Kumbalgarh
Start of journey: Friday, 20th Feb, 2009
End of journey: Tuesday, 24th Feb, 2009
The journey started at 7 pm on 20th Feb, 2009 from Nizamuddin Station in Delhi. We boarded the Mewar Express that goes from Delhi till Udaipur. The train reached Udaipur on 21st Feb at 8 in the morning. It was 1 hour behind schedule. We took a taxi from Udaipur till Kumbalgarh. Kumbalgarh is around 85 km from Udaipur. We were staying the the Club Mahindra resort in Kumbalgarh. The bargaining started at Rs. 1350 for the taxi and we settled at Rs. 1000. While going from Udaipur to Kumbalgarh, we enquired if there is any place in between that can be visited. The driver told us about Haldighati - the battle place of the famous war between Maharana Pratap Singh and Mughal Emperor Akbar. We decided to go via Haldighati. Some more negotiation and Rs. 1400 was the final fare for travel from Udaipur till Kumbalgarh via Haldighati. A new museum is being built at Haldighati dedicated to Maharana Pratap Singh. In addition to a depiction of the battlefield of Haldighati, a small video is shown about the historical facts. We also had sugarcane juice there which was being made in a rather interesting way with a buffalo being used to rotate a wheel that crushes the sugarcane to get the juice. From there we went to Haldighati. The place gets its name from the fact that the sand there is exactly the same colour as haldighati. From there we proceeded to the place where the final war was fought. Around 18000 soldiers lost their lives and there was a famous incident where Maharana Pratap Singh riding on his horse Chetak tried to kill Mansingh (the Commandant of the Mughal forces) riding on top of an elephant. Mansingh escaped. The trunk of the elephant had a sword that cut one leg of Chetak. Chetak on three legs managed to get his master to safety, even though it had to jump 22 feets to get past a water canal. The place was filled with so much blood that it came to be known was Raqt Talai (Pond of blood)
Raqt Talai
HALDIGHATI - Note the colour and thats where the name comes from
From there we proceeded to Kumbalgarh and reached there at around 1. A straight run from Udaipur to Kumbalgarh is around 2 hours. After getting fresh, we took a taxi to Fort Kumbalgarh at 4:30 in the afternoon. It is Rs. 300 to go from Club Mahindra resort to Fort which is around 15 minute run. The fort was build by Raja Kumbha. A guide took us around the fort and showed us the major places. There is a 36 km wall around the fort which is the second biggest wall in the world after the Great Wall of China. There are nine gates known as POL. Some of them are pretty far from the Fort and some are in fort. The highlight of the Fort is the light show that starts when it gets dark. The fort is divided into four layers, each one is lit one after the other starting from the top. After the whole fort has been lit up, it is a sight to watch. The topmost part of the Fort is known as the Badal Mahal. During cloudy season, the clouds enter the Fort. The guide showed us the path from the back of the fort to the nearby jungles where the Kings in the past used to go for hunting.
Fort Kumbalgarh just before darkness
Fort Kumbalgarh after being lit up
Raja Kumbha wanted to build the fort. However whatever was built during the day would be gone at night. A Goddess appeared in the Kings dream and told him that a human life would need to be sacrificed to enable the fort to be built. However the person who sacrifices his life should volunteer for it. A person agreed to volunteer with the following conditions:
a) The fort should have some landmark by his name
b) The palace should be build at the place where his body falls
Thus the main palace is build where his body fell and a POL has been kept after his name.
Lots of different stories are there about the fort. The guide showed us the guns from which bombs were fired at the enemy. There was one person who used to light the gun and used to jump in a well nearby to escape the sound that came when the gun fired. Also Aurangzebs army once fired a bomb at the Fort and a mark is still there on the Fort (Stories of the guide :)). We also saw how Air Conditioners used to work in olden days. There were better scientists then than today I suppose. A road is being built along the 36 km periphery of the fort and it should be possible to visit the periphery of the fort in an years time.
