BEKAL FORT KERALA HISTORY A MALYALAM MONUMENT

     BEKAL FORT KERALA HISTORY OF A MALYALAM MONUMENT 

    Bekal Fort is situated on the shores of the Arabian Sea That is a watchtower. There are many watchtowers inside the fort. This is the tallest of all. Even though it looks like a cave, it is actually well. But it is completely dry. Climb the watchtower for the best view of Kasaragod district You can see a 180-degree view of the Arabian sea Towards that direction is Bekal, Kanhangad and other smaller towns From this watch tower, you can actually view the entire Bekal Fort. All parts of the Fort is visible from here Bekal Fort acquires its best look in the rainy season, when nature is all green and bright Towards the left side is a small watchtower and towards the right is the magazine. This magazine was once used to store military equipment's Now this magazine is empty This is a shortcut to reach seashore. Rather than walking through the entire Fort you can go through this way. But it is closed now.

   There were many secret underground routes inside this Fort, which was used to escape in the event of an attack Towards that side is the Bekal railway station and Bekal park You can walk down to the seashore. It is more beautiful out there In the 12th century, Bekal was under the control of the Kolathiri Royal Family. As Bekal was a seashore town, there were fights between Kolathiri’s and Keladi Nayaka’s to capture and rule this place. By the end of 15th-century Keladi Nayaka’s captured this place. Thus Bekal became the main point of Keladi Nayaka’s rule in the Malabar region In the early 16th century Hiriya Venkatappa Nayaka initiated the construction of this fort. In 1650 Shivappa Nayaka of Keladi completed the construction of Bekal Fort Bekal Fort was constructed in a way so that they can resist any attack coming from the sea The outer wall of the fort contains holes in three layers. The upper layer holes are meant for aiming at the farthest targets and lower layer holes are for targeting the nearby enemy or attack These holes are made for holding guns and other military equipment's Even after the construction of Bekal Fort, the fights continued Bekal Fort fell into the hands of Hyder Ali, sultan of the Kingdom of Mysore in 1763.

    Tipu Sultan, son of Hyder Ali took the control of the Bekal Fort Tipu used Bekal Fort as his military base in Malabar The coins and ornaments unearthed by the archaeological excavation at Bekal Fort shows the presence of Mysore Sultans. After the death of Tipu Sultan, Bekal Fort became part of British East India Company In 1992 the government of India declared Bekal Fort as a special tourism area That is the lower part of the Bekal Fort We can walk down till there This is the way to the lower part of the Fort There are some instructions on the board for people who are going to the lower part of the Fort You are not allowed to get down on beach at this point If you are looking to get down on beach, you must go the nearby Bekal beach In front of you is the outer wall of the Fort We were inside this wall a little before This outer wall contains holes on three layers to defend and protect the Fort from any attacks Even though Indian government declared Bekal Fort as a special tourism area in 1992, Bekal Fort remained unnoticed by many. 

   This historic Fort was given it's life and color by the song "Uyire" (or "tu hi re" Hindi version) from the movie Bombay directed by Mani Ratnam Today this Fort welcomes visitors from all over the world This place is crowded usually during the weekend or holidays We returned back to the Fort Even though these holes were made for military equipment's but today the view of the sea through these holes is just awesome As there are are less number of trees it is very sunny and hot during the day time. It is better to visit the Fort during the evenings. This place is good for a Sunset visit Hope you all enjoyed watching this video Please Subscribe and Share See you all in another video Until then Bye and Take Care