Adoni is a city in the Kurnool district in the Indian state of Andhra Pradesh. It is a municipality and the headquarters of Adoni mandal, administered under the Adoni Revenue Division. In the 2011 census of India, Adoni had a population of 166,344, making it the 15th most populous town in the state with an urban agglomeration population of 184,625. History The Adoni fort is central to the town's history. In 1780, an observer wrote, "Adoni is situated upon three mountains which are united; it has a range of irregular fortifications, piled one over the other. To maintain it requires a garrison of 30,000 men. The fortifications upon the mountains are often weak...To the south of Adoni, a large plain, to the north there are mountains, obnoxious from their nearness, to the east there are other mountains. To the west there are also mountains and this part is the weakest." It is thought to have been founded by Chandra Sen in 1200 BC and later came into the medieval kingdom of Vijayanagar which flourished from the 14th to the 16th centuries. The fort then became the stronghold of the Muslim kings of the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur and Golconda. In 1690 the fort was taken by Aurangzeb then in the late 18th century it came to the Raja of Mysore, Tipu Sultan before it was ceded to the British in 1799. In the 15th century and early to mid 16th century, Adoni was a fort town of the Vijayanagara Empire. It was controlled by the kinsmen of Aliya Rama Raya, a powerful aristocrat of the Vijayanagara. In 1558, during the decline of the Vijayanagara Empire, control of Adoni came to Ali Adil Shah I (1558–1579), the fifth Sultan of the Bijapur Sultanate. Hamilton, in 1820, stated, "It [Adoni at this time] stood at the top of a high hill, and contained within its walls many tanks and fountains of pure water with numerous princely structures." In 1564, the Sultanate of Bijapur lost control of Adoni to Mohammedan rulers. From 1678 to 1688, rule of Adoni lay with Siddi Masud, a wealthy Habshi (African) from Abyssinia who was a powerful general of Raja Anup Singh of Bikaner, Siddi Masud improved the fort; cleared the surrounding forest; established the townships of Imatiazgadh and Adilabad and constructed the Shahi Jamia Masjid. Siddi Masud was also an avid art collector and a patron