A 'garh' is a fort

---

In Rajasthan, if somewhere has a ‘pur’ in it, it’s a city – Jaipur is the city founded in 1727 by Maharajah Sawai Jai Singh II, Udaipur is the city of Maharana Udai Singh II (1559), Jodhpur is the city of Rao Jodha (1459). Get the idea?

However, if a place has ‘garh’ in it, it has a fort – for example, Roopangarh’s fortress was built by Maharajah Roop Singh, who was from Kishangarh – the fortress city of the Jodhpur prince Kishan Singh.

It was Kumbalgarh to which our journey would take us today on our way from Udaipur to Ranakpur. I’d been here once before, with my wife some 16 years ago, and its immensity was every bit as dramatic today as it was then.

This fantastic, well-preserved and partly-restored fort, a truly formidable defensive structure in its day, was constructed in the 15th century by Maharana Kumbha - but you’d already guessed that, hadn’t you? He built it very well because most of it, including 36kms (over 22 miles) of massive walls that stretch away into the distance and rival those of the Great Wall of China, are still standing. It's a truly impressive sight.

---

Our journey continued, through arid countryside of trees that had been pollarded to provide a source of animal feed, interspersed with only occasional fields of mustard and wheat. Those fields were irrigated by water from wells like the one we stumbled across on our way. Encouraged by children seated behind them, pairs of oxen walked interminably round and round and water gushed forth into channels, from where it was directed by little dams of stones or wood to appropriate fields. It was a typical rural scene in this desert state.

Soon after – it may have been half an hour, it may have been more (I had already begun to lose track of hours and days), we reached our destination for the day: Ranakpur, a place where I always feel totally at home.

---

Regular readers will know that you need to scroll down for more photos – and that the panorama at the top of the page is actually part of a slideshow.

---

For more about our journeys, click on Grey haired nomads to hear what my travelling companions have to say.

---

Photos

Kumbalgarh
From a distance

Driving the bullocks
Boys drive the bullocks to draw water from the well

Kumbalgarh
Beside the ramparts

Kumbalgarh
The Grey haired nomads captured in the fort.

Kumbalgarh
Inside the fort

Kumbalgarh
A view of the vast walls stretching into the distance

Kumbalgarh
Another view from inside the fort

Kumbalgarh Fort
Tourists come from all over the India as well as from other countries

Kumbalgarh
A view from the upper part of the fort.

A well in rural Rajasthan
On the way from Kumbalgarh to Ranakpur

Drawing water from the well
On the way to Ranakpur

Comments

[liliram]

Thanks!
Learned something new today! (Btw, I haven't been to India. Would love to make that trip someday soon)

[Keep Smiling]

You're missing a treat...
...once you overcome the culture shock! I've been here so often that I now hardly notice the garbage, poverty and appalling driving conditions, but first-timers find it all quite hard to accept. Be prepared for these and you'll certainly enjoy the amazing palaces, forts and India's rich cultural heritage. Oh, and the food's amazing too!