CHITTORGARH FORT - INDIA

The tale of chittorgarh is a saga of valor, tenacity and sacrifice. Chittorgarh (also chittaurgarh) changed into sacked 3 instances and its defenders had to make the best sacrifice. The citadel of chittorgarh is a treasure trove of history and offers to the tourist an insight into the life of the high-quality rajput rulers, who laid down their lives fighting a superior enemy in place of leading a life of submission beneath them.

Chittorgarh is located inside the southern a part of the country of rajasthan, inside the northwestern a part of india. It's far located beside a excessive hill close to the gambheri river. It is 112 km from udaipur and 182 km from ajmer. The climate of chittorgarh is arid. Summers are pretty hot (april-june) and winters are cool (october-february). It reports scant rainfall between june and august.

The beginning of chittorgarh may be traced to the 7th century. Earlier it become called chitrakut, after a neighborhood rajput chieftain named chitrang. It remained the capital of the local sisodia clan of rajputs from the eighth to the sixteenth century. The records of this town is written in blood and sacrifice. Muslim rulers sacked it three times in the medieval duration. The first turned into via ala-ud-din khilji, the sultan of delhi in 1303. Khilji laid siege of this hill fort to capture the lovely padmini, the queen of chittorgarh. While the scenario worsened, bhim singh, the ruler of chittorgarh, led his guys donned with saffron gowns of sacrifice, and rode out of the fort to positive demise. Within the castle, women, together with padmini and the children, dedicated mass suicide or jauhar by immolating themselves on a massive pyre, as opposed to dropping their honor on the palms of the enemy. Within the center of the fifteenth century, chittorgarh gained eminence when the mythical rajput ruler, rana kumbha, dominated it. He constructed the vijay stambh (victory tower) to commemorate his victory over mahmud khilji, the ruler of malwa, in 1440. Chittorgarh became sacked once more in 1535 via bahadur shah, the sultan of gujarat. The jauhar that observed the siege noticed the death of thirteen,000 girls and 32,000 rajput soldiers. The 0.33 and very last siege happened in 1568 at the fingers of the top notch mughal emperor akbar. Jaimal and kalla,  rajput generals, valiantly defended the castle but with their loss of life and deteriorating scenario, jauhar changed into completed. But, maharana udai singh ii, the ruler of chittorgarh, fled to udaipur and re-set up his rule. The mughal emperor jahangir back chittorgarh to its rulers in 1616.

The principle traveller enchantment of the city of chittorgarh is its fortress, which is located on a steep hill beside the modern-day township. A zigzag ascent of approximately 1 km via seven gates leads the visitor to its major western gate or rampol. On the manner, you'll be able to see two chhatris or memorials of jaimal and kalla marking the spots where they fell whilst defending the fortress during the siege of 1568. The principle gate at the japanese side of the fortress is referred to as the surajpol. Although most of the monuments inside the citadel are in ruins, but they replicate the honour of its extraordinary rulers. Rana kumbha palace is an essential spot and it's far believed that queen padmini had carried out jauhar in one of its cellars. The archeological museum, the singa chowri temple, and the fateh prakash palace and museum are a few places to visit, adjacent to rana kumbha palace. The victory tower or vijay stambh is one of the essential traveler sights of the citadel. It become built by way of rana kumbha to commemorate his victory over mahmud khilji, the ruler of malwa in 1440. This 37-m, 9-storied tower has some of balconies at each story, from where the tourist can take a look at the monuments in the citadel. The sammidheshwara temple is close to this tower. Gaumukh reservoir and the palace of queen padmini are crucial spots to the south of the rana kumbha palace. In keeping with legend, ala-ud-din khilji, the sultan of delhi, became allowed to peer the mirrored image of queen padmini in a reflect even as she stood at the back of a pavilion in this palace. Ala-ud-din become so smitten by way of her beauty that he invaded and sacked chittorgarh to possess her. The tower of repute or kirti stambh is any other essential monument. This 22-m-high tower, with carvings of jain deities, become built in 12th century and is devoted to adinath, the first jain tirthankara (non secular leader). Different spots really worth visiting are the bhimtal tank, neelkanth mahadev temple, meera temple, kumbha shyam temple, and the eighth-century kalika mata temple.

Bijaipur, forty km from chittorgarh, is an essential tourist spot, with its fortress converted into a hotel. It is easy to see historic temples at menhal, on bundi-chittorgarh avenue, that's forty eight km from bundi. One also can see historical hindu and buddhist monuments at nagri, that is 17 km north of chittorgarh.