Srinagar Garhwal: Garhwal region of Uttarakhand is famous for its distinct identity and history. It was earlier called the country of 52 citadels, but do you know that there were actually 300 citadels here, however, the bigger citadels and whose actual remains are still visible today, were only 32. The largest fort among these forts was Chandkot fort. The History Department of Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna Garhwal University has been doing research on the existence of these forts for many years, and is collecting evidence of the existence of these forts from archaeological and historical sites. During this research, the department has found more than 52 300 forts in the Garhwal region.
Historical role of forts
At the same time, the department is also exploring the original locations of these forts, so that it can be known what role these forts might have played during the time of Garhwal dynasty. In ancient times, kings built these forts as a security strategy, these forts worked like impenetrable forts for the king and his feudal lords. The head of these forts was appointed to one person, who was called Garhpati. The king received taxes and grains from the area of these forts. According to historians, in 1515, King Ajaypal of Panwar dynasty established a Garhwal state by conquering all the forts. Since then this region came to be called Garhwal.
Number of forts in Garhwal region is around 300.
Assistant Professor of History Department, Nagendra Rawat has been studying and researching on these forts for the last several years. Nagendra Rawat told Local 18 that there are around 300 forts in the Garhwal region, including small and big forts, and this number could be even higher. At the same time, the number of big forts is about 32, while the rest used to be small forts. Where the king’s soldiers and military posts were located, they kept watch over the entire area. All these forts were located at high places, where reaching was a challenging task in itself.
That’s why forts were built
In different countries of the world, impenetrable places were built by kings or rulers, which were like forts. These places were called Qila, Durg, Fort or Garh. At many places, the king himself lived, these were big forts, where all the arrangements including soldiers, war material, grains, money were available with the king. But there were also some sub-garhs, in which there were small Garhpatis, who looked after the administration of the king. He was also responsible for keeping an eye on external invaders, collecting taxes from the subjects, and many other tasks.
Tags: Local18, Special Project, Uttarakhand news
FIRST PUBLISHED : November 10, 2024, 3:25 PM IST
