Dindigul

Dindigul lies beneath a steep rock in southern India, between the Kongu country and Madurai. A fort on the summit dominates the town and the routes across the surrounding plain. The stronghold was built under the Madurai Nayak ruler Muthukrishnappa Nayak in 1605, making use of the natural defences of the rock.

In the eighteenth century Dindigul became an important outpost of Mysore. Haidar Ali served as its governor before rising to power, and the fortress later figured in the wars of his son Tipu Sultan. The polygar Gopal Nayak of Virupachi led forces in the region; the exiled queen Velu Nachiyar and the Maruthu brothers also found shelter there with Haidar Ali’s permission. British forces captured the fort during the struggle with Mysore, and Dindigul passed to the East India Company after the settlement of 1792.