Kanigiri

Kanigiri stands among the rocky hills of the eastern Deccan, where a fort overlooked the surrounding country. The region lay between the coastal plains and the inland domains of southern India. Remains near the hill include a pillared hall of the Vijayanagara period, evidence of the artistic traditions that accompanied the empire’s authority. Earlier traces of habitation have also been found among the granite hills around the town.

In the fourteenth century Kanigiri and the neighbouring Udayagiri region were contested by the Reddi rulers and Vijayanagara. Under Harihara II, a royal representative governed Udayagiri, and inscriptions record grants in the Kanigiri area. In the early sixteenth century the fort became part of the struggle between Vijayanagara and the Gajapati rulers of Odisha, whose power extended along the eastern coast.