South East View of Adoni Fort - 1805

Water-colour painting of Adoni Fort by Benjamin Swain Ward (1786-1835), 1809. Inscribed on the front in ink is: 'View of Adoni on the South East in' '1809 by B.S.W.'.

Benjamin Swain Ward was the son of Francis Swain Ward of the Madras army. The latter died in India in 1794 leaving a large family unprovided for. His son, Benjamin, was trained at the Madras Survey School from 1798 and worked under MacKenzie from 1804. During 1809 to 1810 he was surveying in the Ceded Districts.

The hill fort is situated on five rocky granite hills near to Adoni in Andhra Pradesh. It is thought to have been founded by Chandra Sen in 1200 BC and later came into the medieval kingdom of Vijayanagar which flourished from the 14th to the 16th centuries. The fort then became the stronghold of the Muslim kings of the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur and Golconda. In 1690 the fort was taken by Aurangzeb then in the late 18th century it came to the Raja of Mysore, Tipu Sultan before it was ceded to the British in 1799.

Source : British Library