Source : Google photo of Chittorgarh fort in Rajasthan
Synopsis : When people value their honor and self
respect more than anything else, they are ready to shed their blood to preserve
it. This has been the hallmark of the brave men and women of Rajasthan who
sacrificed themselves for the sake of their honor. It made the sands of
Rajasthan soaked with their blood. Such is their tragic history.
There is a state in India called Rajasthan that means a state of kings. It was
a feudal state where there were numerous kingdoms vying for supremacy over
their neighboring kingdoms so they lived in almost constant state of warfare
and fear of attack . So they built over 100 forts to protect themselves and
their subject . Some of these forts are so massive that will impress you until
you are told of their bloody history .That will send a shiver down your spine and you will have
goose bumps.
Source : Google photo of Chittorgarh fort of Rajasthan with its water tank.
Take the massive fort of Chittorgarh as an example where lived a beautiful queen called Padmini who burned herself along with more than a thousand of her female companions by jumping into a massive fire instead of surrendering to the invading sultan of Delhi in the 12th century. It is the most massive fort in India that is named a UNESCO site. People will tell you that even today one can hear the shrieks of burning women in the pit during a moonless night and can hear the jingling of their ankle ornaments going to their painful death. Please read my blog on Queen Padmini here.( The legend of Padmini )
There are
numerous forts like this with similar horrible stories all over Rajasthan. Most
of the forts were built on hill tops from where the sentries could spot the
approaching enemies long before their arrival so they developed an ingenious
system of flashing a polished metal disc in a rapid fire Morse code that could
be read by another fort that would be then aware of the impending danger.
These forts
could withstand a long siege by the enemy because they stored food and water
for the population sheltering inside. They collected rainwater into a reservoir
and had massive granaries and other facilities that could sustain life for
months at a time. When they fell, there were tragic consequences. Women
committed mass suicide and men fought until the last man fell.
This is the bloody history of Rajasthan called the land of kings. It was a land
where people lived the life of uncertain future because they never knew when a
war will break out and their sons will be forcibly conscripted to fight it and
die. Their women who were pretty lived in fear of being abducted and sold to
harems or into slavery that led to prostitution so they preferred to die than
to surrender. Young widows who lost their husbands in war self-immolated on the
burning pyre of their husbands and left their palm print on the walls of forts.
Some of their palm prints are still visible if you visit these forts but what
will surprise you is the size of these palm prints that can only mean one
thing. Some of these brave women were very very young and even children.
Source : Google photo of hand print on the wall of women who committed suicide through self-immolation. The prints were carved into stone.
There is a
popular story in Rajasthan somewhere that is so tragic that it is unbelievable.
There was a king who went to fight his enemy and took two pigeons with him. If
he lost the war he would release the black pigeon and if he won the war, the
white pigeon would be released. These pigeons then would fly back to the fort
as harbinger of good news or bad news so people inside would act accordingly.
It so happened that the king won the war but the black pigeon was accidentally
released. Realizing the disaster, the king returned hastily to his fort but
only to find the huge burning pyre where hundreds of women had jumped into.
Source : Google photo of massive cannon in Jaigarh fort in Jaipur, Rajasthan
In many such
forts you will still find the armory and other weapons like massive cannons.
They display the swords, guns, armor plated vests, bows and arrows, javelins
and numerous weapons. There are numerous types of daggers, knives, spikes,
cannon balls filled with explosives in the museums there. There are uniforms
the king and the soldiers wore, helmet and foot ware for them all will show you
what a warrior people they were. There are beautiful clothes on display that
royals and the common women wore in those days. There are museums full of jewelries
and potteries to show you.
Some of
these forts have buried treasures that people speak of but no one knows where
it is buried. The fort of Jaigarh near Jaipur is one such fort where according
to the common folklore a huge treasure was buried by the King Man Singh who
brought it from Afghanistan after defeating the kings there. No one knew where
inside the fort it was buried but Indian Prime Minister Indira Gandhi sent a
team to look for the buried treasure.
The Indian
army cordoned off the entire fort and started some serious digging everywhere.
No one was allowed near the fort for a long time but one night lots of Army
trucks left the fort for Delhi and closed the highway for the public for
several hours so people speculate what the trucks may have been carrying. No
one knows even today what they found and where it was taken to.
Source : Google photo of the empty water tank in Jaigarh fort that has stairs going down three floors deep.
When we
visited the Jaigarh fort near Jaipur a few years ago, we were shown a square
shaped huge cement pond in the courtyard of the fort that had no water. A guide
then showed us a small opening at the base of the raised cement pond that
showed stairs going down in the darkness. The guide said it was three story
deep and that is probably where the treasure was kept in sealed vaults that the
army people found and transferred the treasure to some other equally secret
location. It is possible that the treasure rooms are connected by secret
tunnels from inside the fort but no one is allowed in.
Needless to
say that the long history of Rajasthan is filled with epic tales of sacrifice
by women and the men who still value honor and self dignity above everything
else. They are the descendants of their fierce warrior forefathers and proudly
join the Indian army to fight for the country. Their bravery in battle is
legendary in the military history of India. The British were wary of these
fighting people who had no word for surrender in their vocabulary so fought to
death.
Source : Google photo of colorful Rajasthan women
The
Rajasthan women are pretty and wear very colorful dresses that are different
from what women wear in other parts of the country. You will still see them in
their very colorful long skirts and wearing a lot silver jewelries. Rajasthan
is a dry state so you will see many deep wells called Baoris or step wells
built long ago by the kings and queens but now there is a massive canal over
600 kms long that brings water to the dry part of the state that helps farmers
grow many crops there. The road network is being expanded and water and
electricity is being brought to villages and cities all over the state.
Source : Google photo of a very deep stairwell in Rajasthan
People now live in peace and are proud to show you their rich heritage of their
forts, palaces and havelis everywhere although it hides a bloody past.
Note
: My blogs are also available in French, Spanish, German and Japanese languages
at the following links as well as my biography. My blogs can be shared by anyone
anytime in any social media.
La biografía de anil en español.
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