Hey, hivers hope you all doing well today ill be sharing a blog with you it's a bit different from past blogs as most of my blogs are about mountains but this is about a fort located in Chittorgarh, Rajasthan, India.
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The Chittorgarh Fort also known as Chittorgarh or Chittor Fort is one of the largest forts in India. It is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The fort was the capital of Mewar and is located in the present-day town of Chittorgarh. It sprawls over a hill 180 m (590.6 ft) in height spread over an area of 280 ha (691.9 acres) above the plains of the valley drained by the Berach River. The fort covers 65 historic structures, which include four palaces, 19 large temples, 20 large water bodies, 4 memorials, and a few victory towers.
History of Fort-source
The above monument is Vijay Stamb it is an imposing victory monument located within Chittor Fort. The tower was constructed by the Hindu Rajput king Rana Kumbha of Mewar in 1448 to commemorate his victory over the combined armies of Malwa and Gujarat sultanates led by Mahmud Khalji
How To Reach-
You can reach this place by any means of transportation. Dabok Airport or Maharana Pratap Airport
is the nearest airport to the fort, 22 km from Udaipur city and 90 km from Chittorgarh.
It is much easier to reach this place by train as the railway station is very close to the fort it is approx 5-6 km.
As for me, I took a train from Chandigarh to Udaipur as my friends were already staying there. It was not a long journey by road also it was about 800 km from Chandigarh still I decided to go by train
The next day we all decided to visit the fort so we took a bus from Udaipur to Chittorgarh. The View of the fort was magnificent from far away it is built on a cliff surrounded by a large wall
The fort, when viewed from above, looks roughly like a fish. Spread across an area of 700 acres, the circumference of the fort alone covers an area of 13 kilometers. There are seven massive gates, safeguarding all the entrances. The main gate is called Ram Gate. The fort has 65 structures including temples, palaces, memorials, and water bodies. There are two prominent towers within the premises of the fort namely Vijay Stambha (Tower of Victory) and Kirti Stambha (Tower of Fame).
This fort has 7 total gates they were built for security purposes the gates have special architectural designs. The gates have pointed arches, to make sure it provides extra protection should there be an attack. Notched parapets were built on top of the gates, enabling soldiers to shoot arrows at the enemy army. There is a common road that runs inside the fort, connecting all the gates.
The gates, in turn, lead to various palaces and temples within the fort. All the gates have historical significance. Prince Bagh Singh was killed at the Padan Gate during one of the sieges in the year 1535 AD. During the last siege, led by Emperor Akbar, Rao Jaimal of Badnore was allegedly killed by the Mughal emperor himself. This incident is said to have taken place somewhere between the Bhairon Gate and Hanuman Gate.
ext to Vijay Stambha stands the famous Rana Kumbha's palace, which is now in ruins. The palace once served as the main residence of Rana Kumbha and is one of the oldest edifices within the fort.
All the seven gates of the fort are nothing but massive stone structures, aimed at providing maximum security from the potential threat of enemies. The entire fort is built in such a way that it makes it almost impregnable for the enemies to enter. To ascend the fort, one has to go through a difficult path, which itself proves that the architectural design of the fort was aimed at keeping the enemies at bay. This is one of the main reasons why the fort was sieged by various kings at regular intervals. In between the second and the third gate, there are two Chhatris or cenotaphs, built in honor of Jaimull and Patta, the heroes of 1568 AD when the fort was sieged by Emperor Akbar. These cenotaphs are considered architectural marvels. The tower of the fort is nine-storeyed and is adorned with sculptures of Hindu deities and stories from the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. The tower provides a breathtaking view of the city.
The palace of Rana Kumbha was built using plastered stone. One of the main features of this palace is its series of canopied balconies. Suraj Gate leads to the entrance of this palace, which is associated with a host of legends. Padmini’s palace is an impressive edifice with three stories. The old palace, which was ruined due to various reasons, was reconstructed in the early 19th century. The building, as it stands today, is white. The architectural design of the old palace was a nice blend of Rajput and Mughal architecture.
Apart from these massive gates, the Fort has many palaces to boast of including Rana Kumbha Palace and Padmini's Palace, which are wonders of Rajput architecture. Padmini's Palace is the same palace that used to serve the beautiful queen of Rattan Singh. Rana Kumbha Palace is the place that has underground cellars where queen Padmini committed 'Jauhar' along with the children and the other ladies of the household.
After visiting all the gates and other monuments we set in the main part of the fort and ate some lunch and rested for a while as it was a very hot day and we were drained completely
Watching all these significant structures we all went into a conversation about how these were built at that time without any machines this was quite unbelievable what we were seeing in front of us built by humans without the help of any machinery
The hand carving was just awesome all over the fort we cant just imagine how many days and people were taken to build such a place
The main view was from the fort of the nearby area it was beautiful a perfectly planned city in symmetry with some parks in between although it was crowded but was looking fantastic
This fort was a bit elevated from the surrounding so we were able to see far away the small houses colored and made in the same pattern
After a long day, we finally decided to go back to Udaipur and leave the fort before night as the place was rumored to be haunted, but that was not the real reason we had to leave early the next day so we decided to head back early and sleep so we can get moving in the morning to our next destination
