Jaigarh Fort - a fascinating military fort built in the 18th century

Jaigarh Fort, Jaipur  India.com  Times of India

Jaigarh Fort, Jaipur  India.com

 That geographically  Rajasthan has numerous strong forts built centuries ago brings  out the historic fact that the rulers of this place were vulnerable to invasion from nearby Muslim rulers of Delhi and others. Besides, the rulers in the NW regions of India were a constant threat to the Indian rulers, including Delhi Muslim  regime.  So the rulers of Rajasthan had their forts built with ingenuity  and proper planning.. Most of them are self-contained with sufficient water supply to face long siege. Jaigahr Fort, Jaipur is an interesting one.

Situated, 400 meter above the Amer Fort on a peak of the Aravalli range of mountains Jaigarh Fort of Rajasthan is a fascinating place to visit. It is just 10 kilometers (6.2 mi) away from Jaipur city and is built on the promontory, often referred to as the Cheel ka Teela (Hill of Eagles) of the Aravalli range. 

It was the great Rajput ruler Jai Singh II in 1726 built this fort in order to protect the near-by Amer Fort and its palace complex.
The Jaivana cannon at the Dungar Darwaza  is yet another attraction here,  It is the largest cannon on ''Wheels'' ever built and weighs 50 tons and has a range of 20 miles. Equally interesting place is Amer Fort which is near-by.  

Also called ''Victory Fort'', Jaigarh fort is 3 kilometers (1.9 mi) long the north–south direction  one kilometer (0.62 mi) wide. The palace complex includes Laxmi Vilas, Lalit Mandir, Vilas Mandir,  Aram Mandir, an armory and a museum. The unique feature is there are
subterranean passages that connect the Amer Fort. They are escape routes in case of war or any emergency. Structurally it is similar to Amer Fort, however,  Jaigarh is a hard-core military fort designed as a defensive fort, hence it has many structural features to defend the invasion by the enemy's army. These two forts had been ruled by Kachwahas since 10th century, hence the history of these two forts is closely linked. These rulers later founded the Empire at  Amer.  As  Jaigarh Fort is more for the military purpose, hence, it is devoid of opulence.

 Jaigarh fort has the unique distinction of  being one of the earliest and efficient  cannon foundries in the world due to abundance of iron ores near-by and the presence of massive wind tunnels at higher elevation that would suck in more air and raise the temperature of the furnace to 2400 F degree. The stored quality molten iron would pass into the cannon pit. Added advantage was the Rajput developed special mechanical devices using special precision gear system. This made the mobility of cannon easier.

In 1658, when  the Mogul princes were squeezing each other's throat to occupy the  throne, Emperor Shah Jahan's eldest son and legal heir-apparent Dara Sukhoh, diligently secured Jaigarh's cannon post, but later was defeated by his youngest brother  Aurangzeb, the most heinous Mogul ruler, who had him taken to Delhi where Dara was killed in a gruesome manner  on orders from him.

Charbagh garden at Jaigarh Forten.wikipedia.org/

The  palaces in the fort have court  rooms and halls with lattice or screened windows. The central watch tower provides a clear view of the surroundings down below up to the plains. On the northern side, the gateway called Awami Dharwaza  is triple arched over-looking the artificial Sagar lake that supplies water to the fort. On the fort premises there are two temples, one dedicated to Ram Harihar (10th century) and the one to Kal Bhairav temple of 12th century.

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The fort has  a unique water storage system  with three large ground water storage  tanks connected to the catchment area in the Aravalli hills, covering a distance of roughly 4 km. They followed ingenious methods of water harvesting to meet the need of the fort.

The largest tank had a capacity of 6 million gallons of water.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jaigarh_Fort
https://www.india.com/travel/articles/did-you-know-what-happened-to-the-treasure-at-jaigarh-fort/