Chittorgarh

Chittorgarh Fort

Introduction:
Located at  23° 32' and 25° 13' north latitudes and between 74° 12' and 75° 49' east longitudes in the southeastern part of Rajasthan . The western border touches the Neemuch, Mandsur and Ratlam districts of the neighbor state Madhya Pradesh , Banswara to the south, Udaipur and Rajsamand to the east, and Bhilwara to the north. The eastern portion is surrounded by Bhilwara, Bundi, and Kota districts of Rajasthan to the north.  The history reveals Chittorgarh as the land of sacrifice, tales of love, and self respect are the distinctive features found in the sand of Chittorgarh.

To describe the beauty of Chittorgarh the person lack the words. As the city has beautiful temples, fascinating forts and palaces, towers, and never forgetting architect of Chittorgarh fort. While going back from Chittorgarh it is worthful to say that Chittorgarh had been the desire of every ruler to conquer and rule over it.

History:

The history of Chittorgarh goes back to 8th century when Bappa Rawal founder of Sisodia clan of rajputs married the last princess of Solanki reign and got Chittorgarh as a gift in dowry and thus it came under his control. Since, then the land of Chittorgarh witnessed several wars fought for establishing the power and supremacy by various brave rulers.

The survivors of Bappa Rawal ruled over Chittorgarh for coming next eight centuries and it was the period when Chittorgarh faced various wars, invasion and plunders. The stories of sacrifice, bravery and fight for self respect are closely related with the history of Chittorgarh. The most revealing story is related with the sacrifice of Queen Padmini. It is said that she had the beauty of fairies and her beauty had gained the fame through out the India. In 1303, the then Delhi sultanate Alluddin Khilji was expanding the boundaries of his control, when he heard about the immense beauty of Queen Padmini, he decided to evident it by his own.

He ordered his armies to move for attack towards Chittor and his armies surrounded the city boundaries and a messenger was sent to Rana Rattan Singh, the then ruler of Chittorgarh, that his city would uninterrupted if he is allowed to meet the queen. With an intention of protecting the damage from the war standing at the gate, the raja agreed with the condition of Allauddin Khilji. It was replied to the sultanate that he could only see the reflection of Queen Padmini.

Sultan agreed on the condition of Raja Rattan Singh and went to see Queen Padmini and after meeting her he got fascinated towards her, although he thanked raja. But when the Raja went to see off him, the sultanate had a already planned a conspiracy with his army and as raja came out with him, the hidden soldiers of Sultan captured raja. Then queen Padmini made a strategy to get her husband free from the control of sultante. She sent a messenger to Sultan that she would like to meet him. With this huge numbers of palanquins carrying rajput soldiers hidden inside them were sent to the camp sultan. They suddenly attacked the army of sultan and succeeded in getting their raja free, but unfortunately this laid the loss of almost 7000 extraordinary brave soldiers to rajputs.

After this the sultan again made a fresh attack on city. But as the city had already lost its 7000 soldiers earlier it was not possible to face the attack of Sultan. It was the time when Queen Padmini and other women of the kingdom decided to perform Juhar. Juhar is a kind of religious tradition performed by women to safeguard their respect and honour. When the victory of sultan was unavoidable the queen and other women performed Juhar thus leaving behind the history of bravery, self respect and honour, to be remembered by coming world for centuries.

The history of Chittorgarh will always be incomplete without the mention of Maharana Pratap’s bravery and the honesty of his horse Chetak. Maharana Pratap was also one of the brave rulers who refused to gave up in hands of Mughal empires and for whole life became an undefeated king for them. The Guerilla technique of war was developed by Marahana Pratap and this technique had created the problem for mughal empires.

Despite of Maharana Pratap, Rana Kumbha and Rana Sanga were the other two eminent rulers of Chittorgarh who never surrendered against the mughal empires.

Tourist Destinations:

The major tourist attractions are:

The Chittaur Fort: The historic facts state’s that this fort of constructed by Pandavas of Mahabharata. Bhim one of the Pandava brother built this fort in ancient times. The fort is located at the height of 189 meters and covers an area of 300 sq meter. The fort has temples of Meera, the religious poet devoted to lord Krishna and the temple of Khumba Shyam.

Fort of Chittorgarh: The fort of Chittorgarh is symbol of pride and romance for Rajput rulers. The fort is regarded as “The Pride of Rajasthan”. The fort is located at 180 meter hills and covers an area of 700 acre of land. Historic records reveals that the fort was built by Mauryans in 7th century. To reach the fort one has to cross seven pols or huge doors which have watch towers to guard the gates.

Water Fort: The Chittorgarh fort is also known as water fort. The fort has 84 water reservoirs of which at present only 22 exist. All the traditional water reservoirs talabs (ponds),  kunds or kuwa (wells), and baories (step wells).

Tower of Victory: Also known as Vijay Stambha was constructed by Rana Kumbha as monument of remembering his victory over Mohamed Khilji. The tower has 9 floors and each floor has sculptures of Indian Gods constructed on them.  In the evening when lights are on the tower presents the eye catching view to shoot by camera.

Tower of Fame: Recognized as Kirti Stambha, It is built in memory of first jain Teerthankar, Adinathji. He was follower of the Digamber system of Jain religion, who believe in not covering the any organ of body. The Tower has seven floors and was constructed by one the richest jain businessman in 12th century.

Gaumukh Reservoir: It is the place of religious belief. It is a water tank having the water coming from the mouth of cow. Here feeding the fishes of pond is regarded as the sacred practice.

Padmini Palace: It is palace which is regarded responsible for the war between mughal sultanate Alludin Khilji and Rana Rattan Singh.

Rana Kumbha Palace: It is the place which witnessed the ruin of Rajput rulers from Chittorgarh. It is believed that below the palace is the place where queen Padmini commtted Juhar to protect her respect from Alludin Khilji.

Fateh Prakash Palace - (Government Museum): It is considered as the master piece of modern art. Built after the name of Maharana Fateh Singh. The palace has a big Ganesh idol, a fountain and various other architectural attractions.

Seven Gates of the Fort: Before entering the Chittorgarh fort the person has to cross seven big huge gates known as ‘Pols’ in traditional language. These pols are ; 1. Padan Pol ;2. Bhairon Pol ;3. Hanuman Pol; 4. Jorla Pol; 5. Ganesh Pol;6. Laxman Pol and 7. Ram Pol

Facts & Figures

Area	10,856sq. kms.
Temperature	Max.: 45 °C, Min.: 7 °C
Annual Rainfall	85.21 cms.
Population	18, 02,656
Population Density	166 per sq. kms.
Literacy Rate	54.31%
Language	Rajasthani, Hindi
No. of Sub-Divisions	8
No. of Tehsils	13
No. of Panchayat Samitis	14
STD Code	01472

Connectivity

Air: The nearest airport is Udaipur (116 kms.)

Rail: Chittorgarh is connected with Kota and Neemuch in Madhya Pradesh by broad gauge and with Delhi, Jaipur, Udaipur, Ajmer, Himatnagar, Ahmedabad and Ratlam via Mandsaur in Madhya Pradesh by meter gauge railway line.

Road: The district is well connected by metallic roads with all nearby districts namely, Udaipur, Bhilwara, Banswara and Bundi. Regular buses run from Chittorgarh to various towns and cities of the state.

Distance from major Cities:

• Ahmedabad-422 kms
• Delhi-570 kms
• Jaipur-309 kms
• Mumbai-973 kms

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