Konda Reddy Fort: A Vijayanagara Military Tower in Kurnool

Site at a Glance

Rating

★4.5

Popularity

Very High

Country

India

Primary era

Early Modern

Eras represented

Early Modern, Modern

Civilizations

British

Site type

Military

Remains

Castle

History

Origins and Vijayanagara construction

Konda Reddy Fort, also known as Kondareddy Buruju, is a military fort in Kurnool, India. Its origins are traced to the twelfth century, when a fortified position was established to guard a crossing of the Tungabhadra River north of the city. The present structure was built between 1530 and 1542 under the Vijayanagara Empire, a major South Indian state that ruled much of the Deccan and southern India from the fourteenth to the seventeenth century.

The fort’s early construction is associated with the Vijayanagara rulers Devaraya II and Achyutaraya. Achyutaraya, who ruled from 1529 to 1542, was emperor during the period when the present fort was built. In the seventeenth century, the fort was strengthened and its gateways were constructed. These gateways are attributed to Gopala Raja, identified as the grandson of Rama Raya, a prominent Vijayanagara regent.

Watchtower and the Konda Reddy tradition

During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, the fort served as a watchtower. Its name is linked to Konda Reddy, described as the last ruler of Alampur. According to local tradition, the Kurnool Nawab attacked and imprisoned him in the fort during the seventeenth century. The story holds that Konda Reddy escaped through a tunnel beneath the structure, although he lost his territory to the Golconda Nawabs. The Golconda Sultanate was a Deccan Muslim state whose ruling authorities became a major regional power in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

British occupation and later conservation

Under British rule in India during the nineteenth century, the structure was occupied and an observation tower was built at the center of its second level. The tower is reported to have reached 56 meters in height. Konda Reddy Fort is the last surviving remnant of the fortification system that once surrounded Kurnool.

Conservation and restoration took place during the twenty-first century. The state of Andhra Pradesh is listed as the owner, while the Archaeological Survey of India administers the fort.

Remains

Fortification tower and defensive layout

The surviving monument is a semi-circular tower with three levels. It once formed one of four corner towers in the fortification that surrounded Kurnool. The structure measures approximately 50 by 50 meters, rises about 12 meters, and covers roughly 2.5 dunams, a traditional unit of land area. Stone was the principal construction material, with red sandstone also identified in the building.

Multiple gateways and bastions form part of the fort’s defensive design. A bastion is a projecting fortified structure that strengthened a wall and provided positions for observation or weapons. The tower also contains a passage running around its circumference and guard positions on the second level. The first level includes several enclosures and a large portico, a covered entrance or gallery supported by columns or other structural elements. The upper levels preserve the main surviving spaces of the tower, while the lower level remains closed.

Later additions and associated features

British observation tower

The second level contains the large observation tower added during the nineteenth-century British occupation. Its base survives within the fort, providing the remaining physical evidence of this later alteration to the Vijayanagara structure. The fort also retains drainage gutters that formed part of its practical infrastructure.

Tunnel and foot temples

A tunnel begins beneath the tower. Tradition claims that it passes below the Tungabhadra River and extends for approximately 25 kilometers, although its actual course is little known. Stories of buried treasure drew treasure hunters to the tunnel, and some died during their searches. The entrance is closed to the public.

Two small temples dedicated to goddesses from Indian mythology stand at the foot of the fort. Together with the tower, its gateways, defensive projections, internal enclosures, drainage features, and tunnel entrance, they form the surviving physical setting of Konda Reddy Fort, the remaining fragment of Kurnool’s former city defenses.