Gagan Mahal, Penukonda

The time was the cusp between the year end and the beginning of a new year. The wintry sun was shy to shine upon brightly. Generous doses of cut-chai were just an excuse to keep the coldness at bay, truth be told we love winters. Road trips during this season is the best. The destination we entered in google map was Penukonda Fort and it took us right at the entrance of this off-white building. The gate was closed. As we parked and gathered our essentials (read cameras) a young guy approached and inquired whether we are interested in seeing the Gagan Mahal. He turned out to be son of this building's caretaker and will open the gate only if we are keen on. We told him humorously that we intend to spend at least an hour or so in this palace.

Penukonda was the second capital of erstwhile Vijayanagara Kingdom. After the defeat in the battle of Talikota Aliya Rama Raya's brother Tirumala Deva Raya fled Vijayanagara to Penukonda carrying major portion of wealth of the empire. In later years it came under the control of Sultan of Golconda, Mysore Kingdom, Tipu Sultan, and ultimately British. Gagan Mahal was built in 1575 AD as a summer palace to King Krishnadevaraya. The architecture was Indo-Persian, also known as Indo-Sarcanic. A large portrait of Sri Krishnadevaraya was hung on the wall next to the entrance, which is very new obviously.  

The east-facing building comprises of two rafters. The ground floor consists of forty five arches in the dome and few rooms. The staircase on the left leads to first floor of the main building. This floor is equipped with few rooms. The total number of arches are twelve with eight big windows. From here the narrow steps will take us to the tower on the northern side. The pyramidal roof built in tier at the top is of Dravidian design. The tower has six protruding windows supported by brackets. As we sat on the large windowsill the cool breeze seeped in gently reminding us why it was called a summer palace. From here we could see the Ramaswamy Temple and Vishwanath Temple. The surface of the walls of building is coated with stucco. The palace was built without a single rafter, a unique specimen architecture. Among many other historic sites in Penukonda only Gagan Mahal is protected by Archaeology Department.

One folklore says Gagan Mahal was also home to court-dancer Gangamma. It was her job to perform when king, royals, dignitaries, and other bigwigs visit the palace.
  
Not a single soul was here during our entire time here. We could see the caretaker guy being fidgety and restless. We almost could hear a sign of relief when we decided to take leave from this place.

Route: Bangalore-Chikkaballapura-Bagepalli-Penukonda
Time: 09:00-05:00 (Depends on the availability of caretaker's presence.
Entry: Free