Ballalapura

Ballalapura lies on the Deccan plateau near the fort town of Penukonda, in the dry country of southern Andhra. Villages, fields and water tanks spread across the plateau, linked by roads to the larger forts and markets of the region.

Penukonda's fort was built by early Hoysala kings, and the town later passed to Vijayanagara. After Vijayanagara's defeat at Talikota in 1565, Tirumala moved the empire's capital to Penukonda, where it stayed until 1592. The town later came under the Nawabs, the Maratha chief Murari Rao, Tipu Sultan and the Nizam of Hyderabad.