Ramnants of glorious past: The Garhwa Fort

Barely fifty kilometres from Prayagraj  (Allahabad) lies in ruins today the Garhwa Fort. Located in the Trans Yamuna region of Shankergarh, the fort was built around the 18th century by the Baghel King, Raja Vikramaditya of Tehsil Bara.  The desire behind building the Fort as per sources available was to secure a set of temple ruins at Garhwa. The Raja decided to fortify the place with square enclosure and parapets, which with their citadel like ambiguous arrow slits conveyed military presence.  Possibly this might have given it, its name Garhwa Fort.  However, local historians categorically state that the walls of enclosure are not to high enough to be considered for defensive purpose.

The Fort complex encloses a number of rich remains of the Gupta period including architectural relics of temples, tanks and artefacts dating  back to the 5th and 6th century BC. The invaluable piece of the complex, however, is the figure of “Dus Avatar” representing all ten avatars of Lord Vishnu, built around 11th -12th century.

Extensively spread over a two kilometre area, the Fort is surrounded by four bastions.  The most visible attractions of the fort are the two tanks on the east while on the west is a temple with pillared hall. The temple stands on raised platform, there are six stairs that lead inside the temple premises.The forts also houses remnants of pillars and inscriptions belonging to the reign of Chandragupta, Kumaragupta and Skandgupta.

Protected under the heritage laws the Garhwa Fort is under Archaeological Survey of India, the ASI has undertaken the restoration and preservation of the Fort complex though there is still much to be done to restructure the fort into its original shape.Situated very close to the Uttar Pradesh – Madhya Pradesh border, the Fort was in deep jungle frequented by dreaded dacoits, the locals hardly knew about the significance of the Fort. It was almost a decade ago that the area became accessible and gradually people became aware of the ruins of the Garhwa Fort.