Raichur has a rich history, having been a part of various empires, such as the Bahmanis sultan'sVijayanagara, Adil Shahi dynasty of bijapur and nizam of hyderabad. The city is famous for its imposing Raichur Fort. Here, stone inscriptions have been found in Persian, Urdu, and Arabic which belonged to the bastion of the fort, referring to its construction in 1294. Among the ruins of the immense fort are many irrigation tanks and old temples. The fort was built by Kakatiya king Rudra in 1284 CE which passed on to the Vijayanagar kingdom after the decline of the Kakatiyas. Thereafter the fort was under dispute for nearly two centuries. It was captured by the Bahmanis in 1323 CE. Saluva Narasimha Raya expressed a wish in his testament that the city of Raichur be recaptured. This had been in the mind of Krishnadevaraya since his coronation in 1509. In the year 1520 Krishnadevaraya sent Saeed Maraikar, a Muslim in his service, to Goa with a large sum of money to buy horses. Maraikar instead went to Adil Khan with the money and offered his services. Krishnadevaraya made a demand that Maraikar be returned along with the money which was duly refused. During the period of peace Krishnadevaraya made extensive preparations for a grand attack on Raichur doab. After the court decided that Raichur should be attacked the king invited all commanders in his service to take part in the battle. Raichur is very rich from the epigraphical point of view. It has already yielded hundreds of inscriptions, ranging from the Mauryan period up to the end of the Muslim period. The inscriptions are in a variety of languages such as Sanskrit, Prakrit, Kannada, Telugu, Arabic, and Persian and belonging to almost all the dynasties that ruled over the Deccan. The most important places from this point of view are Maski, Koppal, Kuknur, Hatti Gold Mines, Mudgal, Lingsugur and Raichur.
Geography
Raichur is located at. It has an average elevation of 407 metres.
Demographics
As of the 2001 Indiacensus, Hinduism is majority religion in Raichur city with 67.61% followers. Islam is second most popular religion in city of Raichur with approximately 29.87% following it. In Raichur city, Christianity is followed by 1.18%, Jainism by 0.94%, Sikhism by 0.08% and Buddhism by 0.08%. Around 0.00% stated 'Other Religion', approximately 0.29% stated 'No Particular Religion'. Official language is Kannada, but Urdu, Telugu, and English are also spoken in large proportion.
