Chittor, the eternal glory of Mewar

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The story of the heroism of the Rajputs of Mebar and the “Jauhar” of Queen Padmini is famous in Chittor. I took the Udaipur-Azam passenger train from Udaipur at 9 am and reached Chittaurgarh in two and a half hours to see the fort of Chittor in seven hours. It was the last week of January 2011. After a three-day vacation, I, a Delhi resident at the time, out of nowhere decided to travel to Mebar, South Rajasthan – Udaipur and Chittor. I hired an autowala who promised to take me around and shoe everything and that I could keep the luggage in the auto and he would take me back to the station in the evening. At one end of the new town, at the top of a long hill, at an average height of 150 meters, is the walled historic Chittor Fort. Not a fort, like a city. You have to go all the way or cross the 13 km distance.

After 3 km from the station, I crossed the Gambhiri River and reached the foot of the hill of the fort. This time the road was pretty steep. First we crossed an ancient gate; the name is ‘Pedal Pole’. Then we crossed five more gates along the winding steep road and reached the seventh gate ‘Rampole’. Those were all the western entrances to the fort. The view of the ‘Rana Ratan Singh’s Palace’ inside the fort on one side and the valley and the city of Chittor on the other side was breath taking. Then we crossed a small settlement and entered the main part of the fort. The entire fort covers an area of 600 acres, with many palaces and monuments in ruins, many ancient temples, tanks, 64 small reservoirs, a museum and some settlements. Bappa Rawal, a Rajput of Mebar, began his reign in the fort of Chittor, which was founded in the seventh century. Until 1568, Chittor was the capital of Mebar.
“Maati Baandhe Painjanee ../ Bhangdi Pehne Baadli ../ Dedo Dedo Baavdo ../ Ghod Mathod Bhavdi”
Do these lines ring a bell? This is the official theme song of the advertisement of Rajasthan Tourism which used on come on TV. Let’s start visiting the fort with this Rajasthani folk song.

Our first place of visit was the Kumbhashyam and Mirabai temples. In the same compound are two temples of remarkable sculpture carved on stone. The temple built by Rana Kumbh in 1448, was the deity Krishna. In another temple, Mirabai, who was married to the Rajput dynasty of Mebar, worshipped Lord Krishna. Mira’s hymns dedicated to the worship of Lord Krishna were composed in this fort.
Then ‘Jauhar Complex’ and next to it is the ‘Vijay Stambh’, these were the the main attraction of Chittor Fort. You have to enter through the Jauhar Gate. In addition to the gem ground inside, there are many things to note. The autowala was our only guide, his name is Samadh. A little to the left of the garden is an ancient temple built on a hill. Down the stone stairs is ‘Gaumukh Kund’ it is a natural spring. The water over there has been flowing continuously from the hills for many years. From the other side is the impeccable view of the city of Chittor. Seeing the kund, one comes up and walks past the two abandoned temples, a huge Shiva temple made of brown sandstone. The Konark style temple has impeccable stone carvings on the outside, inside and outside. After visiting the temple, this time Rani Padmini’s ‘Jahar Kund’ which is a witness to an extraordinary glorious yet painful story in the history of India. Sultan Alauddin Khilji of Delhi attacked Chittor and defeated Rana Ratan Singh. Ratan Singh’s wife, Padmini, an extraordinarily beautiful woman of that time, to save their her from the hands of the lustful Alauddin Khilji, Rani Padmini, along with many Rajput women, sacrificed themselves in the fire or performed the vow of Jauhar in this kund. Next to it is another kund – ‘Sati kund’.
On the other side of the square, another example of Rajput heroism and valor is the 36 meter high, 9 storey famous ‘Vijay Stambh’ or ‘Tower of Victory’. Taking back Chittor from the Muslim rulers, Rana Kumbh built this famous victory pillar in 1456. Wrapped in innumerable carvings inside and out, this pillar is even more beautiful than the Qutub Minar.

After getting lost in history for quite some time, I got on the Samadh’s auto. I saw the ruins of several palaces and small ponds on either side of the road. The reservoirs were built on the hill to survive the water crisis. On the right is a ruined house, named after a heroic general Fattar – ‘Fatta Palace’ and opposite ‘Fatta Tank’. And a little further up the stairs to ‘Kalika Mata Mandir’. The ornate temple built in the 8th century was the Sun Temple. Now the goddess is Kalika Mata. Not far from the road is the waterfront ‘Padmini Palace’, which bears witness to another historical story. Rana Ratan Singh and his wife Rani Padmini used to come to the small two-storey mahal in the middle of a small pond in summer. There are four mirrors in the small room on the second floor right next to the palace on the other side of the water. Legend has it that Rani Padmini was the most beautiful woman of that era. Sultan Alauddin of Delhi once wanted to visit the fort of Chittor and see Rani Padmini. But Ratan Singh stood at the door of the lower court and temporarily restrained Alauddin by showing Padmini’s reflection in the mirror of the room.

The next destination was Surajpole – the east facing gate of the fort. Below is a vast green valley on the horizon. Who is to say that the valley below was once a battlefield? The fort of Chittor has been attacked most often through the road that came up from below. The fruit of a small spear on the huge door was to prevent the elephants of the enemy forces from breaking down the gate.
I hopped back in the auto and went to ‘Kirti Stambh’. This beautiful 22 meter high pillar was built by Jain traders in the 12th century. Next to it is the ‘Digambar Jain Temple’ with beautiful sculptures. Further ahead is the ‘Pitambar Jain Temple’ inside a large compound. Inside the compound are several temples of exquisite craftsmanship and some people from the Jain community. Next to it is a relatively new, large palace – the Fateh Prakash Palace. The palace, built in the nineteenth century, has a museum. Most of Chittor’s belongings were taken by the royal family to the Udaipur City Palace Museum, which we visited yesterday. So there was no regret as the museum was closed on Monday.

I got pretty tired after wandering around for a long time, but I was mesmerized by our spirit of our autowala cum guide running around the different corners of the fort. The last destination was ‘Rana Kumbh’s Palace’. We got down from the auto, and walked down a stone road. The name of the circular structure opposite the road was ‘N-Lakh Ki Khazana’. It was the treasury. Although Bappaditya built the palace in the 8th century, it was renovated by Rana Kumbh. Inside the palace today are the ruins of many small and large palaces and structures. Notable among these are ‘Uday Singh Mahal’, ‘Padmini Mahal’ and the structure of a stable. Pointing to a stage-like place, Samadh said that it was here that the golden sun idol weighing 50 kg, which we had seen the day before, was adorned here at the City Palace in Udaipur. The idol was placed by the sun-worshiping Rajputs for worship on a cloudy day there is an iron gate at the mouth of a tunnel that goes down in front of Padmini Mahal. This tunnel had gone as far as the ‘Gaumukh Kund’. In conservative society at that time, this arrangement was for the queens to go for a bath. ‘Diwan-i-Am’ just below one end of the palace. A little farther to the right is the ruined ‘Mirabai Mahal’. On the left are the two earlier ‘Kumbhashyam’ and ‘Mirabai temples’.

Samadh continued to do his duty. Another dynasty of Rajasthan, the kings of Marwar, compromised with the Mughals, but the heroic princes of Mebar never compromised with the rulers of Delhi. Chittor has been repeatedly destroyed and plundered by the Sultans of Delhi. But the Rajputs fought with equal strength without ever bowing down to them. The Rajput women did not hesitate to sacrifice themselves repeatedly to protect their honour. Rana Pratap’s relentless struggle with the Mughals, the battle of Haldighati is well known. In the history of medieval India, in the midst of the absolute domination of Muslim rule, the Hindu kingdom has retained its independence. The fort of Chittor was full of valour, wealth and opulence. Later the capital was shifted to Kumbhalgarh and then to Udaipur to protect it from the enemy.

It was as if five hours had passed in the pages of history. I have heard stories of so much glory, so much pain that I was in awe. I was fascinated by the high quality technology, the art patterns, and the vastness of the fort. Autowala cum guide Samadh has showed me everything around in a very beautiful way. Hats off to that man. Now it was time to leave Chittor’s fort and go down to the real world below. Arriving at the station, I boarded the train to Delhi. The Victory Pillar could be seen from the distance. It was standing with its head held high.

-Shuvrangshu Das Gupta

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