Gudibande

Gudibande is a taluk and town in Chikkaballapur District in the Indian State of Karnataka.

Gudibande Fort was built by a yogi and local chieftain called Byre Gowda some 400 odd years ago in the 17th century. It was believed that he belonged to the Tuluva dynasty of the Vijayanagar empire. It can be considered a concise replica of the Madhugiri fort. The fort has seven levels with interconnecting escape routes which would help soldiers to flee in case of emergency. On the top of the fort is a Shiva temple known as "Sir Rameshwara Temple", established by Sage Vishwamitra and Lord Rama which is believed to be one of the 108 Jyotirlingas. The strong pillar with a square base has well sculpted images. The Byrasagara reservoir can also be seen. The fort's main feature is the rain water harvesting. It is said that there were around 19 rock ponds at different levels of the fort. However, the water channel system devised by Byre Gowda was said to be unique. Linking nineteen water bodies and tanks called dhones they could in all hold nearly 3 lakhs litres of rain water.