| Medak Fort | |
|---|---|
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| Location | Medak, Telangana, India |
Medak Fort is situated in Medak district in the Indian state of Telangana, about 100 kilometres from the state capital, Hyderabad. [1] Medak fort is constructed by Kakatiya Kamma Kings. The fort lies to the north of the city and can be reached by road. It is a citadel built on a hillock that provided as a vantage point for the Kakatiya Kamma rulers in medieval India.
Medak is a town in Medak district of the Indian state of Telangana. It is a municipality and the headquarters of Medak mandal in Medak revenue division.
India is a federal union comprising 29 states and 7 union territories, for a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions.
Telangana is a state in India situated on the centre-south stretch of the Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the twelfth largest state and the twelfth-most populated state in India with a geographical area of 112,077 km2 (43,273 sq mi) and 35,193,978 residents as per 2011 census. On 2 June 2014, the area was separated from the northwestern part of Andhra Pradesh as the newly formed 29th state with Hyderabad as its historic permanent capital. Its other major cities include Warangal, Nizamabad, Khammam and Karimnagar. Telangana is bordered by the states of Maharashtra to the north, Chhattisgarh to the east, Karnataka to the west, and Andhra Pradesh to the east and south. The terrain of Telangana region consists mostly of hills, mountain ranges, and thick dense forests distribution of 27,292 sq. km. As of 2019, the state of Telangana is divided into 33 districts.
The fort was built sometime around the 12th century and during the reign of the Kakatiya Kamma ruler, Rudra Deva and was called Methuku durgam, meaning cooked rice in Telugu. It was later ruled by another great South Indian kingdom kings the Musunuri Kamma Kings. It was a command post of the Kakatians and later for Musunuri Kamma Kings and Qutb Shahis. The fort has great historical and architectural importance in Telangana. Within the fort is a 17th-century Mosque built by the Qutub Shahis, granaries and remains of grand houses. [2]
Telugu is a Dravidian language spoken in the Indian states of Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and the union territories of Puducherry (Yanam) by the Telugu people. It stands alongside Hindi, English and Bengali as one of the few languages with primary official language status in more than one Indian state. There are also significant linguistic minorities in neighbouring states. It is one of six languages designated a classical language of India by the country's government.
It has three main entrances, the "Prathama Dwaram", the "Simha Dwaram" that has two snarling lions at the top of the entrance and the "Gaja Dwaram", or Elephant's Entrance that has a sculpture of two elephants interlocked on both sides of the entrance. The main entrance proudly displays the double-headed "Gandabherundam" of the Kakatiyas. The wood used as a support for the stable roof(Terminalia paniculata) can still be seen there.
Elephants are large mammals of the family Elephantidae in the order Proboscidea. Three species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. Elephants are scattered throughout sub-Saharan Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. Elephantidae is the only surviving family of the order Proboscidea; other, now extinct, members of the order include deinotheres, gomphotheres, mastodons, anancids and stegodontids; Elephantidae itself also contains several now extinct groups, such as the mammoths and straight-tusked elephants.
At the fort one can see a 17th-century cannon that is 3.2 metres long. The cannon has a trident etched on it. This fortress uses the natural topography to the maximum advantage with the rocky face offering it natural defences. The water to the fort was provided via a pipeline.
A cannon is a type of gun classified as artillery that launches a projectile using propellant. In the past, gunpowder was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder in the 19th century. Cannon vary in caliber, range, mobility, rate of fire, angle of fire, and firepower; different forms of cannon combine and balance these attributes in varying degrees, depending on their intended use on the battlefield. The word cannon is derived from several languages, in which the original definition can usually be translated as tube, cane, or reed. In the modern era, the term cannon has fallen into decline, replaced by guns or artillery if not a more specific term such as mortar or howitzer, except for high calibre automatic weapons firing bigger rounds than machine guns, called autocannons.
Trident is a three-pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. In Hindu mythology, it is the weapon of Shiva, known as trishula. It has been used by farmers as a decorticator to remove leaves, seeds, and buds from the stalks of plants such as flax and hemp.
Now, there is not much left to see, but as it stands on a hillock, it offers a good view of the district.
