The vast plateau of Gwalior Fort has often been described as a stone chronicle of Indian history. Nearly three kilometres in length and towering steeply above the city, the fort encloses an exceptional concentration of temples, palaces, stepwells, gates, and commemorative structures. Spanning from the Gupta period to the Tomar kings, the Mughal era and the British Raj, the monuments inside the fort form one of the richest architectural ensembles in central India.
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| Tirthankaras. Gwalior Fort |
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| Tirthankaras. Gwalior Fort |
Above images: The most striking creations are the monumental rock-cut colossi of the Tirthankaras. At Siddhachal, about twenty-one cave shrines were carved in the fifteenth century, filled with intricate images of the revered Jain saints. The tallest among them is the 58 feet 4 inches statue of Rishabhanatha (Adinatha), the first Tirthankaras.Image: kevinstandagephotography.wordpress.com
One of the fort’s most remarkable features is its group of ancient Jain temples and rock-cut sculptures, especially those at Siddhachal (or Siddhanchal) and Gopachal. Eleven Jain temples lie within the fort precincts, but the most striking creations are the monumental rock-cut colossi of the Tirthankaras. At Siddhachal, about twenty-one cave shrines were carved in the fifteenth century, filled with intricate images of the revered Jain saints. The tallest among them is the 58 feet 4 inches statue of Rishabhanatha (Adinatha), the first Tirthankara. The Urvahi Valley on the fort’s south-western face contains 24 seated and 40 standing Tirthankara images, along with hundreds of smaller carvings adorning the natural rock. Despite being vandalized during Babur’s invasion of 1527, these monuments survived largely intact, and still retain their solemn dignity.
On Gopachal Hill, nearly 1,500 Jain idols ranging from six inches to 57 feet are found; the most striking is a 42-foot seated statue of Parsvanatha, believed to be among the largest depictions of the saint in India. Gopachal is also associated with the nirvana of Supratishtha Kevali, and twenty-six more Jain shrines exist nearby. The sheer scale and number of these images make Gwalior’s Jain rock sculptures one of the greatest corpuses of medieval Jain art in the country.
The fort also houses several magnificent Hindu temples, the most famous being the towering Teli ka Mandir, attributed to the Pratihara ruler Mihira Bhoja. Blending northern Nagara and southern Dravida traditions, it has a rectangular sanctum crowned by a barrel-vaulted superstructure nearly 25 metres high. Its outer walls once held sculptures in deep niches, now replaced by arched ventilators called chandrashalas. A richly carved doorway shows river goddesses, foliate scrolls, amorous couples and Garuda. Originally a shrine of Shakti, the temple was defaced during repeated invasions but restored later with a Shiva linga, while retaining Vaishnava motifs. It was refurbished by the British between 1881 and 1883.
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| Gwalior Fort Sas Bahu temple |
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| Gwalior Fort Sas Bahu temple |
Above image: The Sas Bahu Temple also called Sahastrabahu Temple is an 11th-century twin temple located on the hilltop almost halfway along the eastern wall of Gwalior Fort. Gavaska ornamentation in the exterior portion shows Buddhist influence. image: kevinstandagephotography.wordpress.com
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| Gate of Teli mandir, Gwalior Fort en.wikipedia.org |
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| Telika Mandir. Gwalior Fort kevinstandagephotography.wordpress.com |
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| The Chaturbhuj Temple Gwalior Fort |
Above image: The Chaturbhuj Temple has inscription in the sanctum located close to now damaged Vishnu idol.It highlights how successfully one could use zero in a decimal system.. kevinstandagephotography.wordpress.com
Not far from Teli Mandir stands the Garuda monument, a lofty pillar dedicated to Vishnu, displaying a striking fusion of Indo-Islamic details. Another medieval wonder is the pair of Saas-Bahu temples (better translated as Sahastrabahu), built in 1092–93 and dedicated to Vishnu as Aniruddha. Constructed in red sandstone and rising in a pyramidal mass of beams and pillars, the twin shrines are noted for their ornate ceilings and intricate stone latticework.
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| Suraj Kund, Gwalior Fort en.wikipedia.org |
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| Gurudwara Shri Data Bandi Chhor Shahib Gwalior fort,en.wikipedia.org image: S. Dwivedi |
Gwalior Fort also has deep Sikh associations. The modern Gurdwara Data Bandi Chhor, built in the 1970s–80s, marks the site where the sixth Sikh Guru, Guru Hargobind, was imprisoned by Emperor Jahangir in 1609. On his release, he secured freedom for fifty-two imprisoned Rajput rulers by wearing a special cloak with fifty-two hems—hence the name Bandi Chhor, “the liberator of prisoners”. The event is commemorated as Bandi Chhor Divas.
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| Man mandir, north room, Gwalior fort upload.wikimedia.org |
The fortified plateau contains a marvellous group of Rajput palaces. Foremost among them is the striking Man Mandir Palace, built by Raja Man Singh Tomar in the late fifteenth century. From afar, its glazed turquoise, green and yellow tile-work gives it the appearance of a painted palace. Its entrance, the Hathi Pol, once bore a life-sized sculpted elephant and stands as the last of a sequence of seven gateways. Other royal buildings include the Karan Mahal, erected by Kirti (Karna) Singh, and the Vikram Mahal, which originally housed a Shiva temple destroyed during the Mughal period but partially restored today. The graceful Chhatri of Bhim Singh Rana, built by his successor Chhatra Singh in the eighteenth century, honours the Gohad ruler who briefly controlled the fort and created the Bhimtal reservoir nearby.
Water engineering is represented by the Assi Khambo ki Baoli, an 80-pillared stepwell built around 1500 CE, traditionally said to have been completed in only five days. Nearby stands the Gujari Mahal, created by Man Singh Tomar for his queen Mrignayani, who insisted on a palace with a direct water supply from the Rai River. Now an archaeological museum, it houses ancient Jain and Hindu sculptures, terracottas from the early centuries CE, and exquisite replicas of the Bagh Cave frescoes.
Many gates once guarded the fort—Alamgiri, Badal, Chaturbhuj, Laxman, Ganesha and others. The British preferred the Urvai Gate on the western side for its easier access. Within the walls also stands the Scindia School, founded in 1897 as an elite academy for princes and nobles, adding another layer to the fort’s long continuum of history.
Together, these monuments transform Gwalior Fort into a vast open-air museum—where Jain ascetics, Rajput kings, Mughal conquerors, Sikh saints, Maratha nobles and British administrators have all left their lasting mark in stone.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gwalior_Fort
https://kevinstandagephotography.wordpress.com/2019/04/18/gwalior-fort-other-monuments/
https://www.madhyapradeshdmc.com/heritage/gwalior-fort.html
https://adrianprattinindia.blogspot.com/2015/05/the-epic-gwalior-fort.html
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