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Nandi Hills or Nandi betta (Anglicised forms include Nandidurg and Nandydoorg) is an
ancient hill fortress built by Tippu Sulthan in southern India, in the Chikkaballapur district
of Karnataka state. It is 10 km from Chickballapur town and approximately 60 km from
the city of Bengaluru. The hills are near the town of Nandi. In traditional belief, the hills
are the origin of the Arkavathy river[1], Ponnaiyar River, Palar River[2] and Penna River[3].

Watching the sunrise at Nandi Hills is

popular with tourists.[4]
Nandi Hills, India
Nandi Betta
Nandidurga
Etymology
town
There are many stories about the origin
of the name Nandi Hills. During the Chola
period, Nandi Hills was called Anandagiri
meaning The Hill of Happiness.[5] Nandi
was also commonly called Nandidurga
because of the fort built here by the
emperor Tipu Sultan. It is also perhaps
called Nandi Hills because the hills Sunrise seen from Nandi Hills
resemble a sleeping. Another theory
holds that the hill gets its name from an
ancient, 1300-year-old Dravidian-style
Nandi temple situated on this hill.

History

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 Location in Karnataka, India

Coordinates: 13.3862588°N 77.7009344°E

Country India

State Karnataka

District Chikkaballapur

Elevation 1,478 m (4,849 ft)

Languages

• Official Kannada

Time zone UTC+5]30 (IST)

Nearest city Bangalore

Top of Nandi Hills

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 Nandidurga was traditionally held unimpregnable, and its storming by the army of
Cornwallis on 19 October 1791 was one of the most notable incidents of the first war
against Tipu Sultan of Mysore. A description of the siege is given in Browne's History of
Scotland[6] and the records of the 71st Highlanders.[7]

Nundydroog, a celebrated fortress and country of Hindostan, in the

province of Mysore. The former is built on the summit of a rock, about
1700 feet high, three-fourths of its circumference being inaccessible.
Our forces took it by storm in 1791, after a three weeks' siege. It stands
in long. 77° 53' E., and lat. 13° 22' N.

— London Encyclopaedia, 1829[8]

It later became a retreat for British Raj officials during the hot season. Francis
Cunningham built the summer residence here for Sir Mark Cubbon.

...this droog, one now used as a hotel, built by General Cubbon,

sometime British resident; but the rock has a bad reputation for
malaria, and except in the very dry months is shunned by visitors, in
spite of its, to the senses, delightful climate

— Lt. Gen. E F Burton[9]

The climate at the top of the hill made it particularly of interest to horticulturists. Several
species of plant were introduced into an experimental garden. Firminger's manual notes
that several species of Anona were grown at this garden and also notes the peculiarity of
Hypericum mysorense:[10]

H. mysorense.—An ornamental bush indigenous to the Western

Ghauts, but rarely found in gardens. It is domesticated, or wild, in the
Fort at Nandidroog, the latter being situated on the top of an isolated

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 hill on the plateau of Mysore at an elevation of 4,850 feet. This is
mentioned, as curiously enough, one has to travel more than a
hundred miles towards the Western Ghauts, before the plant is met
with in the wild state again. Fertile seed has never been secured. The
fine yellow flowers are three inches across. Only suitable for the
shrubbery in hill gardens.

— Burns, 1930[10]

Potato cultivation was introduced for the first time in the neighbourhood of Bangalore by
a Colonel Cuppage and continued by the botanist Benjamin Heyne. Heyne brought
seeds from St. Helena and these grew well enough that they were supplied in Madras
and preferred to those obtained from Bengal.[11] In 1860, tea plants were tried on Nandi
Hills by Hugh Cleghorn.[12] There is a Good place called Tippu Drop from where Tippu
Sulthan used to drop traitors and british sympathisers.

Development

Panorama View from Nandi Hills looking towards north

Nandi Hills are currently undergoing development,including a one-crore renovation of

the Tippu Sultan Fort. The Department of Horticulture is setting up a one-crore food
court. A 30-lakh music stage, located on a three-and-a-half acre grove, will be used to
conduct cultural programmes.[13][14][15] Furthermore, the Horticulture Department is
developing 140 acres (0.57 km2) of land in the Nandi Hills region with the creation of a

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 large-scale exotic botanical garden. A planetarium with an initial one-crore investment is
also being constructed.[16] A gondola lift system will connect the peak of the Nandi Hill
with the nearby Muddenahalli.[17][18][19][20][21][22] Other projects including Prestige
Golfshire and QVC Nandi Hills are coming up near Nandi Hills.[23] There are also plans to
construct Cable cars at the cost of 15 to 20 crore which will significantly reduce the
number of vehicles going to the hills there by protecting the nature [23]

Biodiversity

Sitala palmaria, a land snail

described from Nandi Hills by
William Henry Benson

The vegetation of the hills is typical of high hills. Inside the fort at the summit, many of
the large trees are planted exotics such as Eucalyptus and the undergrowth consists of
Coffea arabica along with some native species. The forest acts as a substrate for cloud
condensation and every morning the trees are covered in water. This allows for many
moist forest species of plants and animals. The hills are very rich in birdlife making it a
very popular location for birdwatchers and bird photographers. The evergreen forest
patch on top of the hill being a favoured wintering location for many migrant species of
warblers, flycatchers and thrushes. The forest patch is also home for a relict population
of the Nilgiri woodpigeon.[24] A breeding pair of shaheen falcon, the resident race of the
peregrine falcon is also often seen at the Nandi Hills. The Malabar whistling thrush,[25]

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 Uropeltid snakes and pill millipedes which are otherwise known only from the Western
Ghats ranges are also found here. The hill slopes are the home of the yellow-throated
bulbul, a species endemic to the hills of peninsular India.[26]

References

f. Welcome to Nandi Hills

g. "River Systems of Karnataka" .

i. Garg, Santosh Kumar (1999). International and interstate river water disputes .
Laxmi Publications. pp. 7–8. ISBN 978-81-7008-068-8. Retrieved 16 May 2011.

k. Dey, Panchali. "What makes Nandi Hills an ideal getaway from Bengaluru?" .
Retrieved 24 July 2019.

n. "Nandi Hills" .

o. Browne, James (1909) The history of Scotland . Vol. 8. Francis A. Niccolls. pp. 10-
11

p. Hildyard HJT Lt (1876) Historical record of the 71st Regiment Highland Light
Infantry. Harrison and sons. scan

q. Anon, 1829 The London Encyclopaedia. Vol. 16 scan

r. Burton, E F (1888) An Indian Olio. Spencer Blackett. London. p. 145 Scan

fs. Burns, W (1930) Firminger's manual of gardening for India. Thacker and Spink. Sixth
edition.

ff. Royle, John Forbes (1840). Essay on the productive resources of India . London:
W.H. Allen.

fg. "Tea cultivation in India" . The public ledger. 13 November 1860. p. 3 – via British
Newspaper Archive.

fi. The Hindu : Karnataka News : Food court at Nandi Hills

fk. Mangalorean.Com- Serving Mangaloreans Around The World! Archived 11

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 fk. Mangalorean.Com- Serving Mangaloreans Around The World! Archived 11
October 2012 at the Wayback Machine

fn. The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : sets target for ‘2020ʼ

fo. Mangalorean.Com- Serving Mangaloreans Around The World! Archived 13

March 2010 at the Wayback Machine

fp. Centre okays GPS for KSRTC buses

fq. The Hindu : Karnataka / Bangalore News : And now, here comes horticulture
tourism

fr. The Hindu : Karnataka News : Facilities at Nandi Hills to be improved

gs. The Hindu : Karnataka News : IIT will be established at Muddenahalli, says Moily

gf. Silk city to come up near Bʼlore

gg. The Hindu : Karnataka News : International sports village location to be finalised
soon

gi. http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/News-By-Industry/Services/Hotels--
Restaurants/Marriott-to-build-luxury-hotel-near-new-Bangalore-
airport/articleshow/2946699.cms . Retrieved 9 November 2009. Missing or empty
|title= (help)

gk. Subramanya, S. (2005). Nesting of Wood-Pigeon Columba elphinstonii in Nandi

hills, Karnataka, India. Indian Birds 1(2):36-37

gn. Praveen J (2006) Post-monsoon dispersal of Malabar Whistling Thrush Myiophonus

horsfieldii (Vigors) to Chamundi Hill and Nandi Hills, Karnataka, Southern India.
Zoos' Print Journal 21(9):2411 PDF

go. Subramanya, S; Karthikeyan, S; Prasad, JN (1991) Yellowthroated Bulbul at Nandi

Hill. Newsletter for Birdwatchers. 31(3&4):7-8.

External links

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 Wikimedia Commons has media related to Nandi Hills.

State govt's official site

Nandi Hills travel guide from Wikivoyage

Last edited 3 days ago by Citation bot

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