Gooty Fort KBG-42 Answer

Which Fort? Where? A number of clues were given for KBG-42 travel quiz:

1. Hill fort
2. Located next to a national highway in India
3. Hill range alignment based on sunlight in winter months and time of day
4. Travel challenge to roadies

Kaun Banega Ghumakkad readers proved their intelligence and zeroed in fast! Though KBG-41 had also featured a hill fort in Rajasthan, but it did not dampen KBG-42 which received enthusiastic response.

The correct answer is Gooty Fort in Andhra Pradesh which dates back to 11th Century AD.

Our clues were interpreted as follows:

1. It is a hill fort
2. Located on NH-44 between Hyderabad and Bangalore. 370 kms south of Hyderabad or 200 kms north of Bangalore. See map.
3. The hill range runs almost E-W and shadows in the picture indicated it.
4. Roadies and other travellers would not miss it. In fact it always caught our eye during Hyderabad-Bangalore-Hyderabad drives on NH-44 which we have done more than 10 times! These pictures were taken by me during one such drive.

Gooty Fort

Damaged inscriptions found on the rocks near Narasimha temple located within the fort premises appear to be from the reign of the Western Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI (1076-1126 AD). The fort later came under the control of the Vijayanagara Empire Venkata II (1584-1614), followed by the Qutb Shahi dynasty. Around 1746 CE, the Maratha general Murari Rao captured the fort, repaired and made it his permanent residence. 

In 1775 CE, the Mysore ruler Hyder Ali attacked and besieged the fort. The fort later came under the control of the East India Company. Its administrator Thomas Munro was buried at the cemetery located at the foothill.

Though not as big as some of the other hill forts in India like Ranthambor, yet it is formidable enough. It has a commanding view of the plains around. Also known as Ravadurg, the fort derives its name from the local town Gowthampuri. The readers may browse Wikipedia link for more details.

Winners

Although none of the readers could pinpoint Gooty Fort, we congratulate two readers for their sharp eye and travel knowledge. They both identified the national highway correctly. They both responded with Nirmal Fort, another hill fort on NH-44 in Telangana. We therefore decided to declare them as the winners. Their brief profiles are given below:

1. Praneetha Mudholkar: Marketing faculty at VVISM Hyderabad. Keen traveller and Nature enthusiast. KBG winner multiple times.
2. Deepak Kumar Jena: Lives in Berhampur Odisha. PGDM from VVISM Hyderabad. Entrepreneur, traveller and automobiles enthusiast. KBG winner multiple times.

Thank you for your continued support to KBG Kaun Banega Ghumakkad contest.

We hope we have helped you in taking your mind off Covid and Corona.

Stay safe. More KBGs will follow.

    -  Harsh-the-Ghumakkad with Neeta Bhargava/4th Oct 2020

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