Medak Fort is situated in

Medak district Medak district is a district located in the Indian state of Telangana. Medak is the district headquarters. The district shares boundaries with Sangareddy, Kamareddy, Siddipet and Medchal districts. History Traces of Neolithic and Megalithic ...

in the

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...

Telangana Telangana (; , ) is a States and union territories of India, state in India situated on the south-central stretch of the Indian subcontinent, Indian peninsula on the high Deccan Plateau. It is the List of states and union territories of India b ...

, about 100 kilometres from the state capital,

Hyderabad Hyderabad ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Indian state of Telangana and the ''de jure'' capital of Andhra Pradesh. It occupies on the Deccan Plateau along the banks of the Musi River (India), Musi River, in the northern part ...

. Medak fort was constructed by the Kakatiya Kings. The fort lies to the north of the city and can be reached by road. It is a citadel built on a hillock that provided as a vantage point for the Kakatiya rulers in medieval India. The fort was built sometime around the 12th century and during the reign of the Kakatiya ruler, Rudra Deva and was called Methuku durgam, meaning cooked rice in

Telugu Telugu may refer to: * Telugu language, a major Dravidian language of India *Telugu people, an ethno-linguistic group of India * Telugu script, used to write the Telugu language ** Telugu (Unicode block), a block of Telugu characters in Unicode S ...

. It was later ruled by another great South Indian kingdom kings the Musunuri Kings. It was a command post of the Kakatians and later for Musunuri Kings and

Qutb Shahis The Qutb Shahi dynasty also called as Golconda Sultanate ( Persian: ''Qutb Shāhiyān'' or ''Sultanat-e Golkonde'') was a Persianate Shia Islam dynasty of Turkoman origin that ruled the sultanate of Golkonda in southern India. After the coll ...

. The fort has great historical and architectural importance in

. Within the fort is a 17th-century Mosque built by the Qutub Shahis, granaries and remains of grand houses.Medak District in AP
/ref> It has three main entrances, the "Prathama Dwaram", the "Simha Dwaram" that has two snarling lions at the top of the entrance and the "Gaja Dwaram", or Elephant's Entrance that has a sculpture of two

elephant Elephants are the largest existing land animals. Three living species are currently recognised: the African bush elephant, the African forest elephant, and the Asian elephant. They are the only surviving members of the family Elephantidae an ...

s interlocked on both sides of the entrance. The main entrance proudly displays the double-headed "Gandabherundam" of the Kakatiyas. The wood used as a support for the stable roof(Terminalia paniculata) can still be seen there. At the fort one can see a 17th-century

cannon A cannon is a large- caliber gun classified as a type of artillery, which usually launches a projectile using explosive chemical propellant. Gunpowder ("black powder") was the primary propellant before the invention of smokeless powder ...

that is 3.2 metres long. The cannon has a

trident A trident is a three- pronged spear. It is used for spear fishing and historically as a polearm. The trident is the weapon of Poseidon, or Neptune, the God of the Sea in classical mythology. The trident may occasionally be held by other marine ...

etched on it. This fortress uses the natural topography to the maximum advantage with the rocky face offering it natural defences. The water to the fort was provided via a pipeline. Now, there is not much left to see, but as it stands on a hillock, it offers a good view of the district.

References

Forts in Telangana Medak district {{India-struct-stub