Gandikota Canyon: The Grand Canyon of India

The Pennar River carved the Gandikota gorge. The Telugu name of the river is Penna. It cuts between the cliffs of the Erramala hills. The gorge lies in Kadapa district, also called YSR Kadapa, in Andhra Pradesh.

How wide is the gorge?

The district government gives its width as around 200 metres. The cliffs on both sides are steep. Layered rock shows in the walls. This is why people call it the Grand Canyon of India.

Why is it called a canyon at all?

A canyon is a deep, steep-sided valley cut by a river. The Pennar cut down through hard rock over a very long time. The district government describes the rock as Gandikota quartzite.

The name joins two Telugu words. Gandi means gorge. Kota means fort. So Gandikota means gorge fort. The fort is named after the gorge it overlooks.

When was it built?

The Gandikota Kaifiyat gives the date of the fort as 1123. A Kaifiyat is a local record kept in the Deccan. The Kadapa district page uses it for the fort’s date.

Who built it?

Old versions of this page named Kapa Raja as the builder. They also called him a vassal of Someswara I. Government history places Someswara I in the eleventh century. That does not fit 1123. This lesson keeps the date and drops the builder’s name.

The Kadapa district page lists the rulers. They were the Kalyani Chalukyas, the Kakatiyas and the Vijayanagara Empire. After them came the Qutb Shahi dynasty, the Mughal Empire, the Mayana Nawabs and the Kingdom of Mysore. The British took the fort in 1791.

Who were the Pemmasani chiefs?

The Pemmasani chiefs built the Raghunatha Swamy temple inside the fort. The temple faces east and has no tall gateway tower.

Is the fort protected today?

Yes. The Archaeological Survey of India protects it. Its list names the fort with its enclosed ancient buildings, the Madhavaperumal temple and the tower called Madarsala.

Why did so many rulers want it?

The gorge made the site a natural stronghold. Cliffs lay on one side. The river ran far below on the other. Little wall-building was needed.

The Belum Caves are a long cave system near Belum village. They lie in Nandyal district of Andhra Pradesh. Older pages place them in Kurnool district.

How long are they?

The Census of India gives the length as 3,229 metres. The caves run almost level after a short drop at the entrance.

How do they rank?

The Nandyal district page calls them the second largest natural caves in the Indian subcontinent. Only the caves of Meghalaya are larger. The district page also says the caves became widely known in 1982.

How far are they from Gandikota?

They are in a different district. Sources disagree on the road distance. This lesson gives no figure.

The gorge cuts through the Cuddapah basin. It is a large basin of old sedimentary rock. Sedimentary rock forms when layers of sand and mud settle and harden.

Is it a Purana basin?

Yes. Geologists group the Cuddapah and Vindhyan basins as Purana basins. The Cuddapah basin is the second largest Purana basin in peninsular India. The Vindhyan basin is the largest.

How old is it, compared with the Dharwar rocks?

Cuddapah rocks are younger than the Dharwar rocks. They rest on the worn and tilted edges of the earlier Dharwar formations. They are usually placed before the Vindhyan rocks.

What is the order to remember?

Textbooks list them in this order: Dharwar, Cuddapah, Vindhyan. The ages of Cuddapah and Vindhyan overlap, so this is a textbook convention.

The basin is rich in minerals. Two are asked in exams. They are barite and diamonds.

What is barite?

Barite is a heavy mineral. Mangampet in Cuddapah district is a well-known source of it.

How large is the barite reserve?

The Ministry of Mines and the Geological Survey of India put Mangampet at about 28 percent of the world’s known barite.

Where are the diamonds?

Diamonds occur in the Banganapalle quartzite. They are found in a base layer of pebbles and gravel. They are secondary or placer deposits. That means water moved them from their first source.

The Penna River viewpoint gives views of the gorge. Visitors come at sunrise and sunset. The Ministry of Mines Annual Report 2025-26 calls Gandikota a Geoheritage Site. The fort ruins add history to the trip.

Which exam question used Gandikota?

UPSC CSP 2022, Paper I asked which river created the Gandikota canyon of South India. The options were Cauvery, Manjira, Pennar and Tungabhadra. The answer is Pennar. The three other rivers do not flow through this gorge.

• Pennar: the river that carved the gorge.
• Erramala hills: the range it cuts through.
• Around 200 metres: the width of the gorge.
• 1123: the date of the fort in the Gandikota Kaifiyat.
• 1791: the year the British took the fort.
• 3,229 metres: the length of the Belum Caves.
• Dharwar, Cuddapah, Vindhyan: the usual textbook order.
• About 28 percent: Mangampet’s share of world barite.