Review: Hill Forts of Rajasthan, Chittorgarh
By Emma Collins, Third Year History
Using Google Arts & Culture Street View, you can walk through Chittorgarh, a UNESCO World Heritage site and the biggest of the six Hill Forts of Rajasthan, India. The other hill forts are Kumbhalgarh, Ranthambore, Gagron, Jaisalmer, and Amber.
In the 7th Century, local Mori Rajput ruler, Chitrangada Mori, supposedly built Chittorgarh and placed his palace placed inside the fort’s walls. Chittorgarh spreads over 692 acres and is situated on a hill 180 m high. It was the capital of Mewar and the Sisodia clan. Three famous sieges occurred here, one in 1303, another in 1535, and the final in 1567-68, all called, in English, the Siege of Chittorgarh.
The first of the four online museum views of Chittorgarh show us a section of the kilometre wall which leads to the fort. The panoramic views from this wall walk demonstrate the fort’s beautiful 7th Century architecture. You can even see the green valley stretch for miles below, with the fort’s yellow-born walls juxtaposing this green nicely. The wall is placed directly in front of a large pool of water. There is no information on the website about this water, but further research into Chittorgarh suggests it supplied the armies that were once situated at the fort. There are now 22 pools in Chittorgarh which can supply up to 50,000 soldiers with water.
Another view of the fort shows Kirti Stambh, a 22-metre monument inside the walls. Through the Street View you begin facing the back of the temple. You can see the three carved layers of the temple’s walls. The bottom two layers are less intricate than the third, with the third showing dancing figures carved into the yellow-brown stone. Their clothes, jewellery and headdress are all clear from the Street View, although an explanation to who they depict is not. Viewing the temple from its right-hand-side, you can see the temple has two main roofs. The back roof is a spire with sharp edges and a pointed top. The front roof is bigger, smoother and rounder. Moving to the tower, you can see it stands on a plinth with small steps leading to it. It has eight layers and is topped with one that looks like a building. The other layers are intricately carved and, like the temple, are more detailed the higher you look. There are holes in the tower to create shrines for gods. The whole site is seemingly religious as great care has gone into creating Kirti Stambh.
The other two sites are just as beautiful as the two described above. One shows the Padmini Palace and the other Rana Ratan Mahal, a large lake within Chittorgarh.
Before this roundtable, I did not know the forts existed. Google Arts and Culture introduced me to them and their beauty. Exploring Chittorgarh on Street View allowed me to see it without having to travel to India, nor walk up the massive hill it is on, which is not accessible to everyone. Google Arts and Culture opens parts of the world to those who would not see it otherwise.