Siege of Savendroog (Savandurga)

01The black hill and the white

Savandurga is two great domes of granite, known locally as Karigudda, the black hill, and Biligudda, the white. Kempegowda’s Magadi chiefs had used it as a second seat, and Mysore had held it since the 1720s. In 1791 its walls ran across both summits, and the bamboo jungle around its foot made approach slow. Robert Home, the painter who went with Cornwallis, called it the fort of death. It stood on the flank of the road to Srirangapatna.

02Taken in a morning

Cornwallis sent Lieutenant-Colonel James Stuart against it in December 1791. Guns were cut through the jungle and dragged up to batter the walls on the eastern side. On the morning of 21 December the storming parties went up both heights at once. The defenders, who had trusted the rock more than their own muskets, broke, and the fort was carried within the morning. Smaller forts nearby, such as Ramagiri and Shivanagiri, gave up soon after.