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The palace complex (Laxmi Vilas, Lalit Mandir, Vilas Mandir and Aram
Mandir) located within the fort has a well-tended garden where the royal
family resided, the Shubhat Niwas (an assembly hall of the warriors), an
armoury and a museum. Jaigarh Fort and Amber Fort are connected by
subterranean passages and considered as one complex.
Geography
The Jaigarh Fort, located on one of the peaks of the Aravalli range of
hills is built about 400 m above the Amber Fort. It provides an
excellent of view of Aravalli hills and the Amber Fort down below.
The fort is 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) away from Jaipur city. It stands on a
short diversion from the Jaipur-Delhi Highway, which leads to the
Jaivana cannon at the Dungar Darwaza ('Darwaza' means "gate"), the same
road leads to another important fort called the Nahargarh Fort. It can
also be approached from the Amer Fort over a short climb along a steep
hill track, arriving at the Awami Gate near the fort museum.
History
Amber was known in the ancient and medieval period as Dhundhar (meaning
attributed to a sacrificial mount in the western frontiers) and ruled by
the Kachwahas from the 10th century onwards. The history of Amber and
Jaigarh is indelibly linked to these rulers, as they founded their
empire at Amber.
Cannon Foundry
During the reign of the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan, Jaigarh Fort, which
is located 150 miles south-west of Delhi, became one of the world's most
efficient cannon foundries mainly due to the abundance of iron ore mines
in the vicinity of the fort. The cannon foundry Jaigarh Fort had a
massive wind tunnel that sucked air from the high mountains into its
furnace creating temperatures as high as 2400 °F, the heated air would
melt the metal. The liquid molten metal would fill a reservoir chamber
and into a cannon mold in the casting pit. Most of those cannons were
massive, mostly 16 ft long and had to be prepared within a single day.
The Rajput also built a large ingenious mechanical device that had a
precision gear system driven by four pairs of oxen, the device was used
for hollowing out the cannon barrels. When the Mughal war of succession
broke out in 1658 Dara Shikoh secured the cannon outpost of Jaigarh Fort
until he was defeated and executed by his younger brother Aurangzeb.
Later however, the Mughal Emperor Muhammad Shah appointed Jai Singh II
as the official Mughal Qiladar of Jaigarh Fort according to a Firman,
ultimately Jai Singh II is known to have molded the great Jaivana Cannon
by utilizing the important foundry and devices inside Jaigarh Fort.
Layout
The fort is highly fortified with thick walls of red sandstone and is
spread over a layout plan with a length of 3 kilometres (1.9 mi) and a
width of 1 kilometre (0.62 mi); it has an impressive square garden (50
metres (160 ft) square) within it. Ramparts in each corner are sloping
and provide access to the upper level structures. The palaces have court
rooms and halls with screened windows. A central watch tower on a raised
ground provides excellent vistas of the surrounding landscape. The Aram
Mandir and the garden within its courtyard, on the northern side of the
fort complex, has a triple arched entrance "The Awani Darwaza" which was
refurbished in recent times to get fine views of the Sagar Lake (an
artificial lake); water from this lake used to be transported to the
fort in pouches loaded on elephant backs and also by humans carrying
water pots. The triple arch gateway with fortification walls above it is
painted red and yellow. It is oriented in an east west direction and
faces west.
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The
architectural features are of Indo-Persian style with cyclopean
walls built with dressed stone and plastered with lime mortar. There
are two temples within the fort precincts, one is the Ram Harihar
temple of the 10th century and the other one is the Kal Bhairav temple
of 12th century vintage.
The water supply facilities in the fort was met by creating water
harvesting structures in the vicinity in the Aravalli catchment and
conveying water through a canal on the west side of the fort over a 4
kilometres (2.5 mi) distance (seen at site) to be stored in three
underground tanks below the central courtyard (one tank was used by
prisoners for bathing, the second was used to store gold and jewellery
and the third one was empty; the largest tank had capacity to store
6 million gallons of water.
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These tanks also created a stir in the recent
political history of the fort when they were searched for hidden
treasure stashed for gemstones and jewellery (said to have been kept
hidden safely by the royal family), which turned out be untrue. It was
also rumoured that a treasure belonging to the Kachwaha rulers of Amber
had been stacked in the fort precincts. The search had been ordered
during the Emergency declared by the Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi
during 1975–1977. A futile search was also launched, in 1977, of all the
buildings in the fort, by the Income Tax department, using metal
detectors. There was also a Parliament Question on this issue where a
question was posed whether a "Search for treasure carried out from 10th
June 1976 till November 1976 by the Income Tax Authorities at Jaigarh
Fort on the Jaipur Delhi Road was closed to ordinary traffic for one or
two days so as to make way for military trucks carrying treasures to the
residence of the then Prime Minister, Smt. Indira Gandhi?". However, the
search carried out for treasures by an Army unit at Jaigarh Fort, after
a three-month search had found no treasures. It was then conjectured
that Sawai Jai Singh probably used the treasure to build the city of
Jaipur.
Armoury
The armoury chamber here has a wide display of swords, shields, guns,
muskets and also a 50 kilograms (110 lb) cannon ball. Pictures on
display are old photographs of Jaipur's Maharajas namely, Sawai Bhawani
Singh and Major General Man Singh II who served in the Indian Army as
senior officers.
Museum
The museum is located to the left of the Awami Gate; it has exhibits of
photographs of the Royalty of Jaipur, stamps and many artefacts, which
include a circular pack of cards. A spittoon of 15th century vintage and
also hand drawn plan of the palaces are seen in the museum.
The Jaivana Cannon
Jaigarh Fort was a centre of artillery production for the Rajputs. It is
now home to the Jaivana – at the time of its manufacture in 1720, it was
the world's largest cannon on wheels of the Early Modern Era. The
foundry where it was manufactured is also located here.
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A plaque at the
entrance to the enclosure where the Jaivan Cannon is displayed gives
relevant information on the history of the Cannon, its size and use.
This cannon was never used in any battle as the Rajput rulers of Amber
had friendly relations with the Mughals.
This testifies to
well-preserved features of fort. The cannon was fired only once with a
charge of 100 kilograms (220 lb) of gunpowder and when fired covered a
distance of about 35 kilometres (22 mi).
The Jaivana was manufactured during the reign of Maharaja Sawai Jai
Singh II (1699–1743) at a foundry in Jaigarh. The barrel is 20.19 foot
(6.15 m) in length and weighs 50 tonnes. It has a diameter of 11 inches
(280 mm). |
The barrel has decorations carved on it which depict trees, an elephant
scroll and a pair of birds (ducks). It is mounted on wheels and has the
mechanism of two back wheels mounted on roller pin bearings, to turn it
360° and fire in any direction.
A tin shed was built to protect
the cannon against weather. The cannon had a range of 22 miles and used
50 kilograms (110 lb) balls.
Access
By Air
The nearest airport is Jaipur International Airport (IATA: JAI, ICAO: VIJP),
located in the
southern suburb of Sanganer, 13 km (8.1 mi) from Jaipur, the capital
of the Indian state of Rajasthan.
Delhi and Mumbai are the two main gateway cities to Rajasthan from
international destinations. There are regular flights connecting Delhi
and Mumbai to Jaipur and Jodhpur in Rajasthan and also important
destinations like Bengaluru, Hyderabad and Chennai operated by domestic
carriers.
By Train / Rail
Daily super fast train connects Mumbai to Jaipur, Jodhpur, Bikaner and
Kota. Delhi (the nearest rail head to Jaipur) is also directly connected
to Sawai Madhopur, Bharatpur, Kota, Udaipur, Bikaner, Jodhpur and
Jaisalmer. Shatabdi train operates from New Delhi station to Ajmer via
Jaipur. Double decker train is also available between Jaipur and Delhi.
By Road
Bus: The Interstate Bus Terminal (ISBT) at Kashmiri Gate, New Delhi has
almost a twenty – four hour bus service to Jaipur. Air-conditioned and
Volvo bus service of state owned Rajasthan state Roadways Transport
Corporation (RSRTC) to Jaipur is operational from the premises of
Bikaner House, Pandara Road © 011-23383469, journey time about 5 hours.
Delhi is connected to Jaipur via Darukhera, Behror, Kotputli and
Shahpura on NH 8. Jaipur is further linked to Mumbai via Ajmer, Udaipur,
Ahmedabad and Vadodara on NH 8. RSRTC also connects major destinations
in Rajasthan through express and deluxe buses from Jaipur.
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