A weekend morning, on free roads, it was a pleasure drive to reach Chikkajala Fort. I had spotted it six months ago when I drove in from the Bengaluru International Airport with my cargo, returning, sighing all the way, looking forward to the back-in-India triumph. After a long spell of seven years in Saudi Arabia, I definitely was noticing all such lovely spots to be discovered, seen, enjoyed and documented.
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| Main Parts of the Fort |
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| The Temple Pond |
The Chikkajala Fort built by Hoysala King Vishnuvardhana (1108-1152 AD) is lying in ruins along the new International Airport Road at Bengaluru. And the expansion and construction of the new freeway to the airport required a broader road, a portion of the fort wall was broken down for it.
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| Fort Wall Broken for Road Expansion |
It was obviously falling apart, even in the first look, and I wanted to check it out at the earliest.
As you walk up to the fort, you see a Hanuman temple on your left and the temple pond in front of it. The back end of the semicircular fort wall still stands tall with small holes high up as a watch out, like in most forts. Large parts of the fort lie caved in, but the overall structure is still pretty clear as you dangerously walk through.
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| Water Storage Tanks Inside the Fort |
Dangerous, as with neglect over the centuries, large tree roots and branches have grown into the walls and many of the beautifully pillared corridors appear ready to cave in anytime. Several pillars looked solid though some were delicate, with their base exposed, and hence weak; others were just a loose assembly of stones (used in those days for construction) on the top, making the entire pillar look loose and ready to topple! It did cross my mind to keep my helmet on as I tried to parade through!
The parade through the fort corridors
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| Lovely Long Pillared Corridor |
I was a bit wary of loose pillars but walked along what appears to be to two pillared lengths of an obviously rectangular area, with an open courtyard in the middle. Curiously, in the central open courtyard, there was an assembly of three stones. In my royal walk on the corridors, while I curiously tried to figure out the assembly, it was romance ruling the imagination! It did look like a setup to hang a swing, just wide enough to seat two!
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| Central open courtyard with a swing assembly |
Its 22 km from the Hebbal flyover as you drive towards the airport. You need to drive past Yelahanka New Town. You will cross the fort and need to take a U-turn and drive back a short way. And the map was handy all the way, in the decision- off or onto the flyovers.
