Udayagiri Fort

Udayagiri Fort

Udayagiri ('Udaya' meaning morning and 'giri' meaning peak, Udayagiri translates as the peak on which morning sunlight falls first) is the name of many places in India, among them:

• Udayagiri Fort, one in Tamil Nadu and the other in Andhra Pradesh
• Udayagiri and Khandagiri Caves, the site of ruins of a complex of buildings near Bhubaneswar
• Udayagiri, Nellore district, a village and mandal (administrative subdivision)
• Udaygiri Caves, caves near Vidisha in Madhya Pradesh
• Udayagiri, Buddhist complex in Orissa comprising of major stupas and viharas

Udayagiri Fort(Kanyakumari District)
The fort in Tamil Nadu is located at a distance of 14 km from Nagercoil town in Kanyakumari District. It had been originally built in the 1600s, and then rebuilt later by Maharaja Marthanda Varma of Travancore in the 18th century.

Enclosing an area of about 90 acres (36 ha), with an isolated hill 260 feet (79 m) high, the fort contains an old foundry which was used for casting guns.

The fort was rebuilt during the reign of Marthanda Varma, Venad King, during 1741-44 under the supervision of Eustachius De Lannoy, a flemish naval commander of the Dutch East India Company, who later served as the Chief of the Travancore Army.

In the early days, the fort was of strategic importance. Prisoners captured in the campaign against Tippu Sultan were confined in the fort for some time. In 1810, the East India Company's Army under Colonel Leger marched into the Travancore State through the Aramboly Pass to quell a rebellion under the leadership of Velu Thambi Dalavai.

In the later years, the English East India Company's troops were stationed there till the middle of the 19th century.

The fort is situated on the Thiruvananthapuram-Nagercoil National highway at Puliyoorkurichi. This was the most important military barracks of the Travancore rulers, when Padmanabhapuram was their capital. The fort is built of massive granite blocks around an isolated hillock.

The tombs of the Dutch Admiral Eustachius De Lannoy, (in whose honour the fort was once called Dillanai Kottai— De Lennoy's Fort), and of his wife and son could be seen inside a partly ruined chapel in the fort.