Sira

Sira is a City and taluk headquarters of Sira Taluk of Tumkur district in the state of Karnataka, India. It belongs to Bangalore Division. It is located 58 KM towards North from District head quarters Tumakuru. It is a Taluk head quarter. Sira was politically and militarily an important region of south India prior to the British Raj. Sira Province was ruled by the Bijapur Kings from 1638 to 1687. The Suba or Province of Sira of the Mughal Empire with its capital at Sira town lasted from 1687 to 1757. The Marathas wrested the province from Mughals and held it from 1757 to 1759, when the Mughals regained it. In 1761, Haidar Ali whose father Sheikh Fateh Mohammed occupied an important position in the local Mughal Army declared his independence from the Mughal Empire and declared himself the 'Nawab' of the province. He called himself 'Nawab Haider Ali Bahadur' but lost the province to the Marathas from 1766 until 1774 when his son Tipu Sultan, captured it for him

Kasturi Rangappa Nayaka Fort beautiful fort is named after the 'Nayaka' ruler. It is symbolic of the hold the Nayaka community rulers once had on Sira. Mallik Rehan 'dargah' is mausoleum over the erstwhile Sira province's governor Mallik Rehan's grave. Some locals revere Mallik Rehan as a pious man and call him Hazrath Mallik Rehan Rahmatullah Alai.