Rayakottai: Tipu Sultan’s lesser known fort across the State border

Rayakottai: A lesser known hill fort

Overview: Rayakottai(Tamil Nadu) is a small sleepy town near Hosur in Tamil Nadu. This is home to Tipu Sultan's one of the hill forts in the eastern side. The structures are in ruins but it is worth visiting.
We started our day thinking where to go on a Sunday morning and suddenly I read about Rayakottai in the Krishnagiri tourism website and decided to visit this place.
Started from Bangalore at around 10am and reached Rayakottai by 11:30am. At Rayakottai bus stand we asked a few locals about the fort. After asking a few people we got the directions for the fort. We parked our car at the fort entrance and saw a Archaeological Survey of India board.
We started climbing the fort having no idea about the height of the hill.

Base of the Rayakottai hill fort
  
    








At around half way (30 mins) we reached a small cave temple. Though no priest was present at the temple, we went into the cave and offered prayers.

 






We continued our trek to the fort. After climbing for another 40 minutes we saw the ruins of the old fort. The entrance wall has a classic look and the view is magnificent. We then clicked a few pics and proceeded further. We found a few bunkers on the way and next we reached a pond which had water collected during rains.
Its an excellent place to relax with no noise or pollution. As it is a lesser known place so it is devoid of tourists. We proceeded further and found a few brick structures which looked like stable or a place where the soldiers used to keep ammunition. A few steps from this place was the summit which had a giant 'diya' or lamp which is said to be lit up during local festivals. The view was breathtaking from the top with cool winds blowing and we could see the railway tracks snaking through the town.


        


 














This place is highly recommended for travel enthusiasts who are prepared for light trek. The climb should not take more than 2 hours including breaks and the decent should be fairly quick.
Also special thanks to a local villager who guided and accompanied us all the way to the top of the hill and didn’t expect anything in return.

How to reach: By own vehicle- NH7 towards Hosur, At Hosur, turn right at the signal towards Rayakottai after the flyover. From there Rayakottai is around 35 kms. From Bangalore the total distance is around 75 kms. At the bus stand ask for directions to the fort.
By public transport: There are plenty of buses plying from Bangalore(Majestic/KR Market/Madiwala/Bommanahalli) to Hosur. At Hosur there are frequent buses to Rayakottai.
Rail: One can also try train (56514 Salem Passenger) from Bangalore City Jn to Rayakottai station. The train departs at 07:15 from Bangalore City Jn. Return train to Bangalore is at 16:08.

Food/Accomodation: Not many options for food available at Rayakottai. It is better to pack food or have it at Hosur. It is advised to carry water bottles.

Best time to visit: It is best to visit post monsoons from August to December when the weather is pleasant.

Comments

  1. Ypur blogs excellent Arun, You have done things I would love to do. I have been to sikkim and see that more or less your visit was similar, Your Bangalore Darshan ie suuberb, something I have been planing for a long time. Lets see if we could plan trips together. get in touch , all the best keep travelling

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  2. Thanks a lot Sudhir.. Yeah we can do trips together..I know u are also interested in ancient temples and monuments...We can catch up sometime and see if we find more off-beat places which are not well known..

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    Replies
    1. Thank you for your visit to our golden town guys. Hope you had a gud experience while visiting our mountain port and i must thank Mr. Arun to gave this wonderlful pictures to all, it will help visitors to visit our place.

      Suresh

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  3. This is wonderful to know. Thanks for exploring such off-beat places and sharing with us.

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  4. Rayakottai the name signifies Vijayanagar era, however Tipu must have reigned for some time. Good coverage of the fort Arun.

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  5. Hai
    i am a local person(Rayakottai) thanks to sharing the details and cool pics..

    Eventhough i am the local person didn't know much details about that..

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  6. @Mukesh: Thanks for the comment..
    Actually we struggled a bit to find the place as the locals were not aware of it..

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  7. every time cool climate in our city

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  8. I dont understand why u ppl gives so much of an importance to Tippu Sultan. He was just a lieutenant or representative of Mysore Wodeyars. Rayakottai - must have had its own history beyond Tippu days. Cover those piece of history before tagging someone else name to it.

    Thank You for pick, hope had a blast on the course. I will visit, very soon. Thanks Again.

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  9. nice pics and cool info. after reading about it here, we visited rayakottai last weekend and had a great time. thanks.

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  10. http://vinsesh.blogspot.in/2012/08/rayakottai-fort-of-kings.html
    Did this trip yesterday... thanks to ur blog for the info... have updated my blog with more info on this....

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  11. Hi Arun,

    Wonderful implementation you have done about my home city. From here many people came to know about Tipu sultan and our home town history.
    Keep it up dear.

    BARANI DHARAN R (Rayakottai)
    Mumbai

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    Replies
    1. I stumbled upon this blog during some lazy moments surfing web about Royakottah. Very very exciting to see the pictures and notes. Thank you so much.
      I lived in Royakottah from 1965 to 1970 in my childhood when my father was posted there for the Salem-Bangalore railway construction. I have vivid memories of those days in childhood. We lived right on the street that extended from the entrance to the hill. So many frinds and so many memories. It may be a sleepy town for outsiders, but I remember so many events in those 5 years. Weekend trips to the Durvasar temple up on the hill were a norm and I have gone to the summit a couple of times as well. I visited the places a few times in 80s and early 90s and I could see changes (but not much).

      Kumar

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  12. Dear Arun, thank you for pressing out wonderful place, good collection of photos ( professional shots ), and diligent effort to portray with proper guidelines, footnotes,precaution,caution, alerts, explanation on each spot, resources...
    On last Good Friday Holiday, 29th Mar 13 we boys ( Bangalore Ext.Wheeler Road ) planned for trekking, we finally landed Rayakottai, experienced, explored and had a very good time.
    We located this place because of your effort and information on the web, I just followed your information so that I could guide 26 boys clearly . Behalf of our Boys. I thank you. God bless you. Mathew

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    Replies
    1. Nice to know that the blog was helpful for your trek. Thanks for the encouragement.

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  13. MY MOTHER NATIVE IS RAYAKOTTAH, THESE INFORMATION IS SOME THING NEW, REMEMBERING THE OLD DAYS WHERE WE USED TO SPEND THE HOLIDAYS IN RAYAKOTTAH..................

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  14. I was searching for the place rayakottah as my grandfather is supposed to hail from this place. He died while in service as Inspector of North Arcot district during 1940's. His name was Selvaraj and we donot know of any relations from this place till date. any how the pictures of the place and fort seems to be interesting to make a visit sometime soon. thanks for the information. prabakar

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  15. I am balaji from rayakottai. When vijayanagara dynesty develop this town will get important for this fort.because major naidu community living in the town iam from that community.we are comming from mysore to this town,after that only this town formed. iam be proved from this town.from this fort to two caves via we can go to mysore....

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  17. raykota was built by rana jagadevaraya who ruled jagadevaraya kingdom (present krishnagiri, dharmapuri areas and nagamangala etc areas covered with 10000 villages) in 16th century., he built several forts in his kingdome. they were relatives of aravidu dynasty and tuluva dynasty of vijayanagar empire and they are still known by the name "kota balijas", "musuku balijas"

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