Around 14 km away from Pink City, Jaigarh, is full of mysteries and Adventures. Jayabaan, the Asia’s largest cannon, is here. An excavation project was done here by the order of our former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi for the treasure hunt. This fort of Rajasthan had never received any external attack. This is the fort in Rajasthan with a cannon casting plant located inside and it was used as a godown for armory and looted money in the reign of the Mughals.
The famous and mysterious fort Jaigarh of Rajasthan, is an unmatched example of architecture. It is an embelance of dominion and majesty of Kachwaha rulers. It is expanded in a radius of about 4 km. It has three main entrances – Dungar Darwaza, Avani Darwaza and Bhairu Darwaza. The routes to enter the fort is, Dungar Darwaza from Nahargarh side, Avani Darwaza from the Valley of Flowers near Amer and Durg Darwaza from of the reservoir side Sagar.
Jaiban cannon shoots up to 35 km.
Asia’s largest cannon Jaiban, mounted on wheels, was built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh. It has been kept at the Dungar gate of the Fort. The end to end length of the cannon with the tube is 31 feet 3 inches and the weight is 50 tons. A crater was formed at 35 Km away from Jaipur, in Chaksu town, due to the fall of the shell during its first trial testing. Later, it took the shape of a pond due to water filling. At a time, 100 kg gun powder was required to fire from this cannon. It was never taken out of the fort nor ever used in war due to its excessive weight. This cannon has been used only once for testing only.
Ten Interesting Facts You Must Know About Jaigarh
Babur used to hide looted money in the fort
Jaigarh was used as an armory during the Mughal regime. It is said that Babar used to hide the looted money here, collected after ruining many cities of India. Sawai Jai Singh took over the fort after the Mughals. A lot of money was also spent by him for the development of Jaipur.
A treasure hunt by Indira Gandhi
Indira Gandhi, former Prime minister of India, came to know about the secret treasure of crores of the fort when Emergency was imposed during her reign. An excavation project was done in the fort for a few months, with the help of the army, in search of the treasure. Overall, Jaipur-Delhi highway was closed on one day and then it became a matter of discussion that the Center had brought the treasure to Delhi in a truck through that closed highway, after deceiving the people. But the government officially denied about the recovery of any such treasure from the fort. After denial of the Government, whole matter turned into a hot discussion in the country as well as in abroad too about the missing of the treasure. People tried to know about it from the government through RTI, but the department refused every time about any such information.
Citadel for Special Political Prisoners
It was also used to keep the special political prisoner. A small inner fort is also built inside it where Vijay Singh, the younger brother of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh was imprisoned by him. It was called Vijaygarhi after the name of Vijay Singh. Iron weighting scales and weights are lying at the entrance of Vijaygarhi probably which were used for weighing of gunpowder.
Turret given for reconnaissance of enemies
A seven-storey lighthouse, called Diya Burj, is lying in the vicinity of Vijaygarhi which keeps an vigil eye over enemies for any kind of activities. Diya has been assigned power to keep guns ahead of the turret. Jaigarh had a huge artillery factory which is not found in any other fort of Rajasthan. Mughal techniques were adopted secretly in casting the artillery.
Difficult to attack the fort
Jaigarh is an excellent giri fort and famous for its amazing crafts and architecture. It was constructed based on ancient Indian Vastu Shastra. It has strong and advanced battledore with huge curved bastions, huge ditches for water supply. It was very difficult for the enemy army to attack it due to arrangement of mountain ranges around it. The enemy never had audacity to attack it.
Treasury site of Kachwaha kings
General public was not permitted to enter in the fort and the opinion behind this was about the buried treasury of the Kachwaha kings. The doors of the main entrance of the fort were closed round the clock followed with deputation of guards with a bare sword or javelin so nobody could guess about the inside activities.
Jaigarh built on the southernmost mountain peak
The authentic information about building of this grand and strong fort is still not available. Some historians have opinion that this mysterious fort was built by Maharaja Mansingh-1 on the basilica of south mountain peak of Amer’s palace. But historians like Jagdish Singh Gehlot and Dr. Gopinath Sharma,it was built by Mirza Raja Jai Singh. And after that this fort is called Jaigarh .
A classic example of Hindu architecture
Major buildings of Jaigarh include Jaleb Chowk, Subhat Niwas i.e. Diwan-i-Aam, Khilbat Niwas i.e. Diwan-e-Khas, Ranavatji Ka Chowk, Laxmi Niwas, Lalit Mandir, Sun Mandir, Vilas Mandir, Aram Mandir and ancient temples of Ram and Kaal Bhairav which are excellent examples of Hindu architecture. The garden,facing Aram Mandir, is built in the Char Bagh style of Mughal gardens. A puppet house is also built in the fort for the entertainment of the kings.
Huge Museum of Arms in the fort
The fort contains a huge museum of medieval weapons inside. The artillery plant of this fort has cast guns, spears, bows and arrows, various types of swords, shields, long rifles and guns, etc. Inside it the giant vessels made of thick leather, urn, habergeon, royal drums, feeding tubs for elephant, glass and gunpowder used in wars by Mansingh-I impress the tourists.
Death sentence was given to the prisoner in the fort
Some rare letters, special rookie and other documents have been recovered from the descendants of the Khangarot,the care takers of Jaigarh forts, have been brought into the notice of many incidents related to this mysterious fort. How the arrested prisoner gets information about the death penalty inside the fort, separate keeping the prisoner and his family, repair of tanks, arrangements inside the fort etc. has been written in these documents.
