Gwalior Fort

A short distance from Gwalior station lies a fort with life-size Jain sculptures.

The train screeched to a grinding halt. But there was no station in sight. Obviously it was waiting to get an all-clear signal. We waited patiently for it to move again. Minutes passed by. Even after 15 minutes, the train didn�t resume its journey. Nobody seemed to know the reason for this unscheduled halt. Gradually the passengers started getting impatient. I decided to get off the train to find out what the problem was, but my photojournalist friend would have none of it. He said he preferred to stay back and guard our belongings.

The train had stopped a few yards before Gwalior station, a city with one of the oldest existing forts in India. A man dressed in a blue uniform, possibly a railway employee, was telling passengers that an accident had taken place some distance away, and it would be three hours before the tracks were cleared. I wanted to confirm the news. So I walkaed up to the station master who told me that the news was, indeed, correct. I didn�t want to idle away my time by sitting inside the railway compartment, but first I would have to speak to my friend.

It was getting cloudy. The wind had a slight chill. The smell of paddy pervaded the atmosphere. Some distance away, I saw the Gwalior Fort in all its glory. It looked awesome against the background of the black clouds which were gathering in the sky. All of a sudden, my friend and I decided we had to see the fort at close quarters. He had never seen it before. I had been there many years ago, but due to lack of time, I hadn�t been able to view the Jain rock-cut sculptures.

It was two in the afternoon. We were hungry. But we had only three hours to spare. We could eat the food provided by the pantry car of the train, but somehow the prospect of eating at a dhaba seemed so much better. We packed our baggage and within minutes were walking by the railway tracks. With his camera in tow, my friend decided to photograph the picturesque surroundings. After a sumptuous meal at a dhaba close to the railway station, we walked towards the fort.

The Gwalior Fort in Madhya Pradesh is situated on a sandstone hill. It stretches for three kilometres. Its breadth varies from 600 feet to 2,800 feet. The fort is surrounded by 35 feet walls above the hill. My friend wanted me to tell him about the fort. I was only too happy to oblige. We hired a tonga that would take us all the way to the Urwahi valley gate of the fort on the western side. There is an entire range of Jain rock-cut sculpture in this valley. It is hardly six kilometres from the station. The rains had washed away the dirt and dust from the road. The clip-clop sound of the horse�s feet broke the stillness of the atmosphere.

The Gwalior Fort spans Indian history from the 5th century A.D. right up to Independence. Earliest inscriptions found here mention the reign of Mihirula, the Huna ruler, during the 6th century AD. The Fort has been the cause of dispute not only among different Rajput clans, but also among the British because of its strategic location on the route from Delhi in the north to different centres in southern and western India. The fort is about 300 kilometres from Delhi and is well connected by rail and air.

The fort�s date of origin is debated among historians. The most popular theory is that Suraj Sen, a Rajput chieftain from Kutwar village, about 25 miles north of Gwalior was out hunting one day. Tired and thirsty, he approached a cave where a sage lived. Suraj Sen was suffering from a skin disease. The sage offered him water from a nearby water spring. When Suraj Sen drank the water, he was immediately cured of the disease.

The chieftain decided to construct a tank around the water spring and build a resort. The sage blessed Suraj Sen, giving him the suffix �Pal� to be used after his name. He told Suraj that his dynasty would continue to rule the hill and its surroundings till his successors retained the suffix in their first name. Suraj Pal followed the advice of his guru and built a fortress on the hilltop. He named it Gwalior.

The task of building a settlement on the hill must have been a difficult one. It is a long and steep climb from the plains below. The labourers who lifted the long sandstone rock wall must have been extremely strong and skilful. The palaces, carved temples and houses on the 300-feet high plinth, stretch two miles from east to west. The Man Mandir Palace built in the 15th century AD is an example of architectural brilliance.

There are three main entrances to the fort, one in the east and two in the west. At the southern end is a postern known as Jhil-mil-khirki or a latticed wicket. A flight of steps from the precipice leads to the inner fort. On the eastern side, the steps have been replaced by an upward sloping ramp measuring 2,500 feet. This is the main entrance, which has been guarded by six gates-Alamgiri, Hindola, Bahiron, Ganesh, Laxman and Hathi.

Everything about Gwalior Fort is larger than life. What fascinated me were the huge rock sculptures of the Jain Tirthankaras around the fort. After spending 20 minutes here, we reached the Urwahi valley gate. The more prominent sculptures of Gwalior fort can be divided into principal groups, that is, the Urwahi valley, south-western, north-western and south-eastern sculptures.

Most of the Jain sculptures were chiselled between 1440 and 1480 AD during the reigns of Dungarendra Singh and Kirti Singh. However, during the reign of Viram Deva, his minister Kushraja Jain constructed the Chandraprabhu temple in Gwalior town. Later, this was replaced by Sheikh Mohammad Ghous� Tomb. Contem-porary Jain chronicles suggest that many Jain temples were built just below the fort.

In 1527 AD, about 60 years after their construction, Mughal emperor Babar is reported to have mutilated the sculptures because they portray nude forms. In Jainism, nudity is a symbol of complete detachment from worldly objects. The rigid and forbidding stance of the statues is the mark of the person who has gained complete control of himself, like the sculptures that he created.

The prominent statues among the ones on view are those of Adinath dated 1470 AD, the first Jain Tirthankara, known by the symbol of a bull or wheel, Neminath, the 22nd Tirthankara signified by a shell, and Siddhartha and Trishla, Mahavir�s parents. All the statues were carved during the reigns of the Tomar rulers. The largest of all the sculptures in the Gwalior fort is the 57 feet-high colossus. In the south-western group of sculptures below the Ek Khamba tank, is the highly polished figure of a sleeping woman. In the north-eastern side, there are four caves with Jain sculptures, while the south-eastern side has 18 statues which are 22 feet to 30 feet high. Almost a similar number ranges from eight to 15 feet.

Even though Gwalior Fort�s sculptures may not seem artistic when compared with the other existing forms of Jain sculpture in western and southern India, they are remarkable for their sheer size as well as the attention to detail in creating the accompanying sculptures of followers, attendants, yakshas, animals, and canopies in the true prescribed form of Jain iconography. The Mansara text on Jain architecture dated the 6th century AD, for instance, says that the Jina figure should be in a straight, erect or sitting posture. The legs and the two long hands should be in the same posture when the Tirthankara is shown standing. If it is in a sitting posture, the two feet are placed on the lotus seat with a meditative look on the face. A beautiful young figure, long arms and eyes in meditation are the chief characteristics of a Jina image, which are also evident in Gwalior�s rock-cut sculptures.

The two postures, namely sitting and standing, are described as Kayotsarga and Paryankasan respectively. According to the Digambara sect of Jainism, 21 Tirthankaras had obtained nirvana (salvation) while meditating in the Kayotsarga posture, the other three Tirthankaras, including Mahavir, obtained it in the sitting position.

The rocks have been cut in such a way that, first, a room with doors and balconies, is carved. At the far end of the room, the sculptures are chiselled. These cover a 150 feet long area. Each of these caves is divided into four caves which are further subdivided into cells. Some of the figures are sculpted in such a way that only their feet are visible through the door while the waist area is hidden behind the space between the doors and the balcony.

The seated figures are in the second floor of the rooms. There are doors with beautiful corbels and bracket-arches. Outside the bracket, an outer and circular arch, composed of floral work, has been carved.

Above the Tirthankaras, there are richly ornamented canopies of elephants pouring water through their trunks, and lotus flowers. Apart from the Jain rock cut sculptures in the Gwalior fort, there are the Hindu figures of Mahadev and Parvati, Ganesh and the Nandi bulls.

There was so much to see and so little time. It was beginning to drizzle. We hired an auto rickshaw to take us back to the station. The tracks had been cleared and we were all set to go. As the train crossed the town, the fort slowly disappeared from sight. But it stayed on our minds for a long time.