हिंदीOn this day
Ruined

Chandragiri Fort

The last seat of the Vijayanagara emperors, near Tirupati. From its Raja Mahal the grant was made in 1639 that let the English build Fort St George, the start of Madras.

Built: Hill fort of the 11th century by tradition; palaces of the Vijayanagara periodWhere: Andhra Pradesh13.58° N, 79.31° E
  1. late 16th century
  2. 1639
  3. 1646
Photo: IM3847 · CC BY-SA 4.0

01The empire’s last capital

After Talikota in 1565 the Aravidu kings ruled from Penukonda, and towards the end of the 16th century Venkatapati Raya II moved the court to Chandragiri, safer from the Deccan sultanates. Here Krishnadevaraya had spent time as a prince. The Raja Mahal, a three-storeyed palace of stone and brick with Indo-Islamic arches, and the Rani Mahal still stand below the hill. The Aravidu emperors held on here and at Vellore for half a century while the nayakas of Madurai, Thanjavur and Mysore went their own way.

02A grant on the coast

In 1639 Damarla Venkatadri Nayaka, a governor of the Chandragiri emperor Venkata III, granted a strip of coast at Madraspatnam to Francis Day of the East India Company, who built Fort St George there; the grant was renewed by Sriranga Raya III in 1645. The next year Golconda’s army took Chandragiri, and the empire that began at Hampi in 1336 came to an end. The Raja Mahal is now a museum of the Archaeological Survey with bronzes and sculpture from the region.

The life of this place

  1. late 16th centuryVenkatapati Raya II moves the Vijayanagara court from Penukonda to Chandragiri.
  2. 1639The grant of Madraspatnam to the East India Company is made under the Chandragiri emperor.
  3. 1646Golconda forces take Chandragiri.
Visiting

About 15 km from Tirupati. The museum is closed on Fridays; an evening sound-and-light show tells the fort’s story.

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