Karnataka’s rich landscape has been a source of inspiration to ancient poets as well as modern one, from Adi Kavi Pampa to Gopal Krishna Adiga.
The Kannadiga will recall his political, socio- religious and aesthetic heritage since the Mauryan ear to the days of Mysore rulers. He pays home to the Satavahana, the Kadamba, the Ganga, the Bana, the Chalukya, the Rashtrakuta, the Hoysala and the Vijayanagar dynasties.
The fort was built during the regin of Vira Virupanna Udaiyar of the Vijayanagar dynasty. Penukonda continued for many years to be one of the strongholds of the Vijayanagar rulers.
The Kannadiga lost his personality with the fall of Vijayanagar and is still in the process of integration. His country, once stretching from the sacred rivers of the Godavari to the Cauvery, was dismembered. It was in Mysore, ruled by the Yadava dynasty, that he found somewhat of a foothold. The Vijayanagar tradition was kept up by the Mysore rulers, although Haidar, Tipu and the British held sway over the territory during intervals extending over considerable periods. Even after the restoration of the `Hindu Raj’ in Mysore, the Kannada –speaking people were scattered in the former Bombay (South Maratha), Hyderabad, Madras and Coorg States and lacked unified direction or purpose.
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