After walking on badals (refer previous blog), with our eyes shining from the resplendent Sheesh Mahal of Amer Palace, and a short stop to fill our tummies the next stop was Jaigarh fort. Just like Hawa Mahal we were told nothing to see here but a big ass canon but just like Hawa Mahal kahani kuch aur hee thi and "aya hun toh sab dekhke jaunga" attitude drew us towards a security guard who quite happily became our guide and walked us through the bhulbhullaiya that's Jaigarh. Amer was the royal residence whereas Jaigarh, built by Mirza Raja Jai Singh was for the military, overlooking Amer Palace and guarding it. There's a secret passageway connecting the two from where the royalty would come in times of threat. It was also used as a summer spot owing to its altitude.
One of the main attraction here is the world's biggest cannon on wheels called "Jaivan" cannon. During the reign of Shah Jehan, Jaigarh was the most important cannon foundries due to abundance of iron ore mines near the fort. The Jaivan canon weighs approximately 50 tonnes and is 31 feet long. It is said that over 100kgs of gunpowder was needed to fire it through which a 50 kg cannonball is fired. The recoil itself is four feet. Having said all this, it was never used in any actual battle as the Rajputs of Amer had a friendly relationship or rather compromise with the Mughals. It is said it was fired once and the cannonball landed 35 kms away where a small lake was created by the impact. The cannon itself is beautifully decorated for a weapon of mass destruction! It has motifs of elephants, peacocks, birds, and a lotus motif frames the mouth of the barrel (the symbolism speaks for itself in our current times, I hardly need to give any commentary)
After clicking a hundred pics of the cannon thinking aur kuch toh hai nahi yahan, we met the security guard with his lambi mucche and the cutest smile contradicting the harsh mucche. I was ready to walk with him even if there was nothing to see but the fort was massive with beautifully kept gardens, watch towers , queen residences, dinning halls with life sized statues depicting the food and clothes of yore. There were statues showing the village life as well and the views, oh the views from the top were magnificent! One can see the fort's wall to the Amer Palace and it's gardens to the old city. We were under the burning sun but the breeze at that height was so soothing that I stopped bothering about it messing my curls and making it look like a "gharta". We were given a lot of information about the water harvesting and storage of this fort which was highly advanced for those times with artificial lakes and tanks been created, I remember the mention of one undeground tank which could store 6 million gallons of water!
As we were getting out of the fort, a huge stage was been set up and there was a lot of shooting equipment around, when enquired someone said Salman Bhai ka shoot honewala hai. Hearing the words
"Salman Bhai" and "shoot" in one sentence we concluded it was time to leave. 🏃🏃🏃
For more pics see - https://www.facebook.com/share/p/S7hZT6BSpYsBtMFk/?mibextid=oFDknk