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Gingee Fort

Gingee Fort

heritage site · Tamil Nadu

State
Tamil Nadu
Type
Heritage Site

Gingee Fort stands in Villupuram district, Tamil Nadu, about 160 km from Chennai, built across three hills with roughly 13 km of fortification walls up to 20 m thick and a moat 80 feet wide. It is popularly called the "Great Wall of South India" and was dubbed "Troy of the East" by the British.

Gingee Fort is known for

Great Wall of South Indiathree-hill fortressMaratha Shivaji conquestseven-storeyed Kalyana MahalASI-protected national monument

A short history

The site's fortification history traces to the Kadava chieftain Senjiyar Kon around the 11th-12th centuries. It came under Vijayanagara Empire control in the 14th century, and after the empire's decline the Gingee Nayaks became effectively independent rulers. In 1649 the Bijapur and Golconda Sultanates jointly captured the fort. Maratha leader Shivaji seized it in July 1677 and ordered its mud walls rebuilt in granite; it later served as a seat of the Maratha Empire under Rajaram I, who withstood a seven-year Mughal siege before the fort fell to Mughal general Zulfiqar Khan in 1698. The Carnatic Nawabs took it in 1714, the French captured it in 1750, and the British East India Company conquered it from the French in 1761. It was declared a National Monument under ASI protection in 1921. [Source: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gingee_Fort]

Why Gingee Fort matters

Gingee changed hands among Vijayanagara, the Marathas, Mughals, French and British, making it a rare fortress whose ownership history mirrors the major power shifts of early modern South Indian history.

When to go

December to March

Why visit

Three fortified hills, a legendary siege history and barely any crowds — Tamil Nadu's greatest fort.

How to reach

Gingee Bus Stand is about 3 km away; Villupuram Junction railway station is about 40 km away; Chennai International Airport is about 160 km away.

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