Pratapgiri Fort

Pratapgiri Fort is located on Pedda gutta near prathapgiri village, Kataram Mandal, Jayashankar Bhupalpally district, Telangana State, India.

The undated six-line inscription available on the fort wall tells that the fort was constructed by Muchanayanimgaru, also known as Muppa Nayakudu lieutenant of Prola Raja-I.  Since Prataparudra, the last king of Kakatiya dynasty, who faced the might of Delhi Sultanate, used the fort frequently; it acquired the name of Pratapagiri fort.

The ramparts of Pratapagiri hill fort nestled in the impenetrable jungle 240 kilometres northeast of Hyderabad is one such a fortification aimed at foiling enemies' invasions especially the Muslim armies on Kakatiya capital, Warangal.

Afar and tough to reach even today, the Pratapagiri fort, believed to have built by Kakatiya king Prola Raju-I, located on a hillock locally known as Pedda Gutta, is said to be the first line of defence before the invading forces make any surge onto the terrain. The fort is strategically located to keep a round-the-clock surveillance of enemies invading from the north India. The hill fort offered a superb view of enemies crossing the River Godavari, which is 3 kilometres, so that they could plan an attack.

The fort has a tunnel, an escape route used by the kings in case of emergency in those days. The exit of the tunnel, which was filled with vegetation and silt, is only seen these days. The locals believe that the Kakatiya kings hid treasure in the tunnel fearing invasions from Delhi Sultanate – Alauddin Khalji. 

The fortification strategies of Kakatiyas, who sagely used forests, hillocks and river banks, indicate the kind of warfare they adopted, he said. The Gonthemmagutta (hillock), which is three kilometres away from Pratapagiri fort, also has 1.5 kilometre fortification wall. It's easy to scale and deal for adventure sports, Aravind said.

Pratapgiri fort is located about 35km from the District headquarters Jayashankar (Bhupalpally) town in the dense forests of Kataram and Mahadevpur area near prathapagiri and and Rapallekota villages

Visitors have to walk at least 5km from Prathapagiri village through dense forest to reach the hillock,

it is referred to as Vana Durgam and also Giri Durgam.

https://www.thehansindia.com/telangana/an-impregnable-fort-amid-dense-forest-in-bhupalpally-525904