Hiking India’s most impregnable fortress: Gingee fort — a picture blog
We planned a trip to the Gingee fort a few weeks back, a place steeped in history but hardly mentioned amongst noteworthy tourist or historical places in India. Travelling with family and kids, I was unsure if the fort would keep our motley group engaged. Now having been there, I would rank it amongst the best forts in south India & a good spot to visit with kids.
A brief history
Tracing its origins to over 1800 years back, the fort has been under the rule of several powerful empires in India. In the early years it was ruled by Pallava, Chola, Pandya and Vijayanagara kings from the south. Conquerors from the north included Mughals under Aurangazeb and Marathas under Shivaji, who also admired this as one of the ‘most impregnable forts in India’. The fort has had its foreign rulers in the French and finally the British, who also called it ‘Troy of the East’. Today its one of the few, better preserved forts in the south.
The fort complex has an interesting structure, wherein its been built right in the middle of three hills—Krishnagiri (Queen fort) to the north, Rajagiri (King fort) to the west and Chandrayandurg to the southeast. The three hills offer natural protection in this triangulation, while there are high walls running for a staggering 13 km across them, coupled with a 80-feet wide moat, to provide complete protection to the interiors. Each of the hills host its own citadel with garrisons and strategic guard posts. The fort has several well-preserved structures like the seven-storeyed Kalyana mahal, Venkataramana temple, Kali temple and beautiful ponds, amongst others.
Hiking the fort
Gingee town, adjoining the fort is the major connecting point where one can refill supplies, while its hard to find refreshments at the fort base. At the Gingee fort, one needs adequate time to cover the entire fort complex which has three parts to visit: 1) base of the fort spread across the Kalyana mahal, temples, Pondicherry gate and other structures which needs ~2 hours; 2) Rajagiri fort (~2 hours); and 3) Krishnagiri fort, (~1 hour).
The entire fort complex opens at 9 and closes by 5 PM, whereas tickets to climb the hill citadels closes by 4 PM. Hence, to do all three, one would need a good 5 to 6 hours, and a vehicle to ferry between the points since each of these are spaced a few kilometers apart. Given the peculiar ‘working hours’, its impossible to avoid the midday sun and the direct overhead heat.
With all the walking and climbing involved, doing all three might be a big ask, particularly if you have young hikers in the group. You could try doing two at a time — checking out all structures in the base and climbing one of the hill citadels.
Our trip
After a 5-hour pleasant drive from Madurai, we stopped by at the Gingee town for lunch. Reaching the fort base at 3 PM on a hot day, right in the middle of the gruelling summer month of May, we started the hike. With the kids playing at Gingee fort park lawns, we checked out the adjoining Shiva temple. Resting under the rock structure with a natural flow of cool air was good respite from the hot sun, though brief.
To make most of the initial energy of the group, we planned to scale one of the hills and check the other base structures after that. Keeping the young hikers in mind, we picked Krishnagiri or Queen’s hill, which seemed easier of the two. Later, we were quite glad that we made this choice!
Krishnagiri fort is an easy-to-moderate hike, and the ascent can be done in 30 to 45 minutes. There are steps cut out into the rocks and its a gradual incline. Picking up elevation, one gets a splendind view of the Gingee town on one side and the 3-hills fort complex on the other. Reaching the top, the ingenuity of construction and natural defenses of the location become obvious.
At the top of the fort, one can see remnants of the structure, the courtyards, garrisons, temples and the guard outposts. Reminiscing about the history, one cannot help but get fascinated about the action this place has seen and the attacks that the walls have fended off, over centuries.
Having spent over an hour at the place, with hardly a couple other visitors for the day, we climbed down back to the fort base. Amongst structures at the base, we spent time looking at the Pondicherry gate, a name that has stuck from the decade-long French occupation of the fort. As if to illustrate the interesting bond, the city of Pondicherry, the erstwhile French capital incidentally has a road named ‘Gingee salai’.
We then proceeded to the magnificent structure of Venkataramana temple, that is deep in the complex interiors, and adjoining some lush green paddy fields. This is an imposing structure with tall walls, and it was particularly spectacular to watch the sunset over this place, with the Rajagiri hill in the background.
Spending time moving around the interiors, we concluded our trip by paying a visit to the ancient Kali temple, which is situated right under a set of rocks and near a beautiful lake. Incidentally, this is one of the few places that is open beyond 5 PM, and frequented by locals. While Gingee fort has been taken over by monkeys in the present day, we saw them teeming in the hundreds at this location.
At around 6 PM, we called it a day after a memorable trip and some enjoyable hiking, exploring history and reminiscing stories from several hundred years ago. We couldn’t scale Rajagiri given the time schedule, but then thats the plan for another trip, sometime again.
