Kumbhalgarh Fort, Udaipur

Kumbhalgarh Fort, Udaipur

“You put a lot of pressure on your defenders to be able to hold the fort when you go forward.”

By Landon Donovan

Indeed true, well I don’t really have an idea about the other forts and fortresses worldwide but when it comes to Udaipur, I for sure know that the mighty Kumbhalgarh Fort is one of a kind and holds a special place in the hearts of the Rajasthanis.

The Kumbhalgarh Fort gets its mightiness from the fact that it is built 1100 Mts from sea level on the mountain ranges of the famous ARAVALI HILLS which itself is the oldest range of fold mountains in India. The architecture comprises of a 36 kms long wall which by the way is second longest in the world after The Great Wall of China and the frontal walls of which are around 15 feet thick.

The Kumbhalgarh fort has handsome no. Of 7 grand gateways and holds over 360 temples including Jain and Hindu temples which is a manifest of the holy as well as chronological implication of the fort.

Considered as a World Heritage Site, the Kumbhalgarh Fort stands as tall and as mighty as the Royal rulers of Mewar used to and still do in the present picture. The Kumbhalgarh Fort was built in the 15^th century by Rana Kumbha and is also the birthplace of the Hero of Mewar – Maharana Pratap.

The fort stands as a significant monument and is the secnd most prestigious ancient marvel after the Fort of Chittaugarh. The Fort is spectacularly dazzled with lights each evening for a few hours so that it may never lose it grandiose and sparkle just as the Maharana used to lighten it up back then with kilos of Ghee and Cotton so as to provide light to the farmers working in valleys of Kumbhalgarh at night.

The Kumbhalgarh Fort in Udaipur is now open to public and is not located far away from the main City of Lakes – Udaipur as it hardly takes an hour to reach the fort. Visitors with tight lungs do climb up the course of the Fort to reach the top from where they rejoice the aerial view of the surrounding which is simple breathtaking.

In the year 2013, the mighty Kumbhalgarh Fort was declared as the UNESCO WORLD HERITAGE SITE and the walls extending upto 80 kms long, grabs the title of the second longest wall complex of the world after China.

Apart from the scintillating beauty and grandiose of the Fort, the nearby properties like The Ramada, The Aodhi, Kumbha Bagh and others add to the scenic view of the fort and provide the visitors with a long and wonderful stay so as to let them indulge completely and bow down to the royalties of Mewar for creating something so thrilling and grand at the time when there was no hi-fi engineering available.

The Kumbhalgarh Fort near Udaipur is one of the places where you should stop by if in Udaipur or around it so as to praise the beauty of the city of lakes for not only the dazzling and sparkling lakes but also the Forts and Palaces which are symbolic of the strength and royalty of Mewar Dynasty.