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Defence Architecture in Early North Karnataka c9: Chapter - I

Defence Architecture in Early North Karnataka c9

Language
English

Contents

Chapter - I

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Preliminary remarks - Work : Previous and Present (Scope, Method and approach) - The Region : Location - Geology and Geography in relation to Construction of Forts.

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It is against this background, let us try now, to know about the fort architecture in Northern Karnāṭaka, for northern Karnāṭaka was the seat of many political kingdoms imperial as well as of feudatories, such as the feudatories of the Sātavāhanas, particularly the Chūṭus ruling over the Banavāsi region, the independent Banavāsi Kadambas with their capital at Banavāsi, the imperial Chālukyas early and later with their capitals at Bādāmi and Kalyāṇa respectively, the imperial Rāshṭrakūṭas with their capital, at a later stage, at Malkhēḍ,¹ the imperial Vijayanagar dynasty with their capital at Hampi, the Ādilshāhs - the strongest and most enlightened among the Deccan Sultans with their stronghold at Bijapur, besides, the Mahāmaṇḍalēshvaras for example the Raṭṭas as the feudatories to the Rāṣṭrakuṭas and later to the Kalyāṇ Chālukyas with their Head-quarters at Saudatti and Belgaum etc.; a branch of the Kadambas of Goa ruling from Halsi; the Pāṇḍyas ruling from Uchangi (Uchchasringi) etc.

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¹ Malkhēḍ is a small village in Chitāpur Tk., Gulbarga Dt. In the later inscriptions of the Rāshṭrakūṭas, Manyakhēṭa is described as their capital. And this is generally identified with Malkhēḍ. However, the identification is not free from doubt.

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In all these places, there are forts but in ruins, of course. In Bādāmi, the celebrated inscription (Panchamukhi R.S. 1940, P.14) of Pulikēshi I dated (543 A.D.), who was probably the first to make Bādāmi as the capital refers to the construction of fort inaccessible from the top and bottom, by him.

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Previous Work:

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There are many standard works on the art and architecture of India, in general, and a few dealing with Karṇāṭaka in particular. They almost invariably deal with temple architecture and sculpture and rarely with secular architecture, let alone the architecture of forts. In District Gazetteers, under section places of importance, there are scanty references to the forts if there be any. In a few Annual Reports of the Department of Archaeology of the former Hyderabad State and Old Mysore State (i.e. present southern Karṇāṭaka) one or two illustrations of ground plans of the forts in some places like Raichur (Yazdani,G. 1936, P.14), Bîdar (Yazdani,G. 1937, P. 5) etc. are given.

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The Book on Deccan Forts (Kamalapur,J.N. 1960) includes a general study of some of the forts in Karnāṭaka as seen by a learned man. In it the forts referred to are exclusively of late mediaeval period mostly of the Muslim period, such as at Bijāpur, Bîdar etc.

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Beṭagēri Krishna Sharma (1970, PP. 35-37) to a small extent in a literary style makes some references to forts and more so for wars and weapons as described by poets of the medieval period.

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M.Chidananda Murti (1960, PP.248-260) Kannada Śhasanagala Samskritika Adhyayana, has dealt with in a chapter pertaining to "Yuddha Kale" (Art of War), completely based on the inscriptional references.

Present Work:

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Thus, there is no systematic,substantial and authentic work giving an entire account of the forts and their history from the earliest times through the ages, based on actual field study of such forts.

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In view of the importance of fort architecture on the one hand and the lack of sufficient study of such forts in the North Karṇāṭaka on the other, a detailed survey of these forts was found necessary and therefore was undertaken by me. The present attempt is essentially concerned with a thorough description of selected forts of important places and of different important periods based on actual field survey. The field data has been critically analysed to understand the development of fort architecture and their implications in response to the changing political conditions, advanced technology of armours and tacts of wars.

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Further, an attempt is made to understand the plans of the fort architecture in relation to the traditional Śilpa texts and other allied treatises such as Kautilya's Arthas̄astra, Manasara's Śilpa s̄astra etc.

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The studyóf these forts is in accordance with the important ruling dynasties in chronological order from the period of the Satavahanas to the end of Vijayanagara rule.

The Region:

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Although the architects are well-versed traditionally in the Śilpa texts and were following them in their planning and construction of forts, they had to take into consideration the regional ecological conditions such as the rock material, the topography of the region, the river system, the normal vegetation etc. Accordingly in their actual construction governed by the architectural principles, they had to devise certain modifications in the selection of the area, the type of the fort and the mode of construction. It is therefore, very essential to review the topography and the ecological conditions of the region.

Location:

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North Karṇāṭaka lies between Lat. 14°-20' to 17°-30' N. and Long : 74°-30' to 77°-30E. It comprises eight Districts namely Belgaum, Bellary, Bidar, Bijāpur, Dharwad, Gulbarga, North-Kanara, and Raichur, and is about 79150 sq. km. in area. Before the reorganisation of linguistic states in 1956, the area comprising the Districts of Belgaum, Bijapur, Dharwad and North Kanara was called Bombay-Karṇāṭaka and that covering Bidar, Bellary, Gulbarga and Raichur Districts, Hyderabad-Karṇāṭaka. It is surrounded by the State of Goa on the West, Mahārāṣṭra on the North-West and North, Āndhra Pradēsh on the East and the remaining part of Karṇāṭaka on the South, by Kerala.

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From the southern tip of Goa, to the southern end of District South Kanara, there is a coast line of about 125 km.

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with important ports. The major rivers of the coast the Kāli, the Gaṅgāvaḷi and the Sharāvati open into Arabian sea and thus connect the coastal strip with the up-ghāṭ region.

Geology:

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The region is richly complex in its topography as it has ranges of hills of different kinds of rock materials and varying rain fall. The hills, the valleys and the plains have their distinct characteristic appearances that determine the personality of the respective areas. Geologically the region comprises of series of the oldest rocks namely the Dharwar rocks running roughly in the North West - South East directions, especially in the western part of the region. These are over l<ins>a</ins><del>y</del>ing by the granite and granitic-gneiss rocks almost all over the region. While the hills of the Dharwar rocks consisting of schists and haematite quartzs etc. appear in the form of long chain of hills with rounded tops and sloping sides in the western especially South-Western parts, the Eastern parts are characterised by series of hill ranges and isolated knols of the peninsular gneissic complex. These hills consist of deep valleys and terraces surrounded by huge boulders forming as if castellation. In middle part of the region i.e. in the Krishnā - lower Bhīma valley area in the North East and South East orientation are the sedimentary rocks in two series : the Kaladagi and the Bhima. These rocks comprise sand stone, lime stone conglomerates, quartzite sand stone etc. The rocks appear in the form of long ranges of hills with extensive flat surfaces and deep valleys. The North-Western part of the region is covered with thick layer of Deccan trap capped by area is generally open and plain known as Maidān, generally spotted with thin vegetation, scrubs and trees. Further the region is composed of hills of Deccan trap in the north east, especially in the Districts of Raichur and Gulbarga in Belvalnāḍu area. The laterites of the coastal plains are of high order. The areas of Dharwad and Belgaum are generally of higher elevations and with smooth undertaking plains, broken up by ranges of hills, wild forest in the west and ruggedly plain with valleys. The areas in the eastern part with black cotton soil are plain and have rugged ridges and isolated knobe of hills, with severely plain table land on the tops, on the west, they are thickly forested and difficult to penetrate into, forming a part of the Sahyadri hills or western Ghāts.

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Geography:

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Rivers: There are five rivers with their respective tributaries, and rivulets covering the entire region of North Karṇāṭaka, excluding, North Kanara. They are the Bhīmā, the Kṛishṇā, the Ghaṭaprabhā, the Malaprabhā and the Tungabhadra. In North Kanara alone as mentioned above there are four rivers, namely the Kāḷi, the Gaṅgāvaḷi, the Sharāvati and the Varadā. These rivers form an excellent net work over the whole region.

Climate and Rainfall:

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Geographically the region is divided into three parts, from west to east : The Coastal plains, the Malnāḍ and the Maidān. The climate and the rainfall vary extremely in these parts. The coastal plain, about 35 to 50 km wide, spreads from the sea border towards the Western Ghat area of Sahyādri. The rainfall here is very heavy about 300 to 400 cms annually. In the Malnāḍ area also the rainfall is heavy i.e. 100 cms to 200 cms per annum.

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The Maidān area forming the major part of the North Karṇāṭaka, has scantly rainfall. The rainfall in this area ranges from 40 cms to 60 cms. The soil, the wood, the waters and stones played thus in their respective areas, vital role in the history of North Karṇāṭaka, as elsewhere, and have served as the fundamental materials for the construction of any structure: domestic, religious, secular and defensive. Now, so far our study is concerned it is strikingly note worthy that the region has been since ages long exceedingly favourable for the habitat of man and in historical times for the rise of political powers. The region occupies a strategic position in the lower Deccan forming a favourable high way between the Gōdāvari-Narmadā region and the deep south.

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The thick forests located close to the coastal strip with flourishing ports and with rich mineral potential, the hill ranges especially of the peninsular gneissic complex and of the sedimentary rocks providing naturally secure deep and wide valleys and the castellated terraces, the perennial rivers meanandering over a long distance resulting in deep curves here and there and the favouarte climate and the natural supply of building material of the rock types on tremendously enormous scale obviously had prompted the ambitious rulers to have their capitals in this region repeatedly through ages. Banavāsi located in the thick forest area within the deep curve of the river Varadā, the Bādāmi in the deep valley of the sand stone hill, Hampi in the highly elevated castellated hills surrounded by the river Tungabhadrā are remarkable instances in this regard.

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It is these capitals and sub-capitals that have been protected by the artificial forts. Hence, in this region we find forts of the capitals of different periods and of different types and kinds.

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