Gohad Fort

Gohad Fort (Hindi: गोहद क़िला Gohad Qila) is situated at Gohad city in Bhind district of Madhya Pradesh, India. It is located at 26° 25' 34N and 78° 26' 41E. The town is situated at a distance of 45 km from Gwalior.

History
According to Alexander Cunningham and William Cook, people of the Jat caste from village Bamrauli (near Agra) settled the town of Gohad in 1505. This later developed into an important Jat stronghold. The Jat rulers of Gohad were awarded the title of rana. The Rana Jat ruler Singhandev II founded Gohad fort and the Gohad state in 1505. Gohad state had 360 forts and fortresses all around for the protection of their people. Out of these Gohad fort is most important and unique example architecture of Jat rulers.Umara-i-Uzzam Maharaja Mahendra GOPAL SINGH Bhadauria, a Rajput Maharaja of Bhadawar 1707/1730, was appointed governor of Narwar in 1707. In 1708 he captured the Jat fort of Gohad and in 1712 stormed the fort of Rampura. It had the same style of architecture as used by the Jat rulers in Bharatpur Fort. Some old stories also mention that this fort was gifted to the Wazir of Scindia's Court, Shivaddin Pakhre for his years of service to the emperor. Currently the fort is under tha ASI.

The site of fort
The site of Gohad fort was selected strategically on the Vaisli River where it takes a circular turn. The Gohad fort is in circular shape. It is protected by the rampart constructed around the fort in a length of 5 km. The river was dug and flow of river was extended up to the fort to take a semi circular shape.

The fort has 11 gates named after the villages to which they face and the way they lead to. These are Itayli (in south),  Barthara (in west), Gohadi (in northwest), Birkhari (in northeast), Kathwan (in east), Kharaua (in southeast) and Saraswati.

Defence strategy
The fort was protected with four lines of defence. Constructing an outer rampart of 10-metre height surrounded with a trench created the first line of defence. Depositing the soil dug out from the trench inside the outer rampart created the second line of defence. Constructing a pucca trench with higher wall created the third line of defence. This wall 1 km in length, was safeguarded by Laxman Tal (pond) and deep Vaisli River. This wall had two gates namely ‘Hathai paur’ (east) and Sankal gate (west). Constructing a very high and the strongest wall half km long created the fourth line of defence. This was for the personal safety of the King and his places. Maharana Chhatra Singh inside this wall except ‘Navin Mahal’ constructed all the important buildings.

The building material used for the construction of fort was locally available stone, the lime mortar and bricks. Rana Singhandev II had founded Gohad fort but Maharaja Bhim Singh Rana, Maharaja Chhatra Singh and Maharaja Kirat Singh did the major construction works.

Other important buildings
Gohad fort has following important buildings inside the fort: ‘Navin Mahal’, constructed by Maharana Chhatra Singh, is the most attracting building used now as government offices. This has got Diwane Ām, Diwane Khās and other offices needed at that time. The architectural peculiarity of this building was that the King could reach the top storey riding on horse through a gently sloped rounded ramp. Other buildings are Khās Mahal, Shish Mahal, Sāt-Bhānwar, Deoghar, Khās Darbār, Ām Darbār, Bhandār Grih and Rāni Bāgh. There are temples of Rāma Jānaki, Laxman, Rādhā Krirshna, Shiva and Markandeshwar. There are also ponds namely Rāmsāgar, Bhimsāgar, Laxmantāl etc.

Maharaja Chhatra Singh had also constructed a palace, called Chhatrapur, on the hill top at Behat village which was used as a summer capital by the Gohad rana rulers. Behat is believed to be the birthplace of famous singer Tansen. It was a marvelous site surrounded by forests.