Jaigarh Fort was built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh in 1736 on a hill top called Cheel Ka Teela or Hill of Eagles. The hill lies in Aravalli Mountain ranges and from Jaigarh Fort, you can get panoramic views of the hills, and Amer Fort. It is believed that Jaigarh Fort and Amer Fort are connected by passages which are now closed to public.
Amer Fort as seen from Jaigarh Fort
Jaigarh Fort was primarily used as a defense against invaders or enemies. It was also used to store the treasure of Rajputs. The beauty of Jaigarh Fort lies in the unending walls that run through Aravalli Ranges. The guide mentioned that the wall is just 3 km long, but when you actually see, it looks much longer than that!
Fort Wall: Can you trace it down? 🙂
One of the things that may interest you is the walk along the fort wall. The inner side of the wall has a walkway where you can walk along the wall. There are many entry/exit stairs located at several places so you can get in or out whenever you want to. The fort wall also has opening at a comfortable height which may have been used to watch out for the invaders at that time. Today, it offers beautiful views of the surrounding Aravalli Mountain Ranges.
Inside of Fort Wall
Fort Wall has several places for taking photos/selfies too 🙂
Jaigarh Fort has many other interesting places within the fort complex. If you are visiting Jaigarh Fort on your own vehicle, you can drive inside the fort as well. While the vehicles can be driven on the well known routes, there are some places of interest for which you need to get down off the vehicle and walk! And there is a lot of walking to be done if you want to explore every corner/beauty of the fort.
Route to the Cannon
Drive through the interiors of the fort
One of the major attractions of Jaigarh Fort is the largest movable cannon in the world. This cannon on wheels is called Jaivan and weighs about 50 tonnes. At the time of manufacturing (which was in 1720) this used to be the largest movable cannon! The cannon had abilities to turn 360 degrees and hence could fire in any direction! The cannon was never used in wars or battles. However, the cannon was used once when the cannon ball was targeted to a place that was around 40 km away!
World’s Largest Movable Cannon
Jaigarh Fort also has a huge water tank. This was built to store water as the surrounding areas had severe scarcity of water during those days. The huge tank, called Sagar Talav, had the capacity to store six million gallons of water. It is believed that even during the harshest summers, the tank never went dry. Apart from the various canals that source the water from the high mountains, the tank also got water from rain water harvesting! Apart from using the tank as a water reserviour, the bottom of the tank also had hidden chambers where the treasure of Rajputs were rumoured to be secretly kept. The rumours were so strong that in 1977, the then Prime Minister of India had ordered a raid to find the treasure, much to the objection of the then Maharani! The search was done for almost three months, but surprisingly no one is sure if any treasure was found!
Underground Water Tank: Sagar Talav
Jaigarh Fort has long walkways to get to different areas of the fort. Towards the inner side, the fort had the sections that were “happening” during those days. The first place that you will encounter is a huge theater that used to be the entertainment area for the kings. Performers used to present dance, music or puppet shows to keep the kings entertained.
Walkway in Jaigarh Fort
Further down from the theater is a royal Palace called Laxmi Vilas. The nice paintings on the walls and the magnificent flooring gives an impression that this used to be the rest house of the kings. To give an impression to the visitors, a mattress is still placed on the floor of the Laxmi Vilas.
Various parts of the fort are actually connected through narrow and dark passages. There are several such passages all through the fort. If you do not have a good sense of direction, it is very easy to get lost in these passages! In fact, you should not be surprised when people around will ask you directions to get out of the fort 🙂
Passage to the private chambers
Private Royal Chambers
The interior of the Jaigarh Fort also has a nice garden called Aaram Bagh, which is built in the Mughal style. Aptly named, Aaram Bagh (translates to Rest Garden) has lovely garden, ramps to climb the surrounding wall, a watch tower provides spectacular views and is a perfect place to take rest.
Diya Burj is the highest point in Jaigarh Fort. The place also has a flag of state of Jaipur flying high. The tower also provides awesome views of the surrounding Aravalli mountain ranges. The fort also has several watch towers which provides picturesque views of Amer fort and town too.
View of Amer Fort from the highest point
Beautiful views of Aravalli Ranges, and the unending walls of Jaigarh Fort
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