One of the ‘historic’ and ‘picturesque’ getaways near Namma Bengaluru is GUDIBHANDE FORT.

Pix courtesy TeJesh Thimmaiah, with Srinivas Raj

Many have been visiting Gudibande fort and have been posting awesome pictures. So, I thought, I shall post pix with a dose of history about the grandeur of Gudibande.

This fort is part of the Nandidurga chain of hill ranges.· Khasim Khan (from Aurangzeb army) handed over the forest areas and places around Gudibande to Havali Byregowda.When Byregowda died childless, his nephew Rudregowda continued the administration.In 1689, due to attack of the Marathas, Gudibande passed into the hands of Bychegowda and later to Doddabyregowda.

Later in 1762, during the rule of Chikkappanayaka, this region was conquered by Nawab Hyder Ali.                                                                                          

There is Rameshwara temple on top of the hill and built in post Vijayanagar style.

The hill at Gudibande is also fortified with multiple but irregular lines of fort walls.· It has been strengthened at places with bastions.·

Within the fort walls, there are various objects of archaeological interest· There are many gateways, a few of which are natural gateways formed by boulders, rock-cut flights of steps.

Besides small temples, there is a granary now used as a place for entertainment.

There is a row of powder-magazines, a mantapa also used as a powder-magazine, and a grinding mill of stones, probably used for making gunpowder.

(Source: Karnataka State Gazetteer)