Painting of Manora fort by Dr K Prabhakar Rao

MANORA FORT. TAMILNADU STATE, INDIA Manora fort is located at a a distance of 65 km from Tanjavur in Tamil Nadu state at a place called Malli patnam And On the coast of Bay of Bengal. it was built by Maratha ruler sarfoji II the ruler of Tanjavur province who was an ally of the British.Tanjavur was originally Naik kingdom who were vassals to vijaynagar empire. After the collapse of Vijay nagar empire due to treachery of some ofthe vassals Tanjavur became an independent kingdom. The last ruler was vijaya raghva naika who was killed by Madhurai king ina battle and seized the kingdom. Venkoji who was a general in Bijapur sultans court was sent to restore the Tanjavur kingdom to the lone heir of the kingdom who was very young. Venkoji was the half brother of Shivaji maharaj.Venkoji defeated Madurai forces and instead of installing the true heir he himself seized the kingdom and declared himself as the ruler.This dynasty lasted long right into modern times. Sarfoji II belonged to this dynasty. The fort was built to commemorate the victory of the B ritish over Napolean at battle of Waterloo in 1815.The fort has a 23 m high tower hexagonal in shape with eight stories. It has surrounding protective wall with moat. manora is derived from word Minarette. The fort was used by Sarfoji as a resort andhis palace. the fort was damaged during the Indian tsunami and was repaired. it is popular tourist spot. visitors are allowed up to second storey of tower.