The first ever mention of the Coorg kadangas have been uncovered in an inscription dated back to 888 A.D. Here, a kadanga named Penne-kadanga is referred to. The mention of the Penne-kadanga is of considerable interest, as showing the antiquity of the kadangas or war trenches found in a great part of Coorg.
In an article headed "Were the Ancient Britons savages?" by W. Walker Wilkins, published in the Fortnightly Review for April 1855, there occurs the following passage, which has a most appropriate bearing upon the Coorg Kadangas - "Probably no country in the world possesses so many ancient earthworks, certainly none upon such a stupendous scale as our own. They are extremely difficult of access, from the steepness of the mountain heights on which they were formed. This difficulty the primitive engineer greatly increased by the most simple and natural means. He sunk one or more deep trenches round the summit of the hill, and raised lofty banks with the excavated soil. Undoubtedly this is the most ancient species of rampart known; it existed ages before the use of mural fortifications, and originated in all probability with the nations in the east."
The description here given literally applies to the Coorg breastworks called Kadangas, which were seen in almost every part of Coorg till the late 19th century, and which testified to the indefatigable perseverance with which these highlanders toiled to secure the possession of their hills. They are of a very remote age; and in the time of Dodda Virappa Wodeyar, who ruled for 49 years from 1687-1736, he added new ones to those which already existed. A prominent Kadanga can still be seen about 7 km off Virajpet on the Madikeri route.
Source: Mysore and Coorg, Vol. III by Lewis Rice
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