Kumbhalgarh:The Great wall of India

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Located 80 Km North-west of Udaipur in the wilderness, Kumbhalgarh Fort is the second largest fort in Rajasthan after Chittorgarh fort.

Cradled in the Aravalli range, Kumbhalgarh Fort, seperating Mewar from Marwar, is encircled by thirteen other elevated Aravalli peaks, from where the Kumbhalgarh Fort offers breathtaking panoramic views of the surroundings along with the sand dunes of Thar Desert.

Kumbhalgarh Fort the birth place of Maharana Pratap, is also remembered for a notable instance of Prince Udai, the infant king of Mewar who was smuggled here in 1535, when Chittor was under siege.

The fort remained impregnable to direct assault, and fell only once, due to a shortage of drinking water, to the combined forces of Mughal Akbar, Raja Man Singh of Amber, Raja Udai Singh of Marwar, and the Mirzas in Gujarat.

Built on a hilltop on the Aravalli range, the fort of Kumbhalgarh has perimeter walls that extend 36 km making it one of the longest walls in the world. The frontal walls are fifteen feet thick. Kumbhalgarh Fort is designed with seven massive gates one within the other. Gates are reinforced by curved bastions and gigantic watch towers. The main buildings inside this magnificent citadel are Badal Mahal, Vedi Temple, Neelkanth Mahadev Temple and Mammadev Temple. Kumbhalgarh fort complex has around 360 temples out of which 300 are Jain temples, and rest are Hindu.

According to legend, the Maharana of Kumbhalgarh, Rana Kumbha, was initially repeatedly unsuccessful in attempts to build the fort wall. A spiritual preceptor was consulted about the construction problems and advised the ruler that a voluntary human sacrifice would solve whatever was causing the impediment. The spiritual advisor advised building a temple where the head should fall and building the wall and the fort where the rest of his body lay. As can be expected, for some time no one volunteered, but one day, a pilgrim (some versions suggest a soldier, and some, that the spiritual preceptor and the pilgrim were one and the same) volunteered and was ritually decapitated. Today the main gate of the fortress, Hanuman Pol, contains a shrine and a temple to commemorate the great sacrifice.

The beautilful intricate carvings on the wall of temples, massive architecture , panoramic landscapes from the top of the fort and walking on the Great wall of India, will surely spellbound every traveller.