Encircled by thirteen elevated mountain peaks, Kumbhalgarh fort stands on the site of an ancient citadel which is ascribed to Samprati, a Jaina prince of the second century BC. History says that he built around 300 temples at this place. Later Rana Kumbha, added to this. At present, few of these are left, fewer with idols inside.Covering over 12 sq km, the walls of the fort stretch about 36 km and stands about 1,087m high from the sea level. Located amidst the hills of Aravali, the fort offers a marvelous view of the surrounding areas and sandy dessert of Marwar for miles around. The fort is commanding a great strategic location on the border between the Rajput Kingdoms of Udaipur and Jodhpur.
There is a folklore behind the construction of this fort that, Maharana of Kumbhalgarh failed to build the fort's wall for several times so he consulted a sage about this problem. And on the advice of this sage, the sage came up with a bizarre proposition — he was to stand at a point and chop off his own head, and the place where his body fell would be the main entrance of the fort and the point where his head fell would be the second main entrance. The perimeter of the fort's wall is assumed to be the longest in the world after the Great Wall Of China.
the fort encloses royal apartments, temples - dedicated to different gods, 252 palaces - great and small, seven massive gates or pol (Arait Pol, Hanuman Pol, Ram Pol, Bhairava Pol, Paghra Pol, Top Khana Pol, Nimboo Pol), seven ramparts and huge watch towers, storerooms, houses and water tanks. The wall of fortress is wide enough to take eight horsemen one at a time.
The main buildings inside this magnificent citadel are Badal Mahal, Kumbha Palace, Brahmanical and Jain Temples, baoris, chhattris etc.
Located close to the Pagda Pol, this palace is one of the finest examples of Rajput architecture. It is a two storeyed building with a beautiful blue durbar hall. A corridor separated the mardana (men's ) palace from the zanana (women's) palace. Some of the rooms in the zenana have an attractive painted frieze with elephants, crocodiles and camels. A circular Ganesh temple is in the corner of the zenana courtyard. The most noted feature is the toilets, which has a ventilation system that allowed fresh air into the room while the toilet was in use. Badal Mahal
Built by Rana Fateh Singh (AD 1885-1930), it is the highest point of fortress. Once have to climb up to terrace through narrow stairs to reach this palace. It is a two storeyed building with the interior painted in pastel colours. Like Palace of Rana Kumbha, this palace is also divided into two interconnected distinct portions - Zanana and the Mardana palace. This palace is profusely decorated with wall paintings of 19th century style and some have attractive friezes. The stone jali screens in Zanana mahal was facilitated the queens to see the court proceedings and other events in privacy. From here one can get the view the jungle covered hillsides and across the deserts of Marwar towards Jodhpur. |
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