Sunday 10th December 2006: Chittor

My first port of call this morning was the Surajpol (Sun Gate) which faces east on the other side of the fort from the town. This side looks over a vast agricultural plain which rises up to a long ridge running parallel to the fort. I presume this is part of the Aravalli range, but I didn’t confirm this. In the morning the views were rather hazy, but when I returned at four, the clarity was exceptional and the colours – greens, browns and yellows – were vivid. Towards the northern end of this view is a rather hellish-looking industrial plant and a large kind of quarry. The latter’s aesthetic unappealingness is mitigated by the reassuring human tableau spread across it – boys playing cricket on a flat part, women in saris walking through with baskets on their heads, and even a couple of tiny temples, allowing the quarry workers to get the day off to a religious start.

"A vast agricultural plain"

   Near Surajpol is a smaller version of the Tower of Victory called the Kirthi Stambha (Tower of Fame) which actually dates from the 12th Century, earlier than the Jaya Stambha. It is a Jain monument, specifically Digambara, and is covered with carvings of naked thirtankaras of various sizes and postures. Next to the tower is a Jain temple with erotica similar to that of Mokal Singh’s Samideshwar temple, which I re-visited later and was struck anew by the astonishing beauty and profusion of the carvings round the outside.

Detail from Jain Temple

   At the northern end of the fort I visited the palace of Ratan Singh II, the son of Maharana Sanga, and brother of Udai. It’s quite impressive, although less interesting than Kumbha’s palace, maybe in part because Ratan II was a fairly nondescript ruler by all accounts (or lack of them) who only ruled for four years (1527-1531) according to Brian Masters. His other brother was Vikramaditya who is made out to be a bit of a loser. It was he who was on the throne during the second siege of Chittor in 1535. He was later killed by the anti-hero Bunbirs, from whom Panna Dai shielded baby Udai by substituting her own baby.
   The walk from Ratan’s palace to the main part of the fort took me through a village that is entirely contained within the fort. This was an enlightening walk, as it was probably the closest I could come to imagining what life may have been like inside the fort, which we must remember was a city, not just a palace. Some things, like women preparing food or men sitting around chatting, probably haven’t changed much. There are several temples here, none particularly impressive but all very much in use. At any rate, I felt a faint resonance with the past. I felt a less faint pang of hunger, and luckily I managed to strike up with four young men who invited me into a house and fed me delicious roti and cold but flavoursome dal. Fortified by these I walked right down to the southern portion of the fort, where there are a few relics – a temple tank and a putative coronation ground – of the pre-Rajput past when the fort was occupied by the Mauryas. Historical resonances were elusive here, but there is something satisfying to be in a place that you know has a substantial history.
   There is a strange, neglected Muslim tomb quite near here, supposedly belonging to a man nine yards high and infatuated with a Maurya princess. The tomb is certainly substantially longer than normal tombs. Every Hindu fort I’ve been to has had a Muslim shrine or tomb in it. I wonder whether this is a coincidence or a particular tradition.
   I am glad to have seen Chittor, not only because it is so damn impressive and filled with interesting and beautiful structures. Years after the final sack of Chittor and final women’s jauhar, the new Mughal Emperor Jehangir agreed to return the fort to the Maharanas of Mewar, now ruling from Udaipur, on the condition that it was never re-occupied. So it is that Chittor has turned into a museum, dead as a doornail except in the case of certain temples and the still-inhabited village. But for anyone who wants to understand the background of Udaipur it is a vital museum, and long may the Tourist Board of Rajasthan preserve it!



Next Post - Wednesday 13th December 2006: Delwara (will be posted Tuesday 13th December 2011)