PENUKONDA TO WN 1 o r
outside this line is the present town; and the remains of the ancient
buildings on the lower ground, the towers and mantapams on the
slopes of the hill, and the trees and the green crops of the cultivated
patches combine to make a very pleasant picture, while an air of
departed greatness is afforded by the' numerous ruins and fragments
of carved stone which lie about on every side. The view of the town
and its surroundings from the top of the hill is well worth the climb.
According to tradition, it was founded by one Kriyasakti Udaiyar.
The earliest inscription, on the northern gate of the fort, says that
king Bukka I of Vijayanagar entrusted the province of Penukonda to
his son Vira Virupanna Udaiyar, in whose time the fort was built.
Thus at the very beginning of the rule of the Vijayanagar dynasty the
place was the residence of one of its princes. It evidently continued
for many years to be one of the chief strongholds of the line;, and
Krishna Deva, the greatest of its kings, is declared to have made it
his residence for a period. When the Vijayanagar power was over-
thrown by the Musalmans at he battle of Talikota, it was to Penu-
konda that the king fled, taking with him a few followers and the
treasures of his palace. The place then became the bead-quarters
of what remained of the fallen empire. In 1585 the king moved to
Chandragiri in North Arcot, and then Penukonda was ruled by local
governors. In 1577 the Sultsin of Bijapur blockaded it closely, but
a part of his troops were bought off and the siege failed. In 1589 the
Sultan of Golconda made another attempt on it, but it was most
heroically defended by Jagadeva Raya, and the Musalmans eventually
retreated. It fell at last to the Sultan of Bijapur in 1652, the governor,
so says tradition, being bought over. About a century later it became
part of the possessions of Morari Rao, and from him it was taken
by Haidar Ali in 1762. It remained a Mysore possession, with some
slight interruptions, until the death of Tipu in 1799
Of the many buildings in and about the town the most handsome
is the Sher Khan mosque, which is constructed of dark green granite
with black hornblende mouldings, and contains some excellent carving.
Both this and another mosque in the fort have clearly been at one
time Hindu temples. Babayya's dargdh is another well-known Muham
madan institution. Babayya, says the legend, was a prince who turned
fakir. His spiritual guide gave him a twig, and told him, to plant it
wherever he stopped and to take up his residence, at the place at which
it budded. It budded at Penukonda, and the fakir and his following
accordingly established themselves in the chief Hindu temple there:
News of the sacrilege having been brought to the ruler of the place,
he put the fakir and the priest of the temple through several tests
to see which of them was the more holy man. In all of these the
fakir was victorious, and the king accordingly allowed him to remain
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