BHONGIR,  THE MAGNIFICIENT HILL FORT OF TELUGU                    

                                    
PEOPLE… A  PEEP INTO HISTORY

                                                      
Dr K Prabhakar Rao               

                     Andhra Pradesh has a distinguished past
and has played great part in the cultural and political history of India. The
distant region of Telangana which once formed part of Nizams dominion has rich historical
past and Telangana is dotted with many forts ( Now mostly in neglected state) .
These remind us about the valor of Telugu people in bye gone days. In
Telangana  ancient forts exist at
Warangal, Golconda, Tatikonda, Ramgiri, 
Ghanapur, Pangal, Medak, Shhpur Zafar gadh,  Devarkonda, Rachkonda, Khammam, Nirmal (
French forts and Battis garh),  Jagityal,
Koilakonda,  Nizamabad, Gadwal, Bhongir
occupies a special place among them. Some of these forts are awesome and
visitors are wonder struck at their grandeur, structural skills, planning and in
execution by our past craftsmen. Bhongir is one such fort that is awesome and
inspiring to all. It stands next only to Golconda
and Warangal.

                     Bhongir town is at a
distance of 40 km from state capital Hyderabad
and the main railway line passes through the town, all trains proceeding to Calcutta, Delhi, Madras ( Chennai) pass through
the town It is Mandal( Taluq)  Head
quarters and is an important revenue Mandal. Many engineering colleges have
come up around Bhongir and the town is rapidly growing as the suburb of Hyderabad city. The fort
is now located in the heart of town due to al round development. It is built
over a large egg shaped rock towering to an height of … meters. The entire rock
appears as a single piece in a plain ground. Surrounding areas are at height
and the fort appears low from a distance. But as one goes closer the fort
rapidly rises into sky. The fort walls are very massive and the ramparts and walls
at the lower level appear to be not very ancient while the fort walls at the
top are no doubt very old. The lower fort is well built with neatly chiseled
granite stones with ports for using muskets. Obviously the fort was modified
over the centuries of occupation. The fort has seen many ups and downs and
passed through many hands. Kakateeya kings, Naika kings, Rachakonda kings and
Muslims ruled over the fort in its on history

                    No historical records are
available about the fort. People claim that it is about 300 years old and this
can not be believed The fort was built by ancient Hindu king Bhuvaniak Malludu Chalukya
king from Kalyani. It is evident by a Ganesh idol on fort. As per locals Malik
Kafir the general of Allauddin Khilji, the Sultan of Delhi ( 13-14 century)
conquered this fort with  very great
difficulty. There are interesting legends over origin of the fort. During the
ancient times a dynamic Hindu king wanted to construct a fort and was in search
of a suitable place. He selected hills of Rayagiri and took up construction
over the hills. Some of the remains of the walls can be seen on these hills. A
local shepherd approached the officials who were supervising the construction
and mocked at their wisdom for choosing the site and he felt that it would be
impossible to defend the fort in case the enemy occupied neighboring greater heights.
The officials were greatly impressed and surprised at his wisdom and took him
to the king. The King was too impressed and said to the shepherd that he would
be greatly rewarded if a suitable site was shown to him. The shepherd put a
condition that the new fort should be named after him and his wife and the king
agreed. The shepherds name was Bhoniah and his wife was Giremma

                        The shepherds usually
have very good knowledge of the hills and forests, terrain ad plants and
animals as they wander in these areas. Bhoniah left after taking some time from
the king. At this time the rocky hill at Bhongir at present was completely covered
by a very large wildreeper and  the  rock was not seen from outside. The root   of the  
creeper was in a village away from the hill. Entire area was completely surrounded
by thick forests and it was not visible. The shepherd promptly cut off the
large root of the creeper and soon it dried up.. In few days, it was put to
fire by the shepherd and the creeper was reduced to ashes and the imposing
rocky hill was exposed in all its glory. He went to the king and brought him to
the site and the king was immensely thrilled at the site and soon he ordered
the officials to plan and build a fort covering the rocky hill. It was soon
completed and was named after the shepherd couple as Bhonagiri. He also
constructed a town near the base of the fort with a temple dedicated to  Bhoneswara and some ruins of the temple can be
seen  at the village outskirts.. The town
is also called Bhuvana giri . Some people claim that the fort and the town are
named after the king Bhuvanika Malludu ( A Kalyani Chalukya) who built them in
the past. Bhongir fort that displays magnificent construction much before the
construction of Rajasthan hill forts. Its steep sides are impregnable.

The fort has seen
many battles, fall and rise of dynasties. . It has seen fluctuating fortunes,
defeats and victories in its long history and was a witness to the flourishing
and falling of man dynasties.  It formed
the eastern border for Bahmani sultans at the time of Alauddin Bahman Shah the
founder of Bahmani kingdom. They ruled at Gulbarga
and later at Bidar.   Kapayya Naika the
dare devil Hindu king at Warangal
ruled over Bhongir province too when he controlled entire Telangana after
Pratapa Rudra II of Kakateeya dynasty. It was later controlled by Velama kings
of Rachakonda who fought relentless wars with Kapayya, Reddy Kings at
Kondaveedu and with Vijayanagar Rayas with the help of Bahmani sultans. Finally
Velama kings lost everything to Bahmani sultans after 100 years of rule.   The fort then passed over to Kutubshahi kings
of Golconda.  It went over to Mughals during the reign of
Aurangzeb and then came under Asafia rulers at  Hyderabad till Nizam 7 acceded to Indian union
in 1948 after police action and defeat of Hyderabad   army 
and blood thirsty and rapist Razakars . It was mostly under some Qiladar.
The fort is not famous for any sculptural splendor. It was mostly of military
importance.  Once it was captured by Muslims,
it literally lost all its Hindu orientation and 
these effects can be seen today. There are few buildings on top of the
hill that have lost al Hindu orientation. At present, the office of a Govt TV
and communication department with its tower is located at the top of hill. A
pond of fresh water exists on top that is always full of water.  Wild life such as snakes, Boa constrictors,
monitor lizards, monkeys and   Hyenas,
are found on the hill apart from occasional Panthers and bears too.

                  Bhongir fort is also mentioned
in the daring acts of chivalry of Sarvai Papadu who rose during the later days
of  Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Although he
was born a Goud, a toddy tapper ,he soon became ambitious and collected arms,
horses and men and attacked Mughal provinces in Telangana and defeated the
chieftains. He controlled major portion of Telangana and ruled. He built forts
at Shahpur, Tatikonda and controlled areas of Karimnagar, Warangal, Jangaon, Kolanupaka and other areas.
He was a terror to Muslim chieftains.. He grew very bold and conquered Bhongir
and Warangal and it is also said that for a
short while he occupied Golconda
too. However he was betrayed by some of his men while asleep to the Mughal army   and he committed suicide and he preferred
death to dishonor. Some state that he was tortured and beheaded and his head
was hung to Golconda
fort gate. He deeds are sung as ballads in Telangana. 

                        The fort is neglected
as usual by the state govt   and people
watch with despair as the ancient fort slowly gets rotten. The Govt claims it
has no funds to spend. It is high time they do something and preserve Telugu
heritage. The Fort should be developed as tourist attraction. We may not
construct (being incapable) such forts and therefore we must preserve them for
future generations. Sadly the governments have no time for these things   and they are busy in never ending
politicking and misrule while the leaders are busy in money making activities
and indulging in various scams.