Kalinjar Fort

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Kalinjar Fort (1814)

The Kalinjar Fort (Hindi: कालिंजर) is a mountain fortress on the border between the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh . It belonged to the formerly important Bundelkhand region and, along with Kanauj, was for a long time the military and political power center of the Chandella Empire.

location

Hanuman-Darwaza (around 1840)

The Kalinjar Fort lies at a height of approx. 415 m above sea level. d. M. on a rock plateau of the northeastern foothills of the Vindhya mountains about halfway (each about 50 km driving distance) between Banda in Uttar Pradesh and Panna or Nagod in Madhya Pradesh .

etymology

Kalinjar is made up of the Sanskrit words kal ('time') and jar ('destroy') and means something like 'destroyer of time', which clearly refers to the Hindu god Shiva , who has been venerated here for a long time .

history

Rani Mahal
Palaces on the mountain plateau

A fortress called Kalinjar is already mentioned in the Mahabharata , but the archaeological traces only go back to the 2nd / 3rd centuries. Century, whereas some figural rock reliefs and the ruins of several smaller temples must be dated to the Gupta period (4th - 6th centuries) or later. The Guptas were followed by the Gurjara-Pratiharas and in turn by the Chandellas residing in Kanauj , who had their religious and cultural center in Khajuraho ; they renewed the fortress walls and expanded the entire fort. Already in 1023 Kalinjar was besieged by Mahmud of Ghazni , but could not be captured. In 1526 it was conquered by Babur , the first Mughal ruler of India; however, it could not last long. In 1545 it was again unsuccessfully besieged by Sher Khan Suri . Under the Great Mughal Akbar I (r. 1556-1605), however, it came to the Mughal Empire. In 1812 the British invaded Bundelkhand; A British garrison was stationed in the fort for a long time.

Nilkantha Temple
Nilkantha Temple from above

Attractions

  • The 7.5 km long and in places 30–35 m high fortress walls of the altogether approximately 1600 m long and 800 m wide fort date in part from the 14th to 16th centuries. Century, but were repaired by the British in the 19th century. There were once seven gates ( darwazas ), two of which are still in reasonably good condition.
  • The largest building on the fortress hill is the so-called Rani Mahal (“Queen's Palace”) with a courtyard area enclosed on four sides by buildings. The two-and-a-half-storey main building was built from rubble stones, then plastered and in parts probably also painted in color. Parts of the palace complex even show Chhatri structures in the style of Mughal architecture .
  • The back of the cella ( garbhagriha ) of the Nilkantha temple , consecrated to the Hindu god Shiva , stands below a rock wall in which a small but never-ending trickle rises. In it there is a facial lingam ( ekamukhalinga ), which, unusually, does not stand free in the room, but is worked as a deep wall relief. A pillar-supported, inside octagonal vestibule ( mandapa ) follows. Above the disk-shaped capitals there are atlantic panels that support the horizontal architraves . Despite the lack of a tower structure ( shikhara ), the building is closer to the 7th / 8th centuries due to its comparatively high and decoratively designed pillars. Century, i.e. the late Pratihara period.
  • Several figural reliefs ( Parvati , Narayana , Bhairava , Kali, etc.) have been carved out of the rock face, some of which could still belong to the Gupta period; others are certainly due to the Chandellas.
  • Other sculptural figures ( Varaha and others) are in the former palace of the Chandella prince Aman Singh .
  • Several ponds, cisterns and basins ensured the water supply outside of the monsoon season and in case of siege.

Web links

Commons : Kalinjar Fort  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Kalinjar Fort - Map with altitude information

Coordinates: 25 ° 0 ′ 2 ″  N , 80 ° 29 ′ 5 ″  E