One photo, multiple stories – Battle ground

I was visiting many historical places. A single spot has so many stories associated with it and so I thought I will write a series of posts which have a single image, but many different stories are associated with it.

This is the battle ground in front of the Chittorgarh fort.

Story – 1: A total of 27 battles were fought on this battle ground. Some of the battles went on for months. 24 were won and 3 were lost.

Story – 2: One of the main reasons for choosing Chittorgarh as a location for the fort was that it provided more than 30km of clear visibility. No enemy could come without being noticed.

Story – 3: The hill in the middle looks like a man sleeping. Face in the left, tummy in middle (sorry no six pack) and legs to the right. It is referred to as Kumbakarna hill as it looks like Kumbakarna sleeping. A similar view of Kanchenjunga is said to be like Buddha sleeping.

Story – 4: It was behind this Kumbakarna hill did Allauddin Khilji camped for more than 8 months to attack Chittorgarh and capture princess Padmini (Padmavati). Watch the Padmavat movie for more info. 😃

Story – 5: The mountains seen behind the hill is the Aravalli range. The longest mountain range in India.

Story – 6: The battle fields have now been given by the government to the people of the region to do agriculture. Once a battle field, now a paddy field.

Story – 7: You can see a lot of dry patches in the middle. It is believed that since there has been a lot of blood shed on this ground, plants don’t grow there.

Story – 8: The followers of King Maharana Pratap still live in the land below the fort. They are referred to as Tribals now.

Story – 9: It is believed that Maharana Pratap took a wow that he will not enter Chittorgarh fort till he released the entire Mewar region (a region in now Rajasthan and Gujarat) from the Mughal rule. He was unfortunately not able to do it. So he never entered the fort. As his followers also took a wow along with him, none of them enter the fort even today after so many generations.

And finally it’s me. I am putting all the history of the battle ground behind me and posing for a photo.