Visiting the Rachakonda forest area that houses the famous Rachakonda fort is a visual delight to those who love history, architecture, forest, interesting rock formations, and tribal life.
Driving in the Rachakonda area is would also be an enchanting experience because one gets a chance to see green pastures and tribal hamlets, about 20 ancient temples located either side of the curvy roads at a time.
Starting the journey from Choutuppal to reach the fort, you would find the temple of Sarala Maisamma, a tribal goddess, near Allapur. Sarala Maisamma attracts tourists in droves even from Hyderabad because it is situated very close to the State capital and can be reached from Gudimalkapur village.
Another interesting aspect of the Rachakonda kingdom is Recherla Padmanayakas were among the very few Velama clan kings, who ruled parts of India in entire Indian history.The Padmanayakas had worked as chief of armies for the Kakatiyas since 12th century AD starting from Rudra Deva and the tradition continued until the death of Pratapa Rudra.After offering prayers at the Sarala Maisamma temple, one can find about 20 interesting ancient temples and other interesting structures constructed by Rachakonda rulers if one proceeds a couple of kilometres further. The first king of Rachakonda was Singamanayaka-I who declared independence in the early 14th Century after the end of the Kakatiya dynasty.
According to Andhrula Charithra, a prominent book on history and culture of Telugu people, Singamanyaka's son Anapothanayaka-I (1361-1384 AD) constructed the fort on a hill in the heart of Rachakonda.
The construction of temples, boundary wall on the hill and other structures was an engineering marvel to watch because they had followed Cyclopean Masonary style, which predominately used by the rulers during medieval Indian period.
That means they had used no mortar in the building any of the structure and roughly fitted the rocks together.
Siva templesLike the Kakatiyas, the Recherla Padmanayakas also patronised Saivam. Most of the temples constructed here were of Siva.
The Bhoothan temple, the Siva temple and the Veerabhadra Swamy temple were among the very few to name. There was also one massive kacheri where the locals believe the kings organised dance and other cultural programmes.
Very close to these constructions, recently a farmer unearthed an eight-foot-high Sivalingam, which was installed in nearby place. The Sivalingam has been drawing a large number of devotees every day. If you proceed further, you would enter into Tippaigudem village of Manchal mandal in Rangareddy district. The tiny Rachakonda village, located on the foothills of the fort, falls under Nalgonda district only.
A massive entrance with close to 15-feet boundary wall welcomes us in to the fort. On the left side of the fort, there are two historical Sri Rama temples where the locals celebrates Sri Ramanavami in a grand way. The fort also has two naturally carved water tanks and many other interesting structures. The visitors from Hyderavbad are advised to take a short-cut route from via-LB. Nagar-Ibrahimpatnam- Manchala headquarters-Tippaigudem village-Rachakonda fort.
The distance is just 35 km from LB Nagar. On their way back, the visitors are advised to reach Choutuppal via Kadilabai Tanda-Allapur where one can see Sivalingam, 20 historical temples, Sarala Maisamma.As once Naxalites were active in the Rachakonda area, the government had laid roads by carving the hills.
