar in form. It looks like a bottle in profile, with wide base narrowing rapidly upwards. At the lower part, it has horizontal offsets at regular intervals of 3.50 m. each; the lowest is 6 metres in width and bulbous part, 15 metres in diameter. The next two rapidly taper towards the top; varying in measures 15 metres to 8 metres. The remaining uppermost portion is more or less 8 metres. The topmost part has battlements and crenellations.

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In the lowest part, huge blocks of cut stones of varying dimentions are used; and in the upper part blocks of stone of smaller size (1.25 x 0.75 m. and 0.70 x 0.35 m. respectively), in the construction (Fig.41).

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The other bastion next to this also tapers towards the top irregularly, but not rapidly. The profiles of these two are different from that of the other bastions. The purpose of providing such a profile is to make enemies find it awefully difficult to climb up. It is rather enigmatic as to why only these two bastions do have such a profile. The only probable explanation is that they are the nearest to the western gate through which enemies can force themselves inside and would immediately plan to climb up the nearest bastions. Their plan could be effectively defeated by such type of bastions.

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The other bastions need not be constructed so laboriously, for, by the time enemies could spread forward and plan to climb the other bastions, they would be attacked by the soldiers guarding the fort from the top.

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Further, on the northern and to a small stretch on the eastern side, from the main entrance interiorly another wall is raised, which is higher than the original wall providing sufficient space of 5 metres for movement on the top of the original wall. The wall, that is added, also has semi-circular bastions (Fig.42) on the exterior from above the top of the original wall. The upper part of the original wall and of the inner wall are of ashlar masonry, with the mortar as the binding material.

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The top of the fort at the exterior edge is provided with 15 Kanguras or battlements (Fig.41) typical of Indo-Irmalic^Islamic style. (Please refer to the appendix in pp. 126 ). At relevant points of bastions shown in the plan, are crenellations for placing the guns, arms and ammunitions etc., to guard the citadel and particularly the gates I and II.

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Further, on the inner side of the citadel all along the length, at irregular intervals, are flight of steps (Fig.35). These are meant for the army to get on to the top of the citadel all-round, quickly at the same time.

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The main entrance (Fig.37) looking north-eastwards has, two bastions at the front and two in the middle, narrowing the space of entry. After the middle set of bastions, is the door-way. On the inner side of the door-way, in the side walls, are guard-rooms. The gate-way leads to an open yard. Here are a Dargah^h of Pir Jafar Hussen and a Masjid (Fig.35, Schedule 3 and 4). They were built during the reign of Nizām Shah of Hyderabād, in the late 18th century (Fig.35).

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A curtain wall is raised between the bastion on the right side of the II main gate-way and the citadel wall (Fig. 38). Similarly from the northern side of the bastion, on the left side, is a curtain wall upto the citadel wall. Thus, an area of about 50 m x 75 m is enclosed on all sides with the first gate. Enemies, who somehow manage to get through the gate I, would immediately get concentrated within the enclosure, in a small area between the I and II gates (Fig.37 and Fig.38), who could be attacked severely from the battlement level and who would have no way out to escape.

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The II gate has a passage of 3.25 m wide, with two bastions at the front (Fig.38). On the inner side of the gate, are two guard-rooms measuring approximately 2.00 m x 2.50 m. On their western side are flight of steps leading to the top of the fort. The II gate leads a quadrangular court-yard of about 50 m x 75 m with guard-rooms on all sides and an entrance i.e. III entrance at the back centre.

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The III entrance, without bastions (Fig.39) has a passage of 4 m wide. Immediately behind the III entrance is a series of 4 guard rooms, on the either side of the passage. The one on the south side has a flight of steps outside at the end. The passage leads to two streets, one leading to Jummā Masjid and another Kālī-masjid.

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The street towards jummā-masjid terminates at the street beside the fort wall on the western side i.e. on the bank of the river Kāginā. The other has two branches near the watch-tower, i.e. Uppli B^uṝj (Fig. 40), almost at the centre of the citadel, one running south-ward and terminating at the fort wall and another running west wards upto Kālī-masjid and again bifurcates into two running obliquely and terminating at the fort-wall. In between these streets, there are residential buildings in ruins. The area, bound by the south oriented street and south-west oriented street, is believed to contain the palace remains. At the point, where east oriented street bifurcates, is a mandapa, known as Akshōbhya Tīrth Mandapa (Fig. 40).

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It may be noted that the watch-tower has a flight of steps on the north-western periphery leading to the top. The flight of steps is approached through a door-way (Fig. 40).

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It is noteworthy that the door-way is actually of an ancient temple of circa 10 century A.D., with Gajalaxmi in the Lalāṭa Bimba. In fact, near the Kali-masjid are many well carved stone pillars, scattered here and there, of the mid-late Rāṣṭrakuta period. Even for the Akshōbhya Tīrtha ^M Mandapa (Fig. 40), which is certainly of late period i.e. C. early 14th century, it is simply an oblong pillared mandapa opening on the eastern side, the pillars are of the ancient type. All these pillars and stone sculptures found in the bastions of the I entrance, definitely belong to mid-late Rāṣṭrakūṭa period.

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Thus, there must have been structural stone temples of the latter part of the Rāṣṭrakūta period, within the citadel. Outside the citadel, but within the fort, opposite to the western gate, is a Nēminath Besadi (Fig.35, Schedule No.9) of the latter part of the 9th century A.D. Its exterior is not original and had undergone renovations.

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On the whole, it is worth to excavate the interiors of the citadel to understand, as far as possible, the complex of the palaces, mansions and temples of Rastrakuta period, though they are overlain much by the later periods. The two masjids jumma and Kālī with their usual domes as super-structure are typical of the Bahamani style.

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