Sankagiri Fort Heritage Visit, Sankagiri, Salem District, Tamil Nadu.

2^nd, August 2016.

This Sankagiri Fort is a Heritage Walk,  rather I would like to call this Sankagiri Trekking since most of the journey was by trekking to an altitude of 2000 feet. This walk was organized by the young, energetic, and history-enthusiastic Mr. Aaragalur Venkatesan,  Mr. Kalaiselvan, Mr. Srinivasan, and Mr. A.T. Mohan of Salem District History Search Group. The Local enthusiastic leaders of various organizations also joined us for this Heritage walk as sponsors. Maram Palinaisamy’s work is beyond words to comment.   Particularly Rotarian Mr Venkateswara Gupta’s participation is commendable.   Normally thanks will be mentioned at the end of any article, but I would like to mention it at the beginning of this article. Hence  I extend my sincere thanks to the sponsors of this program through, food & water, the Organizers, and the 80 and odd co-participants from the age group of 6 to 80, who made this event a successful one.

When I happened to see this scheduled event on 31^st July 2016, was notified on Facebook, immediately registered myself as a participant, and eagerly waited for the day to come.   One of the reasons is to know more about my Kongu region.  I am proud to say that I belong to the 24^th Nadu, ‘Kuruppa Nadu’  with Vijayamangalam as the capital of the Kongu Region. The photos taken during the trial walk and the posters posted by Mr Sevas Pandian kindled my anxiety further.  Decided to break any obstacles  ( during our trekking also received important phone calls is a different story ).

The much-awaited day dawned with the meeting of historians, researchers, friends of Facebook, and my previous births brothers and sisters. I was fortunate to participate with eminent personalities  Mr  Veeraraghavan Mr.  Veeraswamy, Mr. Manonmani Pudhuezuthu, Mrs.  Mangai Ragavan, Barnaboss, Venkatesan tkp, Sultan Bai, etc.…. in this Sankagiri Heritage walk. After a brief meeting at the boy's school at the base of the hill, started our trekking through the main entrance. The steps are paved randomly with stones and in some places, steps were chiseled on the rock itself.  The trek was steep in some places and forced to take a rest after climbing 25 to 30 steps. In some places, the steps narrowed due to bush growth.  The Glucose and orange Mittai gave us the energy to climb to the top. The lunch was excellent to eat at the top of the hill watching clouds passing above us. 

To reach the top of the hill, passed through Uli muka vassal ( உளி முக வாசல்), Thitti vassal (திட்டி வாசல்), Kadikara vassal ( கடிகார வாசல் ), Rana mandala vassal ( ரண மண்டல வாசல்), Pudukottai Vasal ( புதுக்கோட்டை வாசல்), Rokkal Thittivasal ( ரோக்கல் திட்டி வாசல்),  Pooval Thittivasal ( பூவல் திட்டி வாசல்), Idivizhunthaan kundu vassal ( இடி விழுந்தான் குண்டு வாசல்), Vellaikaran vassal ( வெள்ளைக்காரன் வாசல்), Mysore gate ( மைசூர் கேட்),  More thitti vassal ( மோர் திட்டி வாசல் ). Ad had seen some the important places like Maan Sunai ( மான் சுனை,),  Aal irangum kuzhi ( ஆள் இறங்கும் குழி), Thol uruchan medu ( தோலுரிச்சான் மேடு), Tongavittan kugai ( தொங்க விட்டான் குகை), Uruttivittan paarai (உருட்டிவிட்டான் பாறை), Dheeran Chinnamalai hanging place, Natural and man made ponds and the rain  water ways chiseled on the rock  to lead in to ponds,  The Thomas Daniel’s drawing place, etc., etc.,    ( sorry the names are in Tamil and difficult to translate and understand.

On the way, we came across both Hindu and Muslim temples. They are Kottai Muneeswaran, Veerabhadra, Kottai Mariamman,  Varadharaja Perumal, Anjaneyar in a mandapam, A mandapam converted to the Muslim prayer place, Rainwater falls on the Surya Chandra Lingams chiseled on the rock, Anjaneyar Temple Chenna Kesava Perumal Temple, Relief of Lord Shiva worshiped by a devotee and a Darka.

     

we had traveled through many difficult and dangerous paths. It is to be appreciated that Mr Srinivasan had taken much care for the safe passage of our team to cross dangerous paths on the sloppy rocks.

After around 15 Hrs, exhausted completely so took a rest at the top of the hill and slowly trekked down.  At about 17.00 Hrs reached the base of the hill. Again with a brief meeting with Mr Gupta and a group photo and shared the experiences we had during this trek.  Had also seen a three-tier memory stone at a local temple.  Disbursed un-willingly promising to meet in the next Heritage walk … See you bye for now.

LOCATION OF THE FORT:    CLICK HERE  

 Arriving to the Start of Point  

Brief meeting at the Boy's school 

 Brief meeting at the Boy's School 

Arabic school boys looking with curiosity 

Entrance to the fort with the ASI warning board  

 Entrance to the Sankagiri Fort 

 Man-made pond for rainwater storage 

  Entrance Backside View with Hill of the Sankagiri Fort 

 Entrance Backside View with Hill of the Sankagiri Fort 

 Sri Varadharaja Perumal temple  

 Sri Varadharaja Perumal temple Mandapam 

 Steps chiseled on the rock to climb

 temple stones are used for steps after demolition during the Tippu Sultan period 

 Bas-reliefs of Surya and Chandra Lingam 

 View of Varadharaja Perumal temple 

 View of the hill

View of the hill

Panoramic View of the hill

 Rain Water flowing on the steps 

 A small discussion at one entrance of the fort 

 Holes used to hold the guns 

 Death punishment place 

 a natural cave where we took some rest 

Our group

  

 Soldiers used for playing 

 Soldiers used for playing 

selfie at the entrance of the fort 

To be continued – PART – 2 ( History of the Fort walls and entrances  ) & PART – 3, TEMPLES - with more photos and details...