About Chittorgarh

Chittorgarh is a major city and transport hub in the southern part of the West Indian state of Rajasthan. Chittor is of great historical and cultural interest due to the huge fort of the same name located there, in the territory of which there are several Jain and Hindu temples, including operating monuments of architecture and a museum.

Chittaurgah (or Chittor), located 115 km to the north-east of Udaipur, was the strongest bastion of Hindu resistance to the Mogul conquerors. At least three mass suicides (johars) were committed over the centuries by women who lived in the fort, whose husbands watched their wives, sisters and mothers burn alive, and then put ashes of sacred funeral fires on their bodies and went to death on the battlefield before fort. The atmosphere of desolation still reigns over the honey-colored walls, temples, towers and palaces of this old citadel, which stretches along a rocky plateau high above the Mevar Valley. Although the ruins are less impressive than the Jedhpur Fort of Meherangarh, Under the fort, along both banks of the Ghambiri River, there is a modern city with a population of 85,000 people, which has little to offer to travelers except the narrow bazaars of the old quarter, and some tourists prefer to squeeze the Chittaurgarh into a one-day excursion, or to survey it on the way between Bundi and Udaipur. However, a one-night stop leaves more time for a more leisurely visit to the fort and a walk around the city.

The founder of the Rajput royal dynasty Mewar Bappa Raval made Chittor made his capital in 734, and since then, for 8 centuries, Chittorgarh was the capital of the principality of Mewar, whose possessions expanded far beyond the horizon, which can be seen from a majestic fortress of the same name. The history of Chittorgarh is replete with battles, sieges, and suicides. The first invasion was undertaken by the sultan Delhi Alauddin Khilji in 1303 AD, and recalls the Hellenic myth of the Beautiful Helen. Allaudin in absentia fell in love with the beautiful princess Padmini, rumors of beauty and grace which filled the land of Rajputs. But Rani Padmini preferred death dishonor and committed suicide by performing jauhar by self-immolation in a huge fire together with all the other ladies of the besieged fort. The city was captured in 1303, but in 1326 was repelled by Rajputs from the clan of Sisodiya. Rana Kumbha, who ruled Chittorgarh in the 15th century, reconstructed the fort, making it impregnable, he was an art connoisseur and philanthropist, and in his reign Chittorgarh turned into the largest regional cultural center, whose glory spread beyond Rajasthan. By the 16th century, the wound of Sanga Mewar led the Rajputs against the Mughals of Emperor Babur, was defeated, and in 1535 Bahadur Shah, Sultan of Gujarat, besieged the fort. Again, proud Rajput women preferred death by performing a joshar led by Rani Karnavati. The third time, the Great Mogul Akbar captured Chittorgarh in 1568, and his inhabitants again committed collective suicide, after which the capital of the Rajput principality Mewar was moved to Udaipur, and Chittorgarh gradually lost its political significance.