Mudgal

Mudgal is an old fortified town in the country between the Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers. Together with Raichur, its fortress guarded the rich and much contested doab. The walls, gates and moat made it a valuable stronghold for rulers seeking to hold the frontier between the northern Deccan and Vijayanagara. Its defences were adapted over time as armies and siege weapons changed.

After the foundation of the Bahmani Sultanate, Mudgal repeatedly became the object of campaigns against Vijayanagara. Bukka I took the fort during the fighting of the 1360s, but the Bahmanis recovered it; cannon appeared in the wars of that period. In 1398 a Vijayanagara army again advanced against Mudgal and other Bahmani possessions in the doab. The town later passed under the Adil Shahi rulers of Bijapur. Its long military history reflects the importance of the two-river country to neighbouring kingdoms.