Madhogarh Fort, Haryana

Madhogarh Fort is located on top of Madhogarh Hill in the Aravalli mountain range, near Madhogarh village, in the Mahendragarh district of Haryana state in India. It is located 12 km from Mahendragarh, reachable via Satnali Chowk and RPS group of Education.

In the Madhogarh village, there are several old havelis of interest to tourists, built in the vernacular Hindu architecture in the style of Shekhawato havelis.

History
Rao Shekha, a Shekhawat rajput (sub-branch of Kachwaha or Kushwaha), was the founder of Shekhawati, who originally divided Shekhawati into 33 Thikana (also called a Pargana), each styled as Thakur with at least a 'kuccha' mud fort, some of which were fortified further with stone. After him, additional thikanas were granted to the descendants of subsequent generations.


 * Loharu Thikana, Loharu was founded as 33rd Thikana in the year 1588 A.D by the Thakur Narhar Das, a decedent of Rao Shekha.


 * Mahendragarh Thikana, was granted by Maharaja Mukund Singh of Shekhawati in 1868 to Kunwar Sheonath Singh I, the son of Maharaja Raj Singh II.


 * Tosham Thikana, It was granted as a thikana by Shekhawati ruler Maharaja Mukund Singh in 1870 to Kunwar Abhaya Singh.


 * Madhogarh Thikana and fort were founded by Madho Singh I in the first half of the 18th century, when he placed the area under the control of Balwant Singh. The fort is named after Madho Singh I; "Madhogarh" literally means "the fort of Madho". Around 1755, this area passed from the Rajputs to the Maratha Empire under Maharaja Khande Rao Holkar of Indore when he attacked the independent Mughal chieftain Ismail Beg, Ismail Beg escaped to Madhogarh and established a post near Madhogarh fort. Khande Rao Holkar attacked Madhogargh fort and captured it on 16 February 1792. Ismail Beg escaped and attacked Kanud when the ruling wife of already deceased Nawab Najaf Quli Khan had died. Khande Rao Holkar then attacked Kanud and captured Ismail Beg, imprisoned him at Agra Fort and put him to death on 1794. Maratha Maharaj Mahadaji Shinde (Scindia) of Gwalior had conquered Rania, Fatehabad and Sirsa from Bhatti Rajput Muslims. Haryana came under Maratha Empire. Mahad ji divided Haryana in four territories: Delhi (Mughal emperor Shah Alam II, his family and areas surrounding Delhi), Panipat (Karnal, Sonepat, Kurukshetra and Ambala), Hisar (Hisar, Sirsa, Fatehabad, parts of Rohtak), Mewat (Gurugram, Rewari, Narnaul, Mahendragarh). Daulat Rao Scindia ceded Haryana on 30 December 1803 under the Treaty of Surji-Anjangaon to British East India Company's Company rule in India.

Architecture
The fort is one of only a few hill forts in Haryana. The architecture is of Hindu Rajput origin.

It has two portions: an upper section on top of the hill, with a ruined main structure, and a smaller section just below the top of the hill. The fort is surrounded by a high and thick wall around the hill with several bastions. Below the sections of the fort, there is a water tank that still stands. The upper complex has a few chambers that appear to be connected to the water tank.

Coonservation and further development
The Government of Haryana plans to develop an integrated tourist resort incorporating the Madhogarh fort. Both Mahendragarh fort and Madhogarh fort are being restored along the lines of Pinjore Gardens to develop them as the international tourist destination as part of Rewari-Narnaul-Mahendragarh-Madhogarh tourist circuit, and of the INR 100 croe an initial amount of INR 30 crore was already released for the Madhogarh fort in fy2018-19.

In popular culture
owing to its picturesue location, sevral movies including Kaun Kitne Paani Mein and Jalpari: The Desert Mermaid were shot here, so was Aditya Narayan's popular Haryanvi song "git pit git pit".