Namakkal Fort is a historic fort present in

Namakkal Namakkal () is a city and the headquarters of Namakkal district, Tamil Nadu. It is the first ISO 14001-2004 certified municipality in Asia for environmental management, specifically the provision and maintenance of water supply, solid wast ...

Namakkal district Namakkal District is one of the 38 districts (an districts of Tamil Nadu, administrative district) in the States and territories of India, state of Tamil Nadu, India. The district was bifurcated from Salem District with Namakkal city as headqua ...

in the

South India South India, also known as Southern India or Peninsular India, is the southern part of the Deccan Peninsula in India encompassing the states of Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu and Telangana as well as the union territories of ...

n state of

Tamil Nadu Tamil Nadu (; , TN) is the southernmost States and union territories of India, state of India. The List of states and union territories of India by area, tenth largest Indian state by area and the List of states and union territories of Indi ...

. The fort was built during the reign of

Thirumalai Nayak Tirumala Nayaka (reigned 1623–16 February 1659) was the ruler of Madurai Nayak Dynasty in the 17th century. He ruled Madurai between 1623 and 1659. His contributions are found in the many splendid buildings and temples of Madurai. He belon ...

Madurai Madurai ( , , ), formerly known as Madura, is a major city in the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Tamil Nadu. It is the cultural capital of Tamil Nadu and the administrative headquarters of Madurai District, which is ...

in 17th century. It was under the dominion of

Tipu Sultan Tipu Sultan (, , ''Sultan Fateh Ali Sahab Tipu''; 1 December 1751 – 4 May 1799) commonly referred to as Sher-e-Mysore or "Tiger of Mysore", was a ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore based in South India. He was a pioneer of rocket artillery ...

and then switched hands to the British East India Company as a part of Srirangapattinam treaty. The fort was used as a watch tower and garrison by the ruling empire. The fort is located on the top of a hillock made of a single rock, tall. There is a temple and a mosque that are located within the fort, both of which are popular tourist attractions of the town. In modern times, the fort is under the control of the Archaeological Department of the

Government of Tamil Nadu The Government of Tamil Nadu () is the administrative body responsible for the governance of the Indian state of Tamil Nadu. Chennai is the capital of the state and houses the state executive, legislature and head of judiciary. Under the Const ...

Legend

According to Hindu legend, the hillock on which the fort is located was carried by

Hanuman Hanuman (; , ), also known as Maruti, Bajrangabali, and Anjaneya, is a deity in Hinduism, revered as a divine ''vanara'', and a devoted companion of the deity Rama. Central to the ''Ramayana'', Hanuman is celebrated for his unwavering devotio ...

, a disciple of Sri Ram from the epic ''

Ramayana The ''Ramayana'' (; ), also known as ''Valmiki Ramayana'', as traditionally attributed to Valmiki, is a smriti text (also described as a Sanskrit literature, Sanskrit Indian epic poetry, epic) from ancient India, one of the two important epics ...

''. The hillock is known as Namagiri and also as Saligramam, the image of

Vishnu Vishnu (; , , ), also known as Narayana and Hari, is one of the Hindu deities, principal deities of Hinduism. He is the supreme being within Vaishnavism, one of the major traditions within contemporary Hinduism, and the god of preservation ( ...

in a divine stone. Hanuman was flying with the Sanjeevi Paravatha, the sacred mountain from Himalayan mountain to

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

. On his way, he saw the Kamalalayam tank and descended there to perform his morning worship. He placed the saligramam he brought from Himalayas and when he opened his eyes after the worship, he saw the stone grown to its current size. A divine voice asked him to leave the stone in the place itself. As per another legend,

Narasimha Narasimha (, , or , ), is the fourth avatara of the Hindu god Vishnu in the Satya Yuga. He incarnated as a part-lion, part-man and killed Hiranyakashipu, ended religious persecution and calamity on earth, and restored dharma. Narasimha has th ...

, an

avatar Avatar (, ; ) is a concept within Hinduism that in Sanskrit literally means . It signifies the material appearance or incarnation of a powerful deity, or spirit on Earth. The relative verb to "alight, to make one's appearance" is sometimes u ...

of Vishnu, after destroying Asura Hiranyakasipu, was still in ferocious mood. Hanuman, brought him to the place where

Mahalakshmi Lakshmi (; , , sometimes spelled Laxmi, ), also known as Shri (, , ), is one of the principal goddesses in Hinduism, revered as the goddess of wealth, fortune, prosperity, beauty, fertility, sovereignty, and abundance. She along with Parvat ...

, the wife of Vishnu was doing penance.

History

The fort was built by the

Madurai Nayaks The Madurai Nayakas were a Telugu dynasty * * * * * who ruled most of modern-day Tamil Nadu, India, with Madurai as their capital. The Madurai Nayaks had their origins in the Balija warrior clans of present-day Andhra Pradesh. * * * * * * ...

during the 17th century. It is reported to have been built by Ramachandra Nayakar, the

Poligar Palaiyakkarars, or Poligar, Palegara (as the British referred to them) in Andhra, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu were the holders of a small kingdom as a feudatory to a greater sovereign. Under this system, ''palayam'' was given for valuable military ...

of Sendamangalam, during the reign of

. The fort was captured by the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

in 1768, to be lost to

Hyder Ali Hyder Ali (''Haidar'alī''; ; 1720 – 7 December 1782) was the Sultan and ''de facto'' ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore in southern India. Born as Hyder Ali, he distinguished himself as a soldier, eventually drawing the attention of Mysore's ...

. His son

went on utilize the fort as a arms depot and watch tower. It switched hands to the British East India Company who got five forts including this one as a part of the Treaty of Srirangapatnam. The British used the fort for storing food grains and arms in the hillock. The British used this as a watch tower. Lieutenant Fehrszen used this as a garrison for during the Peninsular war. In modern times, the fort was declared as a monument of national importance. It is maintained and administered by the Archaeological Department of the

Architecture

The fort is located in the centre of Namakkal town over a hillock made of single rock named Namagiri. The fort is located on the top of the rock, tall. There is a Narasimha Murthy temple and a mosque that are located within the fort, both of which are popular tourist attractions of the town. Kamalalayam tank, located at foothills, is commonly associated with the fort. The fort is made up with well-cut blocks of the same stone as the hill and cemented to the rock by mortar. The higher portions of the fort are held by their own weight and accurate fitting. The area of the fort is around on the top. In modern times, an 8 ft image of Hanuman is reinstalled on the fort, facing the Narasimha image on the top of the fort. The fort is maintained by the

Archaeological Survey of India The Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) is an Indian government agency that is responsible for archaeological research and the conservation and preservation of cultural historical monuments in the country. It was founded in 1861 by Alexander ...

References

External links

{{commons category, Namakkal Fort Forts in Tamil Nadu Namakkal district Namakkal