Gandikota – India’s Spectacular Gorge

We travelled to Gandikota from Chennai with a stopover at Nellore. The drive from Nellore to Gandikota is especially scenic. We stayed at the Haritha resort in Gandikota which was also close to the points-of-interest there.

Gandikota is a small village which has seen the rule of different dynasties such as the Chalukyas, the Vijayanagara empire’s vassals and Golconda Sultanate before passing into British control over time.

The first structure that you come upon is the barracks which open up on the Charminar.

However, we could find no steps that led to the three tiers above the ground level and so it seems to be a more ornamental structure than a functional watchtower.

Near the Charminar, you will find the jail of the fort. Further down from the jail is the parking area.

We caught a glimpse of the small and big mosques (Jumma Masjid).

Do not miss the large tank near the small mosque, called the Kathula Koneru.

A little bit further down the road, one can find what used to be the granary for the fortified settlement followed by the magnificent Ranganatha Swamy temple.

We had a friendly dog that accompanied us into the temple and kept us company during our time there.

Even though the presiding deity seems to be missing from the sanctum, the majesty of the temple rising over the boulder-strewn landscape and the intricate carvings on the walls and the entrances are sufficient to hint at the grandeur of its glory days.

Like many other destinations that we visit, this place too did not have too many people. In fact, we were the only ones there in the temple complex and we were able to spend a lot of time looking at each sculpture and each carving.

However, the maintenance could be much better as there were lot of thorns and walking without shoes wasn’t possible.

After we spent some time strolling through the outer sanctum, we made our way to the gorge viewpoint and settled in to watch the sunset light up the sky over the gorge.

The sun set not over the gorge but on the side that had the temple tower of the Madhavaraya Swamy temple, Ranganatha Swamy temple and Charminar.

What followed was a show of purple, pink and oranges that lit up the sky in gorgeous hues.

We stayed on till sunset and it was just glorious!

We returned to Haritha Resort for the night.

The next day, after a cup of delicious tea outside the Gandikota complex, we had an early start and spent some time at the Madhavaraya Swamy temple, taking in the breathtaking carvings that adorned the temple tower and strolling around the outer sanctum, before heading back to Chennai.