The Forts of Rajasthan

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Rajasthan has the world’s richest lineage of forts. This book’s bracing narrative captures this heritage with ramparts and bastions resonating with the song and verse of Rajasthan across slope and sand, rock and river. The easy-to-read book comes from home-schooling and history trails that took the authors to the forts, enabling a blend of pen and camera for a well-rounded portrayal. The book, second in the series after The Forts of Bundelkhand, flags the space for amateur history-enthusiasts to invigorate understanding of how the past influences the present.

The charisma of Rajasthan’s forts has led to this book. It acknowledges the lofty standing of these history-citadels as a pivotal reference point for promoting heritage protection and awareness of sites that are the building blocks of local, regional and national identity. Research methodology tools help go beyond the ‘annals-and-antiquities’ approach. The Forts of Rajasthan recognizes the scope for refurbishing insights and revisiting assumptions.

RITA and VIJAI SHARMA were in the Indian Administrative Service. Rita studied Physics at Miranda House, Delhi and Agricultural Economics at Cornell University where she obtained a Ph.D. Vijai has law degrees from Lucknow, University College London and Harvard Law School.

They worked as secretaries to the government of India and in various departments and districts of Uttar Pradesh. Rita was secretary to the National Advisory Council. Vijai was a Member of the National Green Tribunal and Chief Information Commissioner of India.

A museum launch sparked an interest in history when they wrote the text for The Forts of India (1986). Their book, The Forts of Bundelkhand (2006), is followed by this present work on Rajasthan.

Rita and Vijai continue to pursue their interests in agriculture, rural development, environment, forests and climate change. They live in Lucknow.

The Forts of Rajasthan covets a spectrum wider than conventionally spotlighted history signposts like Chittorgarh, Jodhpur or Jaipur.

Dhruy, our son, was at school in Ajmer. My father came from Alwar. The forts in both these places and many others—Bayana, Bharatpur, Deeg, Gagron, Jalore, Nagaur—feature in these pages. Family visits saw us criss-cross Mewar, Matrwar, the Dhundhar region and the Thar with its dunes rippling to the bhavat and ghoomar beats.

Rajasthan captivates: the terraces of Bundi, elephants striding the hills of Amber and the turrets of Mehrangarh awash in Jodhpur’s copper-hued sunset. Brick-walled garhis like Ghotaru and Kishangath on Jaisalmer’s Tanot-Longewala desert frontier are part of the son-et-lumiere, as is the chatter of women collecting firewood in the shadows of Kumbhalgarh’s massively squat bastions. Ranthambore’s silhouette straddles verdant tiger-land. Most abiding is the never-to-submit imprint of Chittorgarh.

Figures like Padmini, Pannabai, Patta lived in these forts. Their footprint and voice touched countless columns, arches and doorjambs, epitomizing fortitude, renunciation and sacrifice. Among the tales of fatal attraction is that of Mahendra, prince of Amarkot, riding the night to be with his beloved Mumal. Reckless fealty, adulation, courtship and separation is part of the story.

The timelessness of forts, archaeological remains and cenotaphs is basic to Rajasthan where history commands a compelling presence. Reverence pervades, even in the rustle of leaves carressing a cenotaph tucked away in the shrubbery.

There is an enervating bustle today in Rajasthan’s forts, having acquired a new contemporaneity with growing interest in rejuvenating bygone events and moulding debate around references from history. It is an evolving knowledge-demand.

The book’s last chapter is an addendum. It indicates the need for amateur history-buffs, knowledge-ferreters and scholars to come together for enhancing understanding about our past. Some afterthoughts have been summarized in the Postscript.

Rita and I are happy that after The Forts of Bundelkhand we have a work that conveys in some measure the scale, spectacle and story of Rajasthan’s forts. We would like to thank the Rupa Publications team for giving wings to the idea of this book.

Rajasthan has the world’s richest lineage of forts. A vista of heritage unfolds from these citadels witnesss to history and the shaping of a society. Ramparts and bastions, baradaris and baoris, chhajjas and chhatris remain swathed in the light of a past that continues to hold the present. The forts of Rajasthan span a thousand years and more, with folklore and legend going back even further, to the fenced enclosures and protective ditches built by the Bhils and other indigenous communities to protect themselves from wild animals and marauders. Hardened earthwork gave way to stone with time, and sturdier defences came up everywhere—tugged hills, scrubland, forests, flatlands and desert.

Rajasthan lay on the path of invaders from the north-west. The routes from Delhi and Agra to the Deccan, the Sindh and Gujarat also went through Rajasthan. This, along with the pervasiveness of Rajput inter-clan jealousies, induced fighting-readiness. The region thus took on martial characteristics with watch-tower chowkis and forts big and small—garhs and garhis—dotting the landscape.

The forts ate of various kinds. Ajmer and Alwar have gridurgs or hill forts. Durg is derived from durgam, tneaning arduous. Bharatpur and Deeg are on level ground, defended by moats, while at Amber and Bundi, hillsides were cleverly used. Jodhpur fort stands massive on steep rock. Jaisalmer, a dhanudurg, ot desert fort, girdled a settlement surrounded by a sea of sand. Ranthambore, a blend of a vana (forest) durg and giridurg overlooks thick forest and lakes. The river fort of Gagron combines characteristics of (water) durg and gendurg.

India’s repository of knowledge on designing and building fortifications is rich. There were site- selection norms for the royal complexes and administrative offices, the living areas for samants, commanders, courtesans, retainers and visitors, all clearly demarcated. There were instructions for temples, priests, chanting of hymns, sabhagars or halls for public audience, procession routes, pavilions for music, dance and theatre.

Kambheaiearh: birthplace of Rana Prete

The durgadhyaksha ot kotpala was responsible for the battle-readiness of the fort as well as its management. Emergencies often forced evacuation of villages, with many seeking shelter in the fort along with their cattle and crops. Every fort had systems in place to handle a siege. Storehouses were well stocked with foodgrain, oil, salt and other essentials in view of the fluctuating number of residents. Accountants were key figures in the fort’s beehive of activity, levying taxes, disbursing allowances and keeping records. Discipline was strict. Exemplary punishment awaited deserters. At the same time, a special sanction would be made to cover the costs of a religious ceremony or wedding in the household of a good soldier.

The upkeep of forts and equipment was part of the warrior’s dharma as was preparedness for battle. There were foundries for weaponry and protocols for stocking arms and ammunition, as well as for the upkeep of horses and elephants. Even camels used for tilling fields could be bridled and saddled quickly for battle.

Rajasthan’s fortifications promoted water storage. There were check-dams or bunds, stepwells to reach aquifers, and water-lifting devices customized for drinking and irrigation.

Brkaner: branched out from the Rathore Kingdom of jodhpur

Devices ranged from the basic rahat and dekchi system to complex devices such as the one at Amber, to lift water from a reservoir at the fort’s base to the palaces at the crown of the hill. Among the artificial lakes were Gadsisar in Jaisalmer and Rajsamand in Mewar.

THE RAJPUTS

An assortment of myth, evidence and assumption is used to explain the origins of the Rajputs. Their place in history comes towards the end of the last great Hindu empire under Harshavardhana (607-647 AD) and the political cleavages that followed in a time of change.

Rajput clans held beliefs about their origins, with bards and minstrels tracing family trees to the sun, moon or fire gods. The Suryavanshi Rajputs included the Kachhwahas of Amber, the Rathores of Marwar and the Sisodiyas of Mewar. They claimed descent from Lord Rama. The Chandravansht Rajputs are believed to have descended from Lord Krishna, and include the Bhatis of Jaisalmer. The Harachauhans from Bundi and Kota belonged to the fire-born race, or Agnikula.

Is there a link between the ancient warriors of Porus combating Alexander in 326 BC and the medieval Rajputs under Prithviraj, Sanga and Pratap fighting at Tarain (1191-92), Khanwa (1527) and Haldighati (1576)? Where did the Rajputs come from? Were the Kshattriyas recast as Rajputs? Whatever be the Rajput ancestry, such martial men were outgoing and aggressive enough to gain ascendancy. For instance, the Kachhwahas from Narwat and Gwalior displaced the Meenas at Amber.

The tise of the Rajputs after Harshavardhana saw the confluence of races and ethnic groups, Indian and others. The Gurjaras, who came with the Huna hordes from Bactria, settled down in southern Rajasthan in the sixth century, in Bhinmal near present-day Jalore. ‘The Chinese traveller, Hiuen Tsang, visited the Gurjaras during Harshavardhana’s reign. The Pratiharas were a sect of the Gurjaras who captured Ujjain and later in the ninth century took Kannauj on their way to becoming masters of the doab, and powerful rulers in northern India.

The Chauhans established a kingdom in Ajmer in the late seventh century where they ruled till the establishment of the Delhi Sultanate. In the eighth century, Bappa Rawal of the Guhila clan founded Mewar. These Rajput kingdoms and others at Gwalior, Narwar and Kannauj countered the rising Islamic influence in Punjab, Sindh and further north-west. Matters came to a head when Jaipal of Lahore, at the head of a Rajput confederation, was defeated in 1001 by Mahmud of Ghazni near Peshawar. The Pratiharas ruling from Kannauj, also could not hold out against Mahmud and yielded to their Rajput feudatories.

THE SULTANATE

Rajputs faced the brunt of Mohammad Ghori’s invasion in the late twelfth century. The principal clans were the Chauhans of Ajmer and Delhi, the Rathores in Kannauj, the Chandellas in Mahoba and the Guhilas in Mewar. Jaichand of Kannauj was with the Chandellas against Prithviraj Chauhan. Folklore has a swashbuckling Prithviraj Chauhan on a charger, making off with Jaichand’s daughter Sanyukta. Hostility among Rajputs enabled the Turko-Afghan triumph. The Chandellas retreated to Kalinjar and the Rathores migrated beyond the Aravallis.

The Sultanate (1206-1526) struck strong roots in Delhi, but fluctuating fortunes gave enough room to the Rajputs to revive in Rajasthan despite Khilji success at Chittorgarh, Ranthambore, Jalore and Jaisalmer. For some time Mewar occupied Ajmer, known for Moinuddin Chishti’s dargah, and grew in strength to get the better of Gujarat and Malwa on several occasions.

Book's Contents and Sample Pages