Defence Architecture in Early North Karnataka c18.s2.t1: The Fort in Banavāsi

Defence Architecture in Early North Karnataka c18.s2.t1

Language: English

The Fort in Banavāsi

c18.s2.t1.1

The fort in Banavāsi is oval shaped in plan measuring 850 m. north-south and 600 m. east-west, with the temple in the central area and the medieval alignments of the roads whtiin the fort may well be taken as the continuation of the earliest. Perhaps there may be some in the later times added to the earliest. The two principal streets running north-south seem to be the original. Similarly the one that runs east-west immediately to the south of the temple Madhukēśvara is in all probability of the same category. What is noteworthy here is that there are parallel straight roads running north-south and east-west, intersecting almost at right angles. On the outside is a moat of the width of 14 m - 20 m.

c18.s2.t1.2

In a sense, therefore, the fort of Banavāsi seems to have been after the pattern of Jaladurga (Fig.87) and Sthala durga (Fig.78) enunciated by Kautilya. Of course, the plan is determined more by the local configuration of the land and cannot be closely similar to the ideal description of Kautilya. We find in Banavāsi thet the fort wall follows the contour of the land. The area in between the contour lines 650 and 625 is almost fully occupied by the fort, and the height of this area is immediately prominent in relation to the surrounding region in the height from 625 m to 610 m.

Linked texts (1)

Kauṭilīya Arthaśāstra — Kauṭilya, Sanskrit