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At Chunar Fort, close to Varanasi, you travel back in time even as you soak in the warm atmosphere of a small town along the river Ganga.
It looks awesome. Perched atop a hillock and offering a magnificent view of the river Ganga, Chunar Fort, in the small town of Chunar between Mirzapur and Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh, has witnessed innumerable invasions. During the 19th century, it became a centre for invalid soldiers of the British East India Company.
This is the oldest fort in the country, perhaps in the world. A small complex on top of the fort is called Sonuwa’s mandap. This is the place where Sonuwa, daughter of the King of Kannauj, got married to Alah of Mahoba. According to the legend, Sonuwa had captured 52 kings and princes and had proclaimed that whoever defeated her in battle could marry her. Two brothers of the Chandela dynasty, Alah and Udal, took up the challenge seriously. Udal defeated her army, but being the younger brother, he wished that the elder, Alah, marry Sonuwa.
Behind the Sonuwa’s Mandap is the samadhi of Bhartri Nath, the King of Ujjain, who abdicated the throne in favour of his younger brother, Vikramaditya. The king was pained that his elder brother had left the kingdom for an unknown destination. Following information from his spies, Vikramaditya led an expedition in search of his brother. He found his brother meditating inside a cave in a hillock, far away from Ujjain. Not wanting to disturb him, he decided to build a protective wall around the hill as a safeguard against wild animals. This incident, in 56 BC, kicked off a long line of fortifications around the hill that eventually comprised the fort.
Chunar is a short term for charan adri, or footstep hill. It is believed that in Dwapar Yug, a meditating yogi, the size of a giant, on his way from the Himalayas to Kanyakumari, stepped on this hillock, leaving an impression of his footprint. The Chunar fort hillock gives that impression, its eastern slope dipping, its toes washed by the waters of the Ganga.
Starting from the 12th century, the fort witnessed several invasions and warfare. The fort was the first hurdle for any invading army proceeding from the east of Chunar. Therefore, it was of strategic importance. Interestingly, the first Mughal Emperor Babur visited the place in 1528 and finding the countryside infested with wild beasts, left unimpressed!
Emperor Sher Shah Suri, who sat on the throne briefly in Delhi, took control over the fort-with any bravado-by simply marrying the widow of the deceased governor, Taj Khan. After ousting Humayun, Sher Shah strengthened the fortifications of the fort and even expanded the complex. In 1536, Humayun’s army besieged it for six months and finally used floating batteries over river Ganga to bombard it. It was a short-lived victory and the fort reverted back to the wily Sher Shah.
Akbar captured the fort in 1575 and it remained with the Mughals till the emergence of the East India Company. The Mughal era saw plenty of construction around the fort. During Akbar’s reign a sufi saint, named Shah Qasim Sulaimani, was imprisoned in the fort as he did not appreciate Akbar’s religious beliefs. Sulaimani’s dargah to the southwest of the fort has now become a pilgrim centre. Aurangzeb’s trusted Governor Mirza Bairam Khan built a new settlement around the area, now popularly called Mirzapur.
In 1764, Major Munro of the East India Company, laid a siege to the fort. He was unsuccessful in capturing it in his first attempt, and in subsequent year, the fort eventually came under the company.
In 1781, Warren Hastings, Governor General of India, had to retreat to the fort for safety. A marble plaque on top of the building in honour of the event, was fixed under the orders of Lord Curzon-almost a century later-when he was the Governor General and Viceroy between 1899 and 1905.
Though Chunar fort does not figure in the 1857 uprising, it played host to several high-ranking prisoners, starting with Nawab Munna Jan and Badshah Begum of Oudh. Amongst others were the queen of Maharaja Ranjit Singh and later four Sheikhs from Bahrain.
In the last hundred years, the landscape of Chunar has changed and so has the Holy Trinity Church, a legacy of the Raj. The church has neither the steeple it used to have nor a roof. The names along the headstones in the nearby cemetery have also been vandalised.
India’s forts have been made at scenic locations. Therefore, a tourist can not only go back in time, enjoy the architectural marvels built in ancient times but also soak in the natural beauty of the place. Like the Chunar fort that is built alongside the river Ganga.
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