In our articles on VO, talking about castles, so far it has been mainly about the castles of medieval Europe. True, there were two very detailed articles about the Japanese castle in Osaka and Japanese castles in general, as well as Indian fortresses of the Mughal era. However, none of the Indian castles has been examined in detail. But were castles similar to European ones erected in India? Yes, they were built, although they sometimes differed from them very much. After all, what is a castle in Europe? House of the feudal lord, his owner. Or the king, to stay during his travels around the country. In India, the first function of the "lock" was the same. But temples were also built inside the castle, and the castles themselves were much larger than European ones. Many of these castles are simply huge, and just one of them is Kumbhalgarh in the western part of the Aravalli ridge, not far from Udaipur in the state of Rajasthan in western India. This site is included in the UNESCO World Heritage List and why it is so is understandable. It is difficult to imagine something more majestic from what was built by people. Of course, there are pyramids in Giza, there is the Cologne Cathedral, but Kumbhalgarh is still something unique.
The massive gate of the Kumbhalgarh fort, called Ram Pol.
Kumbhalgarh is a fortress of the Rajput principality of Mewar, and it is located on the ridge of Aravali hills. It began to be built in the 15th century (1458) by order of the ruler (wound) Maharana Kumbha, who was a zealous opponent of the Islamization of India. It took over 100 years to build and continued to be completed even in the 19th century. Today it is available to the public, and in 2013, by the decision of the World Heritage Committee, the Kumbhalgarh fort, along with five more Rajput castles, was included in the UNESCO list under the general name "Forts of Rajasthan". Nevertheless, among all these forts, it is he who is the most famous. And by the way, why was the name of the fort chosen for it? In our view, a fort is something specifically military and relatively small. But it's not about the size, it's about the device! The fort, in contrast to the fortress, does not have fortress towers, but has bastions. So both the famous "Red Fort" and "Fort Kumbhalgarh" are, yes, fortresses and very large, but … with bastions along the walls. You can call them "bastion-type fortresses", but this name would be underlined by a professional. And so - a fort and a fort, short and clear!
The territory of the fort is very extensive and the view in the photo is a small part of it!
However, the most important thing in the Kumbhalgarh fort is its wall, which is more than 36 km long. With such a length, it is the second largest wall in the world after … the Great Wall of China, and the fort itself is the second after Chittorgarh Fort in Rajasthan in size. Moreover, the first buildings on this site were erected a very long time ago, although it is impossible to establish the exact time of construction. The earliest name for this fort is believed to have been Mahindrapur, while the historian Sahib Najim called it Mahor. Initially, the fort is believed to have been built by King Samprati during the Moorish era in the 6th century. Its further history until 1303, before the invasion of Raja Alauddin Khilji, is not exactly known.
This is what a wall with bastions looks like. Recall that there are 700 such bastions on it, and its length is more than 36 km.
In its current form, the Kumbhalgarh fort was built by the Rajput ruler Rana Maharana Kumbha and his dynasty - the descendants of the Sisodian Rajputs-Hindus. Maharana Kumbha's domain stretched from Ranthambore to Gwalior and included large areas of Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan. There were 84 forts in them, and, it is alleged, he personally developed projects for 32 of them, but Kumbhalgarh of them is the largest and most complex.
Six horsemen could easily pass along this wall at once. On the left is a temple carved out of solid rock!
The fort remained inaccessible to enemies for many years, and only once, due to a lack of drinking water, was it taken by the troops of the Mughal emperor Akbar.
The bastions are specially made in such a way that it was impossible to attach stairs to the wall.
Ahmad Shah I of Gujarat tried to take it by storm in 1457, but after looking around, he considered any efforts to be useless. In 1458-1459 and 1467. Mahmud Khilji also made attempts to capture him, but they were in vain. Well, the troops of Akbar, under the command of Shabbaz-khan, took the fort in 1576, but the reason, as already noted, was the same - the lack of water. Despite all the vicissitudes of wars and conquests, residential buildings and temples in it have been preserved quite well. Well, today the fortresses are being repaired, so the fort is not threatened with destruction.
Take another look at this wonder of Indian construction machinery.
What is this fortress like? First of all, it must be said that Kumbhalgarh was built on the top of a hill 1100 m above sea level. The front walls are 4, 5, 5 and 8 meters thick. Historians claim that eight horsemen could freely pass along the wall in one row. In Kumbhalgarh there are seven fortified gates, in the wall there are 700 (!) Bastions, and inside, on the territory surrounded by these walls, 360 temples were built: 300 ancient Jain temples (Jainism is a dharmic religion that appeared in India around the 9th-6th centuries BC..), and the remaining 60 are Hindu. From the towers of the palace, erected at the highest point, one can observe the Aravalli ridge for many kilometers. Even the sand dunes of the Thar desert can be seen from the walls of this fortress.
The view of the area from the fort is no less impressive than the fort itself.
According to legend, when in 1443 Rana Kumbh began to build the fortress wall, the first wall collapsed. Then he consulted with the priests and they said that a voluntary human sacrifice would solve all problems. He was advised to build a temple in which the head of the volunteer should be, and the rest of his body should lie under the wall. As expected, for a while no one was called, but one day a certain pilgrim (some versions suggest that this was a Rajput soldier, and some that it was the spiritual mentor of Maharana Kumbha's wound itself) volunteered and was beheaded according to the ritual. Well, the main gate of the fortress, Hanuman Pol, is exactly where this great sacrifice was made.
View of the palace at the top of the mountain.
It seems that the walls and towers of the palace go to the very sky.
Model of the palace in the center of the fort.
According to the same legend, Kumbha used to illuminate construction work, both day and night, since it was cooler at night, massive copper lamps that consumed fifty kilograms of ghee (butter from buffalo milk) and one hundred kilograms of cotton daily to provide light for the workers. who labored both on the mountain and in the valley. How is this known? And there are inscriptions at the Hanuman Pol gate, which describe in detail the construction of the fort. By the way, on the territory of the fort there are several stone cisterns for collecting rainwater, which ensured the supply of its garrison.
It will not be possible to inspect all the temples even in a week …
There is also a Hindu temple of Ganesha, built on a platform with a height of 3, 7 m and considered the earliest of all the temples built inside the fort. The Mahadeva Temple is located on the eastern side of the fort, and was built in 1458. The central shrine of Shiva is supported by 24 huge pillars, and his sculpture is made of black stone, and for some reason Shiva from Kumbhalgarh has 12 arms. In addition, there are many Jain temples on the territory of the fort, so there is no doubt that thousands of pilgrims flocked here, which brought considerable income to its owners.
Pure Indian paintings inside the palace.
Stone carving played a huge role in Indian architecture.
Real stone lace, isn't it ?!
Today, the fort hosts a three-day annual festival commemorating Maharana Kumbha's passion for art and architecture. Sound and light shows, various concerts, dance events, turban knitting, tug-of-war and sacred mandala drawing contests are held.
Embrasures on the teeth.
Now let's think a little about the fact that there are many giant walls built by great rulers to protect their land holdings. But the construction of such a large defensive wall around one single fort is truly an unheard of and unique event. And it happened without aliens from outer space, ancient Hyperboreans and Slavs migrating around the world. The Indians could have built it … they took it and built it. Although it is stuffy there, in India, it is hot, the mountain is high, poisonous snakes crawl and hundreds of people die from their bites. But then they decided and did it, they burned ghee oil at night, but they did it anyway!
Today such cute monkeys also live here!
