After a decade, Chikkajala Fort near Bengaluru to get a new lease of life using CSR funds

A private organisation is paying for the restoration of Chikkajala Fort through Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR, funds. The project matters because the fort lost its northern entrance during road widening and now needs careful conservation. It also protects a historic place near Bengaluru and the airport route.

The organisation Kashi Ra is funding the project, while INTACH will help document and study the site. The fort contains a small Anjaneya Swamy Temple, a kalyani, and stone mantapas. These structures date to the 19th century and reflect Vijayanagara-style design. A ceremony marked the project’s beginning, attended by Minister Krishna Byre Gowda and members of INTACH and Kashi Ra.

The restoration has not yet fully begun. INTACH plans to document the site, study how to manage trees and roots, and prepare a Detailed Project Report. The report will estimate the total cost. After restoration, the fort may become a tourist place and host cultural activities.

Corporate Social Responsibility, or CSR, generally means a company’s effort to support social, environmental or community priorities alongside its business activities. It can direct private money toward projects that benefit the public. Heritage conservation is one such use because historic sites belong to a community’s shared cultural record.

At Chikkajala Fort, CSR funding from the private organisation Kashi Ra is supporting the restoration project. The money can help pay for documentation, expert studies, conservation planning and physical repair. INTACH will examine the fort, including the overgrown mantapa and the dry kalyani, before preparing a Detailed Project Report. That report will calculate the project’s total cost.

The funding does not mean work can begin without assessment. Experts must first understand the condition of the stones, trees, roots and cemented kalyani bottom. Once the plan is ready, the funds can support careful restoration. The project could also create public value through tourism and cultural activities.

Chikkajala Fort’s historic area covers two acres under survey number 116, within the Revenue Department’s jurisdiction. Its surviving features include a small Anjaneya Swamy Temple, a kalyani, and stone mantapas. These structures were built in the 19th century and were inspired by the Vijayanagara style.

The mantapas and kalyani served as a chatra, or rest stop. Soldiers, businesspersons and people in other professions used such places while travelling long distances. The stones preserve decorative and religious imagery. Reported carvings include nagabhanda, elephants, a shivalinga, purnakumba, anjaneya, fish and birds. A local priest still performs daily puja at the temple.

The site is important because its size, structures and carvings connect architecture with everyday travel and worship. Today, the stones of the kalyani and temple remain intact, but vegetation has spread through the mantapa. The kalyani has also stayed dry for a long time.

The fort’s northern side was demolished in 2016 during road widening for NH 44. The National Highways Authority of India implemented that road project. The northern side was also the fort’s entrance, so its removal changed both the site’s appearance and its physical relationship with the road.

Before the demolition, Chikkajala Fort was circular. Removing the northern section cut away part of that enclosure. The remaining fort is now semi-circular, with the open side facing the road. This is a major change to the monument’s original form, rather than ordinary weathering or gradual damage.

The restoration project will therefore address a site already altered by infrastructure work. The article does not state that the demolished section will be rebuilt. Instead, it describes plans for documentation, study and preparation of a Detailed Project Report. Experts will need to assess the surviving structures and decide how best to conserve what remains.

If restoration is completed, Chikkajala Fort is expected to become a tourist place for people visiting Bengaluru. The project could make the monument easier to understand and bring attention to its temple, kalyani, mantapas, carvings and travel history. It would also give a damaged heritage site a more active public role.

INTACH plans to organise cultural activities so more people learn about the fort’s history and importance. The organisation also hopes to involve college students studying architecture. They could receive first-hand experience by working on a live restoration project, under expert guidance. This connects education with practical conservation.

The surrounding community may benefit from greater interest in the site, although the article does not provide specific economic estimates. Villagers have already shared information about the kalyani’s cemented bottom. A restored and interpreted fort could strengthen local awareness, support visits and keep the monument’s cultural uses visible.

Conservation experts can begin by documenting every surviving structure, stone and alteration. INTACH says it will study how to retain the trees while restoring the mantapa’s stones. This matters because branches and roots have spread across the mantapa’s roof and flooring, while the structure itself has become heavily overgrown.

The kalyani presents a different problem. Villagers told INTACH that a film team cemented its bottom during a shoot. The kalyani has remained dry for a long time. Experts should record this change, assess its effect and determine an appropriate conservation response. The article does not state whether the cement will be removed.

Earlier INTACH projects retained trees and restored walls with expert help. That experience can inform the new study, but the fort needs its own assessment. After documentation, INTACH will prepare a Detailed Project Report. It will include the planned work and calculate the total cost.

Cultural heritage conservation is the careful protection, study and repair of places and objects that carry a community’s history. It matters because buildings can preserve evidence that written records may not fully show. Their design, carvings and uses reveal how people organised travel, worship and daily life in earlier periods.

Chikkajala Fort offers several such clues. Its 19th-century kalyani and stone mantapas were inspired by the Vijayanagara style and used as a chatra, or rest stop. Soldiers, businesspersons and other travellers used these places on long journeys. The Anjaneya Swamy Temple continues to have a daily puja, while carvings show religious, animal and natural forms.

Conservation can keep these layers visible for future visitors. At Chikkajala, experts must address vegetation, roots, the cemented kalyani bottom and the demolished northern side. Documentation and a carefully prepared restoration plan can protect the surviving evidence while enabling tourism, cultural activities and student learning.