Dindigul Fort

En un regard

Le château en bref

Dindigul Fort, also known as Malai Kottai, crowns an enormous granite rock about 280 feet high that overlooks the town in central Tamil Nadu. The hill's shape, which resembles a pillow (“dindu”), is said to have given the town its name. The Madurai king Muthu Krishnappa Nayak began building the fortress in 1605, and Thirumalai Nayak completed it in the mid-17th century. As a key position between the plains of Madurai, Mysore and the coast, the fort changed hands often: it passed to Mysore in the 18th century, where Haidar Ali and Tipu Sultan had it strengthened, before being ceded to the British in 1792 and occupied by their army until 1859. The stone walls, the vaulted halls added during the Mysorean period, the corner guard posts and the British cannons bear witness to these successive layers. The site is protected by the Archaeological Survey of India and offers an extensive view over the town and the surrounding hills.