Bharatpur

Introduction
Recognized as the ‘Eastern Gateway of Rajasthan”.  Bharatpur is located 26° 22' to 27° 83'  North Latitude and 76° 53'   to 78° 17' East Longitude and 100 meters above sea-level.  The district is located 184 kms away from the national capital Delhi. In north the district is close to Gurgaon district of Haryana, and eastern district touches the Mathura district and southern border touches the Agra district of Uttar Pradesh. The south-west and north west border touches the Dausa and Alwar district respectively. The main rivers in the district are Rooparel, Banganga and Gambhir.

History
Dominated by the Jat rulers, the history of Bharatpur goes back to 1733 A.D, when Maharaja Suraj Mal established the city in the formerly known as Mewat region of the state.  The triangle of Bharatpur, Deeg and Dholpur have played an important role in the history of Rajasthan.

The name of Bharatpur is kept on the name of Lord Rama’s younger brother ‘Bharat’. It is believed that the city and fort were established by a Jat of Sogariya clan Rustam. Later on, Mahraja Surajmal captured the city from Khemkaran, who was the son of Rustam and finally established the city of Bharatpur in 1733, A.D. The major development by Suraj Mal was making the huge wall on the borders of the city to protect it from the attacks of enemies. Maharaja Suraj Mal played an incredible role in the history of Rajasthan.

Tourism
Bharatpur is blessed with unique natural resources. The most widely visited tourist spots in and around Bharatpur are: Keoladeo National Park (Bird Sanctuary), Lohagarh Fort or The 'Iron Fort', Government Museum, The Palace, Deeg, Deeg Fort, Gopal Bhavan, Bengal Chamber, Suraj Bhavan, Nand Bhavan, and Purana Mahal.

The Keoladeo National Park is recognized as the pilgrimage for bird lover. Recognized as the best place for duck shooting during British rule, the park was declared as reservoir for the birds in 1956 and later developed as National Park.

The other visiting place is Lohagarh fort, also known as ‘Iron Fort’. The reason behind calling it as ‘Iron Fort’ and which is also the distinct feature of this fort that distincts it from other forts is that the British army was never successful in capturing this fort, even after four attacks. The fort stood constant and they were unable to break its aura. However, in 1804, Lord Lake succeeded in capturing it. The other distinctive feature of this fort is that, unlike other forts there is no boundary wall covered to the fort, instead the fort is covered by moat which were filled with water at the time of attacks. The walls were covered with heavy battlements of sand thus making the aviation attack of British soldiers useless.

The Palace, is another visiting place in Bharatpur. It is an illustrative master piece of the complete mixture of Rajput and Mughal architecture. The museum located in the center of palace has some antique pieces of crafts dating back 2nd century depicting the art and skills of that region.

The Deeg Palace, located 34 kms away from Bharatpur is located in the arms of nature. Surrounded by beautiful gardens, water fountains and beautiful palaces. The palace offers the tourists pleasure enjoying life in agricultural town of state.

Area	5,066sq. kms.
Latitude	26° 22' to 27° 83’ North
Longitude	76° 53' to 78° 17' East
Population	2101142 (2001 census)
Population Density	414 per sq. kms
Sex Ratio	854 females per 1000 males
Literacy Rate	63.60%
Temperature	Max. 47 °C, Min. (-) 5 to 1 °C
Average Rainfall	67.16 cms.
No. of Sub-Divisions	9
No. of Tehsils	10
No. of Villages	1534
STD Code	05644

How to reach

Air: The nearest airport is at Agra.

Rail: Bharatpur is connected with a well maintained network of railway lines. There are important trains from Delhi and Jaipur connecting the town. It is 1,207 km. (750 miles) from Mumbai on the broad-gauge line of the Western Railway.

Road: Bharatpur is accessible by road from Agra (55 km. or 34 miles) and Jaipur (185 km. or 115miles). All important places of Bharatpur are connected by roads.

Distance from Major Cities (in kms.)

• Ahmedabad-799 kms.
• Delhi-186 kms.
• Jaipur-174 kms.
• Mumbai-1,350 3kms.

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