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| Attur Fort Long View Wikipedia |
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A Sone Wall of Fort of Attur. Wikipedia
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| A Construction of Fort of Attur: Wikipedia |
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| A View of the Backside of the Fort Wikipedia |
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| Attur Fort: Various Buildings |
The two part series brings out the history of Gatti Mudali dynasty, who ruled parts of Salem, Karur and
Erode districts in the 17th century as chieftains underneath the Madurai
Nayak dynasty. They held two important strategic forts to guard against
invasion from Mysore kingdom: one at Omalur (near Salem) and the other
at Attur (near Salem). The part one of the two part series details the history of Gatti Mudalis. This post forms the part two which features of Attur Fort held by Gatti Mudalis.
Attur Fort lies on the banks of River Vasishta (வாசிஷ்டா நதி). Located at Attur (ஆத்தூர்) 32 miles east of Salem, it was built by a local Palayakarar, C.Lakshmana Nayakan (17th Century) and later held by Gatti Mudali, the local Chieftain of this region. Gatti Mudalis strengthened fort with the treasure discovered by him in a bush, while he was hunting. The iron pot in which the treasure was found still preserved. The river divides this town into two halves and the land in the south-eastern of the river is known as Pudupet and the north-western part addressed as Attur. During 16th-17th centuries this town was addressed as 'Anantagiri' and till 18th century.
Attur Fort lies on the banks of River Vasishta (வாசிஷ்டா நதி). Located at Attur (ஆத்தூர்) 32 miles east of Salem, it was built by a local Palayakarar, C.Lakshmana Nayakan (17th Century) and later held by Gatti Mudali, the local Chieftain of this region. Gatti Mudalis strengthened fort with the treasure discovered by him in a bush, while he was hunting. The iron pot in which the treasure was found still preserved. The river divides this town into two halves and the land in the south-eastern of the river is known as Pudupet and the north-western part addressed as Attur. During 16th-17th centuries this town was addressed as 'Anantagiri' and till 18th century.
In 1699 Anantagiri was occupied by Chikka Deva Raya of Mysore (1673 - 1704 A.D.) as per the treaty
concluded by "Lingurajayah with Aurachee". Afterwards Hyder Ali (1721 - 1782 A.D.) the sultan and de facto ruler of the Kingdom of Mysore seized this fort and held it till 1768 and lost it when Colonel Wood attacked the fort with his British troops. Eventually in the same year Hyder Ali took back the control of the fort after the encounter with colonel Wood. In 1792 there was restoration of peace and Anantagiri served as the garrison for 23rd Madras Battalion with Captain Campbell as the commander. Since Madras Battalion moved to Sankagiri fort, the fort continued to be employed as ordnance depot from 1799 as per the scheme implemented by Lord Robert Clive. The British detachment was housed till 1824 and afterwards the fort ceased to be British armed forces station. Later ASI, Chennai Circle took charge of the fort and maintain it till now. The fort is surrounded by slums and the people misuse it.
The town houses the impressive square shaped fort, built on the north-western side of the river. The fort occupied about 62 acres. Known as Anantagiri Fort aka Attur Anantagiri Fort, the fortification includes 30 feet tall and 15 feet wide sloped rampart or embankment built with well fitted cut
stone with mortar and with glacis or artificial slope to protect the rampart, angled bastions (angular structure with two faces and two flanks projecting outward from the rampart) specifically designed to cover each other from fire protection and gun batteries. The glacis to the east is overgrown by trees. The south side of the fort is guarded by the river and the other
sides are protected by a ditch. The fort gate
is in the center of the eastern face. Some of the fort’s important landmarks include a Vishnu temple (appears to be the later construction), a Shiva temple and a shrine of Muniyappan, the guardian of the fort; three fairly large and one modestly small
bomb proof chambers in the middle of the fort. It is learned that Gatti Mudalis have used one of the chambers with hemispherical vault or dome as their Kacheri (administrative block). Some other large chamber with the provision of inner court seems to be the harem or residential domain of Gatti Mudalis. The pleasure manor of Gatti Mudali decorated with pillared roof with obtuse pointed arches is located on the south face of the rampart. Adjacent to this there is a concealed water gate leading to the river and this structure is comfortably hidden and well defended. Similar water gate provision was also made on the northern part of the fort and leads to the ditch. Some of the parts of the fort are in dilapidated condition. The ditch and ramparts are undergoing more and more damages. Two years back an amount of Rs.7 lakhs were allocated for the renovation of Kachery and the other hall. However the fencing work for the fort is completed in total.
Inscription
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| John Murray's Tomb |
There are few Tamil, Grantha, Sanskrit and Telugu inscriptions found in damaged state in this fort. An inscription by Anne Murray wife of John Murray, Commander of the first batalion of the East India Company informs about the death of John Murray in May 6, 1799.
The long felt demand of residents of Attur, historians and scholars is to state government for announcing this monument as tourist place.
Reference:
- Attur Fort http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attur_Fort
- Attur Fort - A Well Preserved 300 years old Fort Salem Tourism Blog
- Google Plus. Aragalur Pon.Venkatesan https://plus.google.com/+PonVenkatesan/posts/P48xBCFSax9
- Historic Fort. The Hindu January 14, 2012
- ஆத்தூர் கோட்டை http://ta.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E0%AE%86%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%A4%E0%AF%82%E0%AE%B0%E0%AF%8D_%E0%AE%95%E0%AF%8B%E0%AE%9F%E0%AF%8D%E0%AE%9F%E0%AF%88
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