Lohagarh Fort
The “LOHAGARH ” Literally means “Iron fort” and it was an apt name, for it was virtually impregnability built by Raja Surajmal in the mid-18th century ,its defence system are said to have been inspired by a description given in the epic, Ramayana.
It had two formidable concentric ramparts, made of beaten earth’s and rubble, each surrounded by a moat 149 feet wide and 60 feet deep. Outer wall, about 7 miles long, took eight years to construct. What’s more being a mahi durg, or mud fort as described in the ancient Sanskrit scriptures, Loha garh’s thick walls were able to absorb even the most furious of artillery barrages. The cannon balls would simply sink into the mud walls, to be collected later and used against the enemy. As a result the fort had stood up to several attacks by the Mughal armies and no less than four attacks by the British, before it finally fell.
The fort’s outer ramparts were demolished by the British after the Treaty of 1818, but the inner battlements remain, punctuated by two massive towers commemorating two great victories of the Bharatpur armies: the first tower, Jawahar Burj marking Raja Surajmal’s storming of Delhi in 1764,and the second, Fateh Burj, commemorating the rout of Lord lake’s British armies when the attackers were repulsed, leaving three thousand men dead in the battlefield.
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