Raichur
Author:Laxman Burdak, IFS (R) |
Raichur (रायचूर) is a city and district in the Indian state of Karnataka.
Variants
Location
Raichur is situated between Krishna River and Tungabhadra rivers, located 409 km from the state capital, Bangalore.
History
Note: The following content is from the book - History And Legend In Hyderabad, Department of Information and Public Relations, 1953,pp.109-116
Raichur district has a direct link with the Stone Age, 7,000 years ago at least, when man was yet an infant. Recent discoveries take us back only to the neolithic period but this is by itself evidence of previous civilizations. Who were those people and what was their civilization is unknown, but they have left us weapons, implements and bones.
It is also not known definitely whether Raichur had any importance during the Vedic and the Epic eras of Indian History, but popular tradition identifies the Kishkindha of Ramayana as Anegundi and Vijayanagar on the opposite bank of the Tungabhadra, both in Raichur district. A part of the army of Sri Rama on its march against Ravana passed through the district.
It is not unlikely that Ikshvaku colonists gradually trickled down through Ujjain and Vidharba, brought civilization, to this area and named the Krishna after the hero of Mahabharata. The name Ikshvaku occurs in the Rig Veda and the Ikshvakus were connected with the Purus or the Pauravas (Vedic Index Vol. I P. 75). In the Puranas the royal family of Ayodhya is represented as having descended from a king named Ikshvaku, and according to the Vishnu Purana, of the 100 sons of Ikshvaku 48 ruled in Dakshina or the south. One Ikshvaku inscription at Nagarjunakonda also discloses that even Buddha was descended from the illustrious Ikshvakus. But this protohistoric darkness melts in the light of the Asokan edtics and discoveries of coins, figurines and other antiquities in the district, which establish its importance during the Buddhist period. During the days of Andhra supremacy it probably did not figure much, although coins of the Satavahana period have been discovered in the district. The fort at Raichur, the Gadwal Samasthan and the Anegundi traditions go back to the days of the Kakatiyas of Warangal, the Yadavas of Devagiri and the Vijayanagar empire. After the Tughlaq conquest, it fell first to the Bahmanis and then to the Adil Shahis of Bijapur. For some time it formed a part of the Moghul empire till Hyderabad State came into existence.
Maski in Lingsugur taluq is one of the oldest sites in the State. Here excavations
[p.110]: have brought to light remains of the neolithic age — bones, flints, implements, — and of the Asokan and Buddhist ages. A miniature head of Buddha in crystal which dates from somewhere between 200 to 300 B.C. is an exquisite discovery. Coins discovered tell the tale of the Satavahana dynasty whose last great emperor was Gautamiputra Swami Sri Yajna Satakarni, area 186 A.D. What happened in this part of Andhradesa after the Satavahanas is the usual history of the Saka usurpers, the Cholas, the Pallavas and their successors, and of the two Chalukyas, the Rashtrakutas and the Kalachuris. Maski is indeed an antiquarian’s delight.
The forts at Adhoni, Anegundi, Deodrug, Koppal, Alampur, Mudgal, Malihabad and Raichur are of historic importance.
Deodrug was the stronghold of the poligars of the Bedar, fearless ”, tribe who were so powerful that the first of the Nizams sought their alliance. The fort is walled on three sides and the fourth or the western side is barred by hills.
The hill fort at Koppal is very old but its lower fortifications were rebuilt by French engineers under Tipu Sultan. The fort also figured as the stronghold of Bhima Rao in 1857. The fortifications consist of two forts, the upper fort is situated on the lofty and insulated summit of a hill, about 400 feet above the ground. Sir John Malcolm described it as the strongest place he had seen in India.
Very little is known about the Hindu origin of the fort in Adhoni. In 1347, Alauddin Bahmani, and in 1375 Mujahid Shah Bahmani, captured the fort. It was subsequently under the Rajas of Vijayanagar, but after the battle of Talikotta in 1565 it was conquered by the Bijapur kings.
An old Hindu temple, built in 13th century of lime and stone with sculpture on the walls, has a black stone slab bearing an inscription in the Devanagri characters.
The fort in Malihabad is an ancient military structure of the Hindu period, which is now in a dilapidated condition. A pair of elephants carved in red stone is placed in front of a gateway inside the fort. It has a Kannada-Telugu inscription of the Kakatiya rajas.
The Mudgal fort was the seat of the Yadava governors of Deogiri in 1250. It came successively into the possession of the rajas of Warangal, the Bahmani and Bijapur Sultans, and lastly it fell to Aurangzeb. There is a small Roman Catholic colony in the town, whose ancestors were originally converted by one of St Xavier’s missionaries from Goa. The church was built at an early date and contains a picture of the Madonna.
Gadwal is another historic locality whose origin is lost in antiquity. The earliest trace is the conferment of the status of Sarnagoud over six paragnas by King Pratapa Rudra Deva upon Bukka Polavi Reddi, the ruler of Gadwal. Gadwal has an interesting fort, a great temple, the Garudasthamba temple and the Sri Keshava temple with the dwajasthamba.
In Manvi besides the temples of the Ramashimha and Venkateshwara there is a temple of Marothi which is on a hill to the west of the town. Beside this temple is a
[p.111]: large slab of stone having a long Kannada inscription, A similar inscription is near a wall on the ruined fort.
Alampur: The gorges of the Krishna River in the Alampur taluq are of romantic interest inasmuch as they are believed to have been the source of diamonds in medieval times. The Gorge of Diamonds in the legend of Sindbad the Sailor and the Roc is also believed to have been one of these gorges.
"Dakshina Kashi,” or Banaras of the south is how Bala-Brahmesvara or, as now known, Alampur, is termed by tradition, and the euphonym is well-merited by the many sacred temples on the banks of the holy Tungabhadra.
Here history and legend have consorted together with stone and sculpture from times immemorial, and here can be seen the living footprints of the past from Stone Age down through prehistory and protohistory to the great days of the Satavahanas, the early and later Chalukyas, the Rashtrakutas, Kalachuriyas and Kakatiyas, the last of the Andhra kings.
“The prosperous Chalukyan family of world-praised manavyasa gotra, descendants of Hareeti, who became prosperous by the favour of Saptamatrika, who obtained a series of auspices by the shelter of god Kumara, who susbdued all kings at the mere sight of emblem of Varaha obtained by the grace of Almighty Narayan,” is an inscription on the ramparts of the ruined ancient fort recalling the glory of the Chalukyas while an inscription at Devadroni Tirtha refers to the reign of Vijayadatta Chalukya.
It was the great grandson of Pulakesin II who had the prakara-bandh, or rampart wail, built to stem the waters of the Tungabhadra from flooding into the Brahmesvara Temple, the construction being carried out by Isanacarya Swami Bhattapada. The date corresponds to May 3 and 4, 714 A.D.
At one time there was the Brahmapuri University here, and two of its professors Trilochana Muninadha Pandita and Ekanta Desikadi Pandita were honoured by kings and queens.
“ Virabalanjya Samaya,” commercial syndicates, also honoured them in the days of the Kalachuris and the Kakatiyas, and Veeragallulus of western Andhra period have also been found here.
The Brahmesvara and the Papnasa groups of Temples at Alampur constitute an important stage in the evolution of temple architecture in south India, and an affinity to Ellora and Ajanta is noticeable.
Alampur has over a dozen inscriptions recording various gifts made by the later Chalukyas. The Kakatiyas and the rulers of Vijayanagar seem to have made no additions to the temples of Alampur but inscriptions of their times prove that Alampur continued to occupy an important place among the religious shrines of the south.
At Alampur the Tungabhadra takes a turn to the north and so acquires sanctity
[p.112]: and imparts holiness to the temples consecrated at this spot.
Certainly the Visvesvera, the Visalaksi, the Duntti-Ganesa and the Kala Bhairava Temples of holy Banaras have their counterparts in the Brahmesvara, the Jogulamba, the Duntti-Ganesa and the Kala-Bhairava shrines and Alampur well deserves to be the Dakshina-Kashi, "Banaras of the South.” other parallels are also not wanting, including 64 ghats in both places.
There are two main clusters of temples — the Brahmesvara, and the Papnasa, the former inside the fort and the latter half a mile away from Alampur.
The leading temple in the Brahmesvara cluster of nine is triple-shrined with three deities consecrated on three sides of a many-pillared hall facing the river. The nine temples Nava-Brahma group of temples are Bala-Brahma, Garuda-Brahma, Svarga-Brahma, Padma Brahma, Traka-Brahma, Arka-Brahma, Kumara-Brahma, Vira-Brahma, and Visva-Brahma.
Of these Bala-Brahma is venerated most. The inner plan and decoration of these temples bear no affinity to the Indo-Aryan temples but have a striking resemblance to the plans and carvings of some of the rock-cut temples of western India as the projected porches of these temples are identical in form to the portico of Gave XIX, Ajanta. The temples have a central approach leading to the shrine in the form of a nave, with an aisle on either side, which as in the case of the Buddhist chaityas, are separated from the former by rows of pillars. The shrines are square with circumambulatory passage around, In imitation of the rock-cut architecture, walls are closed but windows fitted with exquisite trellis screens have been provided for ventilation. The carving of the pillars and archi-traves are identical with those of the Buddhist and Brahmanical caves of western India, so much so that on entering the temples one has to remind himself that he is inside a temple and not in a rock-cut shrine.
The sikkaras of the temples, according to Cousens, are "of an unusual model particularly the sphere which is the frustum of a square pyramid surrounded by a large and very compressed spheroid.”
Alampur has indeed a wealth of exquisite delights for the historian, the antiquarian, the archaeologist and the painter, scultptor and art-lover which have to be seen to be appreciated.
Other interesting places are the Suryanarayana the Narasimha-alaya, the Muslim dargah and the magnificent gateways of the fort. The fort was built by Vijayanagar rajas and subsequently conquered by Muslim kings. It has three ditches and 30 bastions.
Alampur is six miles from the metre guage railway station of the same name in Raichur district, and can be easily reached from Hyderabad or Guntakal in Madras.
Anegundi: Anegundi recalls the days of the great Vijayanagar kingdom, for just across the Tunga-
[p.113]: bhadra is Hampi, the ruined capital of the forgotten empire — an empire which has been praised in glowing terms even in The Thousand and One Mights which gives a graphic description of the splendour of Vijayanagar.
Both Hampi and Anegundi were destroyed by the Muslim confederacy after the great battle of Talikotta (1565). The confederacy consisted of the kings of Ahmadnagar, Bijapur, Bidar and Golconda. The Vijayanagar armies were led by Sedasivaraya and his brothers, and the Vijayanagar army was 82,000 horses, 9,00,000 foot and 2,000 elephant strong. The Muslim army was comparatively smaller but the battle seems to have been decided by the heavy artillery used by the Muslims. The battle is said to have been joined on January 5, 1565, and the number slain computed at 1,00,000.
Rajas of Anegundi are lineal descendants of the kings of Vijayanagar. The Vijayanagar dynasty ruled from 1336 to 1565. Anegundi means 'elephant-pit’ being the place where the elephants of the Vijayanagar kings were kept.
The ancient town of Anegundi which has also been identified by some scholars with Kong-Kien-na-pu-le (Kunkanapura) of Hiuen Tsang is in a state of complete ruin now. The remains of magnificent buildings of the Vijayanagar dynasty are still traceable and there are fine specimens in the pillars of the Oncha Appa-Matha and the screens and scupture of the Ganesa temple. The pillars are of jet black basalt and are deeply carved. The sculptures appear in relief on the surface of the pillars and are similar in design and workmanship to the pillars in the Huvina Hadgatta temple in the Bellary district.
The ceiling of the Oncha Appa Matha has also some paintings which consists of devices still in vogue in Rajputana and northern India. In one panel there is a figure of Siva with a long beard riding on five female acrobats who have joined themselves in the form of an elephant.
In another panel the same deity is riding on a group of five women who have united themselves together in the form of a horse. There is also palki formed of women in the same style. The outlines of the figures are weak and the colours are insipid. They probably belong to the 17th century.
Gabbur: At Gabbur the temples of Bhangar Basappa, the Vishvesvara temple, the Ishwar temple (Gannigudi Mutt), the Venkateshwara temple, the Ghandi Gate temple, the Hanuman
temple, the temple near Jami Masjid and Male Sankara^'s temple are worth seeing. Gabbur is in Deodrug taluq.
Ittagi: Ittagi is a small village in Raichur district some three miles to the south of Bennikoppa railway station between Koppal and Gadag. The Mahadeva temple situated
[p. 114]: in this village is one of the finest Chalukyan temples and fully justifies the title ‘emperor among temples’ (devalaya chakravarti) given to it by the founder.
The plan of the temple comprises a shrine with an ante-chamber, a closed hall with porches on either side of it towards the north and south, and a pillared hall which is open at the sides. The temple faces east, and the great open hall at this end was originally supported upon sixty-eight pillars.
The slabs of the ceiling of the middle apartment of the hall have been carved into a rich arrangement of hanging arabesque foliage and makaras which spring from the jaws of a kintimukha mask. The convolutions of the design with their circling excrescences and bwildering whorls form a most luxuriant pattern.
Beautiful wreaths of filigree are repeated as ornament in the recessed panels of the walls below and in two places, one on either side of the shrine, serve as window-frames, the spaces between the rolls forming the lights. The three principal niches on the shrine walls, boldly accentuated by their deep projecting cornices, are now empty, their images having disappeared.
The beautiful inscription in flowing Kannada verse set up in a hall adjacent to the temple states that this temple was built in A.D. 1112 by Mahadeva, a general (Dandanayaka) of the Western Chalukya king, Tribhuvanamalla Vikramaditya VI of Kalyani.
This temple is almost unrivalled in this part of the country both in the magnificence of its architectural style and its luxuriant decorative detail.
Kallur: There are some old 13th century temples in the village and a Hanuman temple outside wherein are two beautiful old pieces of sculpture one representing Ganesa and the other Saptamatrika (Seven Mothers).
There is another temple called Mukandeshwara situated to the west of the village. It seems to be the oldest shrine in the village; its pillars having some good carvings. The bases of the pillars are covered with bas-relief representing floral designs, animal figures and droll subjects. The superstructure of the temple excepting the sikhara seems to have been built in Bahmani or Adil Shahi period as is obvious from the turrets, the friezes and other Muslim motifs.
To the north of Mukandeshwar temple, at a distance of about a furlong and a half, is a small temple in which an image of Kali, locally known as Karamma, has been enshrined. The fourth shrine is not in use. The fifth temple is called Pelommal Gudi. The sixth temple is known as Venkateshwargudi. There are three inscriptions in the village. One of the records has been fixed opposite Karamma’s temple. The other inscription is carved on a piece of sculpture representing an elephant and the last inscription is close to the well.
Kushtagi: There are Hindu tcmples at Bergi, Hamsasagar, Holigiri, Para, Paratgiri, Kushtagi,
[p. 115]: Rampur, Santgadh and Vajarbanda. There is also a mosque at Kushtagi.
Lingusar: In this taluq there is an old 8th century fortress on a rock, situated between the two tributaries of Krishna at Jaldrug. From an inscription in the fort, it appears that the fort was built by one of the Yadava rajas of Devagiri (Daulatabad) about the close of the 12th century.
There are numerous prehistoric sites in this taluq, while at Honhalli and Wendalli ruins of ancient smelting factories have been found. Wendalli is well-known for its gold working.
Maski: The archseological importance of Maski has already been mentioned, but it has also a link with the Asokan age.
In the neighbourhood of the town under a canopied boulder is carved an Asokan edict in Brahmi Script. The importance of this inscription lies predominantly in its mention of the fact that Asoka was the author of the edict.
Maski (“ Masangi” or “ Suvarnagiri,” town of gold) is 17 miles from Lingsugur in Raichur district.
Mudgal: Mudgal fort has already been mentioned but Mudgal is also famous in history as the home of Parthal, the Helen of the South, for whom two mighty kingdoms went to war — the Bahmani and the Vijayanagar kingdoms. The Cambridge History of India gives the event as below,
"In 1406 Harihara II died, and was succeeded by his son, Bukka II, and in the same year occurred the romantic episode of the goldsmith’s daughter of Mudgal, a strange occurrence, but reasonably well attested.
"A poor goldsmith and his wife, living near Mudgal, are said to have had a daughter named Parthal, of such surpassing beauty and brilliant accomplishments that her fame spread far and wide, and was carried by a Brahman who had been her instructor to the court of Bukka, who sent messengers to demand her of her parents. They, regarding the proposal as an honour, were disposed to comply, but the girl declined it. Bukka crossed the Tungabhadra with 5,000 horse, and sent a party to Mudgal to abduct the girl, but news of the raid had preceded it, and by the time that the party reached Mudgal. Parthal and her parents had fled. Meanwhile, Feroz the Bahmani king learnt of Bukka's raid, promptly went to war and defeated the invaders.
After his return to Ferozabad the king sent to Mudgal for the beautiful Parthal and her parents. The girl was given in marriage to Hasan Khan, his son, and the parents
[p.116]: received gifts in money and grant of their native village. It was probably on this occasion that the goldsmiths of the Deccan were permitted once more to follow their ancestral calling as bankers and money-changers, from which they had been debarred by the edict of Muhammad I.”
Raichur: The Raichur Fort, according to an inscription on a huge stone (42 ft, by 3 ft.) was built by Gore Gangaya Ruddivaru, a minister of the raja of Warangal, in 1294. The country round Raichur was the battle-ground of the ancient Hindu and Jain dynasties as well as of the Muslim and Hindu kingdoms of Gulbarga and Vijayanagar. After the decline of the Bahmani power towards the close of the fifteenth century, it formed part of the Bijapur kingdom.
Upon the subjugation of Bijapur and Golconda by Aurangzeb, Raichur was garrisoned by the Moghuls. A short distance from the west gate of the fort are the remains of a strongly built palace. The fortifications form a square of large stones 12 feet long by three feet thick, laid on one another without any cementing material. They consist of two walls, inner and an outer, and are surrounded on three sides by a deep ditch, while on the fourth or southern side there is a hill. The outer ortifications and the gateways were constructed by Ibrahim Adil Shah about 1549. The inner fort has two gateways and the outer three. The fort contains an old gun over 20 feet long. The Jami Masjid in the town was built in 1618.
The Ek-Minar Masjid, according to a Persian inscription on its threshold, was constructed by Ambar in 919 A.H. in the reign of Mahmud Shah Bahmani. The architectural characteristic of this mosque is that as its name itself signifies it has only one minaret which is about 65 feet high standing just above the entrance in the south-east corner of the courtyard of the mosque and was probably intended to serve as an "azan tower" like the Qutb Minar at Delhi. It consists of two storeys and gradually tapers upwards ending in a rounded dome of Bahmani style.
Some distance from the Ek-Minar Mosque is Yatim Shah’s mosque, adjoining which is the Kati Darwaza. The other notable gateways are the Maccai Darwaza, Naurangi Darwaza and Khandaq Darwaza. The Naurangi Darwaza appears to be a Hindu structure and one of the bastions bears a well-carved figure of a Naga king with a crown of five-headed serpent.
रायचूर
रायचूर (AS, p.794): विजयेन्द्र कुमार माथुर[2] ने लेख किया है ..... रायचूर शहर, पूर्वी कर्नाटक (भूतपूर्व मैसूर) राज्य में स्थित है। रायचूर का मुख्य ऐतिहासिक स्मारक यहाँ का दुर्ग है, जिसे वारंगल नरेश के मंत्री गोरे गंगायरुड्डी वारु ने 1294 ई. में बनवाया था। यह सूचना एक विशाल पाषाण फलक पर उत्कीर्ण अभिलेख से मिलती है। प्रारम्भ में रायचूर में हिन्दू तथा जैन राजवंशों का राज था। पीछे बहमनी सल्तनत का यहाँ पर क़ब्ज़ा हो गया। 15वीं शती के अन्त में बहमनी राज्य की अवनति होने पर बीजापुर के सुल्तान ने रायचूर पर अधिकार कर लिया और तत्पश्चात् औरंगज़ेब द्वारा बीजापुर रियासत के मुग़ल साम्राज्य में मिला लिए जाने पर यह नगर भी इस साम्राज्य का एक अंग बन गया। इसी समय रायचूर के क़िले में मुग़ल सेनाओं का शिविर बनाया गया था।
क़िले के पश्चिमी दरवाज़े के पास ही एक सुन्दर भवन के अवशेष हैं। क़िला दो प्राचीरों से घिरा हुआ है। भीतरी प्राचीर और उसके प्रवेश द्वार इब्राहीम आदिलशाह प्रथम ने 1549 ई. के लगभग बनाए थे। प्राचीरों के तीन ओर एक गहरी खाई है और दक्षिण की ओर एक पहाड़ी। ये दीवारें बारह फुट लम्बे और तीन फुट मोटे प्रस्तर खण्डों से बनी हैं। ये पत्थर बिना चूने या मसाले के परस्पर जुड़े हुए हैं।
रायचूर की जामा मस्जिद 1618 ई. में बनी थी। एक मीनार नाम की मस्जिद महमूद शाह बहमनी के काल (919 हिजरी) में बनी थी। यह सूचना एक फ़ारसी अभिलेख से प्राप्त होती है जो इसकी देहली पर ख़ुदा हुआ है। मस्जिद में केवल एक ही मीनार है। जिसकी ऊँचाई 65 फुट है। यह मस्जिद के दक्षिण-पूर्वी कोने में स्थित है। इसमें दो मंज़िलें हैं। मीनार ऊपर की ओर पतली है और शीर्ष पर बहमनी शैली के गुम्बद से ढकी हुई है। इस मस्जिद के पास यतीमशाह की मस्जिद तथा एक दरवाज़ा है। अन्य दरवाज़ों में नौरंगी दरवाज़ा हिन्दूकालीन जान पड़ता है। इसके एक बुर्ज़ पर एक नाग-राजा की मूर्ति है, जिसके सिर पर पंचमुखी सर्प का मुकुट है।