The Ramagiri Fort, also known as Ramagiri Khilla, located over a mountain top, is in the

Peddapalli district Pedapalli district is a district located in the northern region of the Indian state of Telangana. Its administrative headquarters is at Peddapalli and Commissionerate is at Ramagundam. The district shares boundaries with Mancherial, Karimnaga ...

of the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...

. in ramagiri khilla the Hanuman statue was constructed by Gaddam Bapu from mancherial district. The family member will visit every year and make pray and worship for lord Hanuman. And recent year the family also established lord nagula statue near putta on top of mountain

Location

The fort, located on the Ramagiri hills, is near the Begumpet village in Ramagiri mandal in Peddapalli district. The fort was built within a thickly forested area that has a wealth of plant species, including many medicinal herbs. The fort is away from Peddapalli, the district headquarters. The Peddapalli – Manthani highway passes close to the fort, which is away from the Begumpet village.

History

The fort was built in the 12th century by the Kakatiyas of

Warangal Warangal () is a city in the Indian state of Telangana and the district headquarters of Warangal district. It is the second largest city in Telangana with a population of 704,570 per 2011 Census of India, and spreading over an . Warangal ser ...

. Later, it was controlled by the Qutub Sahi Sultanate from 1518 to 1687, In 1656, the ruler of

Golconda Fort (Telugu: గోల్కొండ, romanized: ''Gōlkōnḍa'') is a historic fortress and ruined city located in Hyderabad, Telangana, India. It was originally called Mankal. The fort was originally built by Kakatiya ruler Pratāparu ...

Abdullah Qutb Shah Abdullah Qutb Shah (also transliterated in different ways) was the seventh ruler of the kingdom of Golconda in southern India under the Qutb Shahi dynasty. He ruled from 1626 to 1672. Abdullah, son of Sultan Muhammad Qutb Shah, was a polyglot, a ...

, gave the fort to his son-in-law, one of

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

's sons. The fort came under the control of the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was himsel ...

in 1791. Tradition has it that

Kalidasa Kālidāsa (''fl.'' 4th–5th century CE) was a Classical Sanskrit author who is often considered ancient India's greatest poet and playwright. His plays and poetry are primarily based on the Vedas, the Rāmāyaṇa, the Mahābhārata and ...

, one of the greatest

Sanskrit Sanskrit (; attributively , ; nominally , , ) is a classical language belonging to the Indo-Aryan branch of the Indo-European languages. It arose in South Asia after its predecessor languages had diffused there from the northwest in the late ...

poets, was motivated to compose his

Meghadūta } ''Meghadūta'' ( sa, मेघदूत literally ''Cloud Messenger'') is a lyric poem written by Kālidāsa (c. 4th–5th century CE), considered to be one of the greatest Sanskrit poets. It describes how a ''yakṣa'' (or nature spirit), who ...

, a lyrical poem, by the Ramagiri Fort; however,

is thought to have lived in the fifth century CE, well before the fort's construction. The Hanuman statue on the mountain was construction by Gaddam Bapu from mancherial district.

Features

Built in stone, the fort has many bastions and occupies a large area of a few square kilometres. The bastions are in octagonal shape. The fort had been fitted with four forge-welded cannons on the masonry battlements built to a height of as part of the fort walls. It has been noted that the mud plaster that covered some of the structures in thick layers was a combination of mud, lime, reeds, hair of animals, or even blood of animals.

Herbal plants

The Ramagiri forest in the area of the fort is an important source for medicinal plants. Large numbers of local medicinal people collect the plants and offer them for sale in nearby towns. Students also visit the area to identify these plants and make herbarium specimens. In view of this importance for medicinal plants, it has been suggested that the forest of the fort area be declared a Medicinal Plants Conservation Center.

References

Bibliography