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(GIST OF YOJANA) Role of Forts in Indian History

(JUNE-2024)

Role of Forts in Indian History

Introduction:

Forts, fortifications, and palaces are one of the most abundant typologies in India’s built heritage. The fortifications range from various historic periods constructed by different dynasties through centuries. Most of these show the spread of Sultanate and Mughal Imperial rule, the Maratha kingdom, along with regional dynasties Rajput, Sikhs, Kakatiyas, Bahmani, Qutb Shahis, or even the Ahom dynasty in the Assam region.The coastal region of India also has some Portuguese and British-era fortifications.

Method uses to creation of forts:

Three major methods were used for early fortifications and protected citadels, or even simple habitation sites in the Indian (and global) context.

One was the creation of earthen ramparts using the soil dug out of adjoining protective dry moats or ditches that flanked areas needing protection.
Another way was to make large and tall protective ramparts using rubble and earth, with additional earth on the outer side.
Yet, a third was building forts and fortifications from stone and masonry. This third method became the basis of the majority of India’s forts in the historical period. Hill passes leading to forts were often fortified using roughly thrown-together walls of local rocks, as was the case with Rajgriha, the capital of the kingdom of Magadha in the 4th century BCE.

Key findings:

The term fort is usually considered to mean a strong protective building or a place with a wall, wooden palisade, or fence that is often further protected by a moat, deep ditch, or further lines of fortified walls, guarded by warriors. The location of these adds to the defensive features used by a town, city, or capital of a kingdom, as well as the general terrain—i.e., the overall cultural and military landscape of a kingdom.
Fortified settlements, or urban centres and cities of a different sort came up across India by the 4th century BCE. Such fortified cities include sites mentioned as the capitals of the ‘Solasa Maha-Janapadas’ (or Sixteen Great Kingdoms and Republics) like Pataliputra, Kosambi, Ujjain (Ujjayani), Kashi, Mathura, Takshashila (Taxila), etc.
The Ganga-Yamuna doab area, in particular, saw a number of urban settlements extending from present-day Mathura (on the Yamuna River) to present-day Patna (on the Ganga River). Similar fortified cities extended further northwards to ancient Purushpura (Peshawar), Gandhara, Taxila, etc along what came to be called India’s Uttara-Patha.
Another series of fortified cities came up along India’s ‘Dakshina-Patha’ or the route connecting the south to the north, west, and east, including sites like Ujjain (on the Narmada) towards the Deccan.
Archaeological evidence of these can be noted from the remains of fort walls and bastions seen at sites like Magadha’s ancient hill-protected capital of Rajgriha, that pre-dated Pataliputra, Kausambhi, with its walls of burnt brick, and archaeological sites like Chandraketugarh, etc. King Chandragupta
Maurya’s c. 321 BCE Magadhan capital of Pataliputra was described by Megasthenes, the Greek ambassador from Selecus Nikator, as protected by a ditch with wooden walls.The fortified citadel had 570 towers and 54 gates with colonnaded halls.
Yet other now-destroyed forts, like Tanot in Rajasthan, or along the Punjab Salt Ranges in the north-west of the Indian subcontinent, and the Indian Desert (often a chain in the line of defence from attacks from Central Asia and areas to India’s west and north-west), probably date from around 600 CE onwards.
It is important to note that well into the 7th century CE, evidence points to the Indian subcontinent having fortified citadels and cities, or lines of fortification garrison encampments, or a semi-fortified landscape, rather than the type of hill-top, or hill-slope, fortresses or castles now associated by most people as an ‘Indian Fort’.
The Mauryan, Gupta, Pratihara, Vakataka, Cholas, Pandya, etc. dynasties’ cultural landscapes had more fortified cities than the massive defensive forts that came up from about the 8th century onwards in the Punjab, Sindh, Rajasthan, etc. areas, and that took on a new form from c. 10th to the 17th centuries.

Major types of forts differentiated by their major modes of defence:

Kautilya’s 3rd century text,’Arthashastra’ refers to six major types of forts differentiated by their major modes of defence. These are described as follows:

1. Jal-Durga, or Water Fort, often with the following sub-types:

a. Antardvipa-Durga (island fortress): surrounded by natural (sea or river) water bodies (like Murud-Janjira).

b. Sthala-Durga (plain fortress): surrounded by artificial moats or irrigated by a river (like Gagron, Deeg, Lohagarh, and Shergarh— all in Rajasthan).

2. Dhanvana, or Maru-Durga or Desert Fort, surrounded by an arid area of at least 5 yojanas (73 km), like Jaisalmer, Lodrava, and Bhatner (Hanumangarh).

3. Giri-Durga, or Hill Fort, with the following sub-types:

a. Prantara-Durga: Located on a flat hill summit (like Chittorgarh,Gwalior).

b. Giri-parshva-Durga: The fortifications and civilian structures extend down to the hill slope, not just the summit {like Bundi’s Taragarh and Ajmer’s Taragarh forts).

c. Guha-Durga: Located in a valley surrounded by hills, where the outposts and the signal towers are located.

4. Vana-Durga (Forest Fort): Surrounded by a dense forest over a distance of at least 4 koshas (14.6 km), like Ranthambore, with the following sub-types:

a. Khanjana-Durga is built on a marsh and surrounded by thorny forests.

b. Sthambha-Durga, built in the forest among tall trees, lacks sufficient water sources.

5. Mahi-Durga (Earthen Fort), with the following sub-types:

a. Mrid-Durga: surrounded by earthen walls. b. Parigha-Durgcr. Surrounded by earthen walls as well as stone or brick walls. The walls are at least 5.4 m high, and their width is half of their height, the smallest of which is 2.7 m wide.

c Panka-Durga: Surrounded by marshy land or quicksand.

6. Nri-Durga (Human Fort), as exemplified by forts like Nagaur, which were defended by experienced warriors and were often part of a city fortress with a large permanent garrison.

Conclusion:

India has continued to have many fortified cities like Orchha, Amber, etc. from the early historical period onwards, as well as walled sacred enclosures within cities (like at Trivandrum, Puri, Kanchipuram, etc.). Similarly, there are numerous pre-modern period cities with protective enclosing walls and gates, as exemplified by different capita! cities ‘like Agra, Delhi, Ahmedabad (another World Heritage Site), and Jaipur. In addition to these, there have also been several hundred forts.
All in all, India has a rich and variegated history when it comes to its forts and fortified heritage, of which we are justly proud.