Vattakottai Fort

Vattakottai Fort ('circular fort') lies about 18 km east of Nagercoil in the Agastheeswaram taluk of Kanyakumari district. Construction commenced in 1729 during the reign of King Marthanda Varma of Travancore, under the supervision of the Dutch military commander Captain Eustachius De Lannoy, who reinforced an earlier brick fort with granite stone veneer. The fort is presumed to have served as a military base protecting the Kumari coast, then an active pearl-fishing harbour. British troops demolished much of the surrounding Travancore defensive lines in 1809, but the Vattakottai fort itself survived largely intact. All four sides of its inner fortification feature simple pillared mandapas with flat roofs. The fort is today a protected and maintained site under the Archaeological Survey of India.