Vellore Fort

Fort Museum

I had travelled to Vellore to attend a cousin's wedding and in between the short visit managed to have a quick round of the Vellore fort. The Fort was built by the Vijayanagara chieftains around 1566 AD. The Fort has seen many battles and has passed hands of many empires and local rulers before being finally taken over by the British in the 1760s. In the year 1806, this fort saw the first sepoy mutiny in British India. (The Bengal sepoy mutiny in 1857 is wrongly thought to be the first rebellion by less informed historians).
The Fort had seen some illustrious royal prisoners.The last Tamil speaking monarch of Sri Lanka, Sri Vikrama Rajasinha of Kandy and his family were prisoners of war in this fort for 17 years till his death. Tipu Sultan's family were imprisoned here for a few years.
The Fort is surrounded by a very wide moat which makes it appear like an island. Local folklore talks about a secret tunnel escape that opened near Virinjipuram about 12 kms away. But Archaeologists are yet to unravel this mystery !
The fort houses a dysfunctional Mosque , the Jalakandeswara temple and St.John's Church. I had the privilege of  attending the Sunday worship at the historic church,
The Museums are a big disappointment and the displays are really pathetic to say the least. The ASI needs to wake up!