Chittorgarh Fort

So the next day we decided to take a side trip to this Chittorgarh Fort we had seen a model of in a museum. It was two hours east and out of the way, so we had to leave early. Here's some history about it:

The history of Chittorgarh, which is one of the oldest cities of Rajasthan dates back to the 8th century. It was given as a dowry gift to Bappa Rawal, the founder of the Sisodia Dynasty when he married the last Solanki princess somewhere in the 8th century. Spread over a 7-mile long hill, the city of Chittorgarh was ruled by the descendants of Bappa Rawal till somewhere around the 16th century.

Chittorgarh was always a fiercely contested seat of power due to its strategic location. In fact Chittorgarh's history is fraught with some of the bloodiest battles of all times. It was sacked a number of times, the most famous attack being the one launched by Alauddin Khilji, the sultan of Delhi who was enamored by its then queen Padmini's beauty. The tale of this brave queen who sacrificed her life to escape dishonor is still sung about by the local musicians of Rajasthan. In fact the history of Chittorgarh is replete with the tales of its gallant warriors for whom honor triumphed over everything.

After Khilji's attack, Bahadur Shah attacked Chittorgarh in 1535 AD followed by a third one by Akbar in 1568. The last attack was the final straw and Chittorgarh never recovered from this attack. In fact, the city was never inhabited after that. Right now, this ghost town still reverberates with the tales of its past glory and the sacrifices made by its people.

So it's this huge fort on top of a hill. There are a bunch of temples inside and this big Victory Tower they constructed when they won a battle with a lot of intricate carvings.

So then we had to drive back to Udaipur 2 hours and then back all the way to Ahmedabad, another 5 or so. But again the hills and mountains were so pretty along the way!