Kavualedurga Fort is a ninth-century fort located at around 18 kilometers distance from Thirthahalli Town in Shimoga district, Karnataka state, India.</P.

Kavualedurga Fort.   Image source Wikimedia / Wikipedia.

Kavualedurga Fort was constructed during the 9th century. Cheluvarangappa, a feudatory under the Vijayanagara emperor,  renovated this fort in the 14th century.

Venkatappa Nayaka (1582-1629) fortified the place. He constructed a palace, treasury, granary, ponds, and stables for elephants and horses. A portion of the fort was made as an Agrahara (attached to Sringeri Math).

Kavualedurga Fort has three lined walls, which were made of massive granite slabs. Each fortification has a separate gateway with rooms for guards on either side. Between the three fortifications, you can find temples, a ruined palace site, and other structures that look like the basement of some ruined building.

At the top of the hill, almost in the middle of the fort, overlooking the Arabian Sea, you can find a small temple known as Shikhareshvara or Srikanthesvara temple. The temple has a Garbhagriha (sanctum sanctorum). A Nandi sculpture (bull), a mandapa (hall), and an entrance porch can be seen at the temple site.  The view of the sunset from the entrance porch is fantastic.

The palace site is one of the most visited sites in the Shimoga district. This site has an ornate basement, which shows proof of a large terraced structure. Recent studies in the area have revealed a  series of interconnected rooms around a spacious inner quadrangle.  Pillared roofed platforms outside a house (verandah), a pooja room (prayer room), a kitchen with five burners, and a stone platform in the bathroom were found here.

A well-developed water supply system existed in the fort. There is a closed pathway (verandah) that leads to the stepped water tank.

How Do I Go to Kavualedurga Fort?

Kavualedurga Fort is at a distance of around 18 kilometers from Thirthahalli town. National Highway 13  passed through Thirthahalli road, the access point to the Thirthahalli town.

Shimoga railway station is the nearest one around 87 kilometers from the fort. This station is connected to Bangalore and Mysore by direct trains. Udupi and  Mangalore are the two closest railway stations at around 95 and 142 kilometers distance, respectively, for those coming from North India.