Gooty Fort Festival in January After Six-Year Hiatus
Gooty Fort, known as Ravadurg, is located on a hill in Gooty town. Eight inscriptions have been found on the rocks close to the Narasimha Temple located within the fort premises.
Anantapur: After a gap of more than six years, the Gooty Fort Festival in Anantapur district will be held in a grand manner in January next. State government has sanctioned ₹50 lakh for the purpose.
Anantapur district collector Dr. Vinod Kumar, while starting the Yogandhra 2025 festival at the Gurrapu Sala (horses’ stable) in the historic Gooty Fort on Tuesday, underlined that the government is firm on developing Gooty Fort in all ways, including starting a ropeway to reach the top of the fort.
The collector told Deccan Chronicle that they have sent a detailed report to the state government with regard to the festival, so that everything could be readied ahead of the Gooty Fort Utsavalu in January 2026.
Gooty Fort, known as Ravadurg, is located on a hill in Gooty town. Eight inscriptions have been found on the rocks close to the Narasimha Temple located within the fort premises. But these are in a seriously damaged condition. They appear to be from the reign of the Western Chalukya king Vikramaditya VI (1076–1126 CE). The earliest of the existing fortifications and other structures can be dated to the late Chalukya period.
The fort later went under the control of the Vijayanagara Empire. During the reign of Venkata II (1584–1614), Vijayanagara lost the fort to the Qutb Shahi dynasty. The Mughals appear to have controlled the fort after their conquest of the Qutb Shahi capital Golconda.
Around 1746 CE, Maratha general Murari Rao captured the Gooty Fort. He made the fort his permanent residence eight years later. He repaired the fort and commissioned the stucco ornamentation of the small gateways.