Dungeons of Srirangapatna

Where there is a fort, there are usually dungeons. These days we rarely get to see any, which is why, when we saw a Karnataka Tourism board proclaiming the presence of two dungeons in Srirangapatna, we were all agog with anticipation. The first dungeon, as it turned out, was very near the Ranganathaswamy Temple. The Colonel Bailey dungeon, as it is called, is where Colonel Bailey was held captive during the Second Mysore War, by Tipu Sultan.

The dungeon is not easily visible, concealed as it is by the remnants of the fort bastion.


This section is called Sultan’s Battery. It is where the cannons were deployed, and right in the centre, there is one cannon which, during the war, fell through the wall, and is said to be lying here ever since. You can see the section of the ceiling caved in above it.


The second dungeon on the list is called Thomas Inman’s dungeon. Unlike the first one, this is named not for someone who died here, but for the one who discovered it. It is believed that this dungeon was used by Tipu Sultan to imprison Marathas and other prisoners of war. All we got to see however, was this.



Try as we might, we weren’t able to find our way inside, Someone we talked to later suggested that the entry might have been closed for maintenance work, since the palace was also closed around that time, but we weren’t able to confirm it. It was a disappointment though, to have missed out on another dungeon.