Gwalior Fort built in 6th century CE is an amazing piece of ancient structural engineering. The fort, which has a striking appearance, has been built on the long, narrow, precipitous hill called Gopachal. The fort spreads over an area of 3 square kilometers (1.2 sq mi). The fort, 35 feet (11 m) in height, is built over massive sandstone rocks. The fort wall is built all along the edge of the hill, though of uniform height, presents an irregular appearance due to the topography of the land over which it has been built. It has two main access gates - one from the North East and the other on the South West. The fortrampart is laid all along the periphery of the hill connected by six towers or bastions . It is approached through the north east through a lengthy access ramp. The main entrance or gate to the fort, called the Hathi Pul (means "elephant gate" as elephants could pass through this gate), is accessed after passing through six other gates. Apart from the Hathi Pul gate to the Palace, there is another large ornate gate, known as the Badalgarh Gate. The Man Mandir palace or the citadel is located at the northeast end of the fort. The fort precincts also have many monuments such as palaces, temples and water tanks.The water tanks or reservoirs created in the precincts of the fort could provide water supply to a 15,000 strong garrison, which was the estimated requirement of manpower to secure the fort. On the approach from the southern side, intricately carved rock cut temples of 21 Jain thirthankaras are seen set deep into the steep rock faces. One such statue of 40 feet (12 m) height, identified as that of Parswanath , the 23rd Jainthrithankara (or saint), escaped demolition ordered by Babar since he lost control of the fort.
Posted on: Sun, 18 Aug 2013 14:46:54 +0000