VIJAYAWADA: JIGNASA, a student cultural body, and Cultural Centre of Vijayawada and Amaravati (CCVA) organised a trek for 200 students from Eswar Engineering College, Narasaraopet, and CR Reddy College of Engineering, Eluru, on Saturday. The students started from Kondapali village and reached the fort atop the hill within an hour as CCVA CEO Dr E Sivanagi Reddy and JIGNASA team member Y Bhargav guided them through the trek giving glimpses of history along the way.
Reaching the fort, the students toured the regal Queen’s Mahal, where the Qutubshahi queen used to lounge and bathe, the ancient site where a bustling market yard used to be, the still dark and eerie jail khana surrounded by medieval bricks on all four sides where starving prisoners were subjected to torture, and the dusty and eroding barracks and elephant stables.
Siva Nagi Reddy narrated how the fort changed hands through history; first built in the 14th century by Anavamea Reddy of the Kondaveedu Reddy dynasty, then Ganapathi’s of Odisha conquered it. Emperor Krishnadevaraya seized the fort in 1516 AD and later it passed into the hands of the Qutubshahi
dynasty.