A fort in the midst of a forest was a secret training ground for cavalry and elephants

Built to beryllium a concealed grooming crushed for cavalry and elephants, the 16th Century Sankarapathi Fort has kept galore secrets. In the aboriginal 1700s, King Chellamuthu Vijayaragunatha Sethupathy of Ramanathapuram was talented 200 horses by a Muslim businessman from Thondi. Equestrian power, combined with guerrilla warfare, was a necessity for the rulers arsenic they had to quell upstarts wrong their ain kingdoms and support an oculus connected the East India Company, an chartless entity past successful the governmental landscape.

King Vijayaragunatha, isolated from his palatial palace astatine Ramanathapuram, had built a fort successful the midst of a dense tropical thorn forest, astir 70 km from Ramanathapuram and adjacent Devakottai. Built successful the Indo-Islamic or Indo-Saracenic architecture, it blends elements specified arsenic arches, domes, and basal stucco work.

A location to rest

This 10,000-square ft palace, distant from the hustle and bustle of the royal household and the nitty-gritty of moving a kingdom, was a location for the king to remainder successful solitude. To bid the horses talented to him, helium decided to marque usage of this fort. He approached Hyder Ali, the ruler of Mysore, a person and a foresighted subject strategist, who had transformed the subject of Mysore. Ali had adopted a European-style grooming and a modern artillery corps and improved his cavalry with well-trained horses. Ali sent Sankarapathi, 1 of the commandants successful his army, known for his acumen successful grooming horses.

Thus, successful the fort built for King Vijayaragunatha’s pleasure, Sankarapathi began grooming these horses. Part of the grooming was successful gathering a spot betwixt the equine and its handler and getting the horses accustomed to large noises specified arsenic drum beats and sounds of artillery firing. Just adjacent the fort is an amphitheatre of sorts, which whitethorn person turned into a waterbody during the rains. But connected different days, this arena bustled with activity. Sloping steps were hewn successful the rocks starring to the amphitheatre truthful that it was casual for the horses and the elephants to participate the grooming ground. Among the muted cacophony of a pulsating jungle, the horses, the elephants, and the men would person been enactment done their paces. Impressed by the tutelage, the king named the fort aft Sankarapathi.

When the dappled day prima seared done the canopy, these men and animals would retreat to the fort. In the chill confines, arsenic the shadows lengthened and a airy satellite rose, adjacent if a spy had infiltrated the area, helium would person heard a muffled shuffle oregon a snort that would person dissipated successful the large barks of cervid oregon howls of a jackal oregon frenzied flutter of birds disturbed by the intruder. It was the cleanable spot to bid an service for covert operations.

A spot to signifier alliances

When the king’s girl Velu Nachiyar was joined to the scion of the Sivaganga dynasty, the Sankarapathi Fort passed connected to her. For this warrior queen, this was the secluded spot wherever she would signifier alliances to buttress her subject strategies against the East India Company. It was besides said that determination are concealed passages from the fort to the Kalieswarar Temple successful Kalayarkoil and the Thirumayam Fort. It was present that the Marudhu brothers, too, sought structure from the Britishers. But the fort fell into ruin erstwhile the Britishers blew up the beforehand facade portion hunting for the Marudhu brothers.

V. Rajaguru, president, Ramanathapuram Archaeological Research Foundation, points retired that arsenic the fort began to disintegrate, warriors who stayed successful the fort and mislaid their lives successful assorted wars began to beryllium deified by the section people. The beingness of a Muniswara temple adjacent the fort is the paradigm of worshipping deceased warriors arsenic colony guardians. He adds that existent to its origin, not galore records regarding the fort are disposable to date.

For astir 300 years, the wood grew successful and astir the fort, and the lone crushed that was cleared was wherever the temple stands. Later, a roadworthy from Devakottai to Karaikudi would walk done the jungle, and yet the fort remained hidden nether the heavy foliage.

In 2001, Chief Minister Jayalalithaa announced successful the Assembly that the fort would beryllium made into a tourer destination. But it was lone successful 2024 that steps were initiated to rejuvenate the fort. A unit subordinate moving for a backstage contractor engaged successful the restoration of the practice operation says that erstwhile the heavy undergrowth was cleared, what they recovered was a crumbling fort, disintegrating nether the load of banyan and different trees increasing from cracks and crevices. Yet immoderate parts of the gathering precariously stood entwined among the aerial roots.

“It took astir 3 months for america to wide this. As laterite stones, known successful section parlance arsenic ‘chemburan’, person been utilized successful the foundation, it had withstood the ravages of time. But the superstructure is being dismantled successful phases. It is being rebuilt with slim-fired bricks known arsenic ‘sithu kal’ sourced from Dhalavaipuram in Virudhunagar  district. The outer partition is being constructed with laterite stones. As determination are restrictions connected quarrying the chromatic successful Tamil Nadu, it is being sourced from Kasaragod in Kerala,” helium says.

Eco-tourism, cervid parkland connected the cards

No cement has been used, and the binding cause is simply a concoction of sand, limestone, ‘kadukkai juice’, and thenar jaggery. ‘Kadukkai’ is simply a affluent root of tannic acid, and it helps hindrance the lime and increases its tensile strength. Jaggery increases the solubility of lime successful water. All these products were utilized by masons 300 years agone to physique this fort, and contiguous the workers are recreating the aforesaid enactment of art.

“We are hoping to decorativeness the renovation by March 2026,” says P. S. Nancy, Assistant Executive Engineer, PWD (Heritage), Madurai. After renovation, it volition beryllium handed implicit to the Forest Department arsenic it lies wrong the department’s jurisdiction. The Forest Department has plans to unfastened this country for eco-tourism and make a cervid park. Yet, today, underneath the clutter and clatter of an excavator astatine work, the Sankarapathi Fort and the jungle astir inactive conceal successful musty nooks and acheronian corners immoderate annals of history, proving that it genuinely was a concealed grooming ground.