Raichur is a city municipality in the district of Raichur in the Indian state of Karnataka. Raichur, located between Krishna and Tungabhadra rivers, is the headquarters of Raichur district. It is located 409 km from the state capital, Bangalore.
Raichur has a rich history, having been a part of various empires, such as the Bahmanis and Vijayanagara and Hyderabad. The city is famous for its imposing Raichur Fort. Here, stone inscriptions have been found in Persian and Arabic which belonged to the bastion of the fort, referring to its construction in 1294. Among the ruins of the immense fort are many irrigation tanks and old temples.
Interesting details of the battle between Sri Krishnadevaraya and are given in The Battle of Raichur.
Raichur is very rich from the epigraphical point of view. It has already yielded hundreds of inscriptions, ranging from the Mauryan period up to the end of the Muslim period. The inscriptions are in a variety of languages such as Sanskrit, Prakrit, Kannada, Arabic, and Persian and belonging to almost all the dynasties that ruled over the Dekkan. The most important places from this point of view are Maski, Koppal, Kuknur,Hatti Gold Mines, Mudgal and Raichur.
The fort of Raichur was built by Kakatiya king Rudra in 1284 CE which passed on to the Vijayanagar kingdom after the decline of Kakatiyas. Ever since, the fort has been under dispute for nearly two centuries. The fort was captured by Bahmanis in 1323 CE. Saluva Narasimha Raya expressed a wish in his testament that the city of Raichur be recaptured. This has been in the mind of Krishnadevaraya since his coronation in 1509. In the year 1520 Krishnadevaraya sent Seyed Maraikar, a Muslim in his service to Goa with a large sum of money to buy horses. Maraikar instead went to Adil Khan with the money and offered his services. Krishnadevaraya made a demand that Maraikar be returned along with the money which was duly refused. During the period of peace Krishnadevaraya made extensive preparations for a grand attack on Raichur doab. After the court decided that Raichur should be attacked the king invited all commanders (Nayakas) in his service to take part in the battle.
