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Volume III (Special Issue on Defense), Summer 2007 |
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NOTES
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A Note on Water Conservation and Fort Construction in Medieval Rajasthan Forts have been defined in the dictionary as fortified building or strategic position, which means providence for defensive work of strength against attacks. The primary functions of the forts have been to provide defence and safe refuge against the invaders. It is reflected in the Norman motte and bailey principle, itself developed effectively in Palestine by the Crusaders.[1] Defence through venerable practice of establishing a settlement under the protection of a naturally defensible eminence was familiar to the ancient Indian theorists.[2] It was a prevalent practice to store the provision so as to avoid the food shortage in any eventuality of siege. Present paper focuses on an important aspect of the provisions made in the forts, i.e., water security. Most of the forts have elaborate systems of water security as an integral part of design which is also visible in the case of Forts on Medieval Rajasthan. Most of these forts were located on the hill-tops to avail the benefits of natural barriers.[3] Rajasthan is basically part of the arid and semi-arid climatic conditions with limited precipitation and devoid of any perennial river barring Looni. Therefore, the primary source of water supply was Rainwater. What seems to be interesting in the case of Rajasthan is the arrangements made for the water conservation. The most important example of this mechanism is Karor Pati Tanka of Jaigarh fort near Amber.[4] The parapet of the fort is designed as channel which carries rain water falling on the hills and divert it towards the fort by natural gravity flow and collected into a large water reservoir, popularly known as tanka, which is wholly covered from above. Provisions for water can be seen in almost all the medieval forts of Rajasthan, however, of particular interest may be the case of Forts at Alwar, Mehrangarh Fort at Jodhpur, Chittorgarh Fort, etc. along with natural depressions which were used to retain rainwater, there were several wells and man-made tanks to cater the needs of residents. [1] Christopher Tadgell, The History of Architecture in India: From the Dawn of Civilisation to the End of the Raj, Penguin Books (India), New Delhi 1990. [2] Arthasastra [3] Alwar, Chittor, Jodhpur, Alwar, Amber, Jaigarh, etc. [4] To the North-east of the city of Jaipur and beyond the Amber palace, on the spurs of the Aravalli range, is situated the fort of Jaigarh constructed by the Kachhawa rulers of Amber. From the two plans of the fort, preserved in the city Palace Museum, Jaipur, it appears that Sawai Jai Singh (1698-1740 AD), before shifting his capital to his newly planned city (AD 1727), carried out major repair and remodelling of this fort. Strategically located the Jaigarh fort could monitor the defensive and offensive requirement of the ruler, if such contingencies arose. Being situated on top of a hillock about 2000 feet high, and having all the basic characteristics of a hill fort (giri-durg), the most peculiar feature of this fort appears to be it’s hydraulic system which would not only have added to it’s basic strength, but also took care of it’s daily needs. Interestingly, striking similarities appear between the hydraulic systems of the ancient Roman and Palestine forts situated in the wadi and that of the Jaigarh fort, that is, one finds water-channels and duets, built all along the mountainous terrain outside the precincts of the fortification, conducting water during the spate of rains into the reservoirs and tanks constructed inside the fort. Rajiv Sharma & Syed Ali Nadeem Rezavi, ‘Aspects of Hydraulic Engineering in Medieval Rajasthan: A Case Study of Water System in Jaigarh Fort’, Ahsan Jan Qaisar and Som Prakash Verma, eds., Art and Culture, Jaipur, 1993, pp. 129-31. Mayank Kumar is a Reader in the Satyawati College (Evening) of the University of Delhi. Copyright ©2007 Teaching South Asia (ISSN 1529-8558) and Mayank Kumar. All rights reserved. No part of this article may be reprinted in any form without written permission from Teaching South Asia or Mayank Kumar.
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