Overview

While driving on NH4 towards Tumkur, you will see lot of hills on 2 sides of the road. One is Nijagal Betta. It is a few kilometres after Dobbespet (after the Kamat highway hotel – driving from Bangalore) to your left. On top of hill, you will see ruins of temple, fort walls & Dargah

The Nijagal fort was built at the tip of the rocky mountain. Nijagal resembled an enormous, rocky semicircle placed atop a mountain decked on all directions with gigantic, steep, slippery boulders, effectively sealing it off from any sort of assault. The altitude of the fort was beyond the reach of cannonfire. Physical scaling of the fort was scorched by pouring enormous amounts of boiling oil and water, and excreta from specially-constructed holes (typically) near the top of the fort to make ascent impossible. A Burj/Bateri (an oval-shaped construction made of stone, sand and mortar and served as a watch tower) had guards patrolling round the clock. A large, deep and wide fosse circumvented the base of the mountain and was sprinkled with thorns. Crocodiles were bred in the moat to add yet another layer of security. Besides, Nijagal was never in the danger of running out of water. Three fresh-water mountain streams–Rasa Siddara Done (Done=stream/pond), Kanchina Done, and Akka-Tangira Done –provided ample water supply. It was tough for enemies to conquer this fort.