Fort of Jalore, Rajasthan

The fort of Jalore has a proud, chequered historical past and beares a great name. It was one of the most famous strong holds of the Chouhans in the Western  Rajpootana between Gujrat and Rajasthan border. 

The eastern and southern part of the Jalore district is comprised of rocky terrain of the ‘Sunda’ hill which is covered with a dense forest.

Dharvarsha and Munja, the most powerful Parmar rulers who constructed the fort of Jalore in the later part of the 10th century. There is an inscription in Jalore fort at Shiva temple which give the date of dedication of the temple as samvat 1015 (958 A.D.) . It may safely be assumed that the dedication wither marked the completion or construction of the fort.

Location and Area Covered by the Fort

The famous Jalore fort crowns the crest of the Songiri hill with eminence of 2408 feet,  which spread as a great barrier on one side  of  the Jalore town. The top side of the hill is steep and narrow except at the site of the forty where a spacious space measuring 800 yards by 400 yards has been surrounded by high walls.

The fortress is approachable from one side only and have four stupendous gates. The peculiarity of the mode of construction of this gateway is noteworthy. A huge semi-circled wall nearly twenty feet high and 10 to 15 feet thick shields the gateway from without. This wall of barbican is particularly meant to prevent direct shelling of the gateway by the enemies.

Important Monuments in the fort

The fort has been constructed in the usual Hindu style. In the enclosure very big and spacious, stand the mosque of a malik shah, a Mohammadan saint. The mosque have been built by allauddin khilzi when he occupied the fort. This three-domed mosque contains many pillars slight and simple and encloses a space of moderate dimensions.

At some distance of the mosque stands two-storeyed Jain temple comprising of three inner portions. It belongs to the 17th century A.D. There are other four Jain Temples in the fort built from time to time.

A beautiful ‘Kund’ full of the brim with water is another attraction of the fort. Cannon pieces are lying scatteredin the fort lamenating over the lost grandeur. At places near rampart huge plateforms of mud covered with stones at the top are constructed for the gun positions.

There is a very famous couplet on the tongues of the people of the western rajasthan which contains a challenge thrown down to no less a  person than the mighty allauddin by the Songaras of Jalore.  The couplet roughly means, “Let the sky be torn as under, the earth turn upside down, let the iron armour be cut in to pieces, heads, body fighting alone, but Jalore still would not Surrender.”

This completes our brief on Jalore fort, we would be back tommorrow with another of the walled structure famous for their architecture and monuments. Keep coming back as Rajasthan is one place where kingdoms are older than centuries but customs of those dynasties are still followed in some parts.

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