Ginnorgarh (or Ginnaurgarh, Hindi गिन्नोर्गढ़) is a fort in Sehore District,

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

. Located in the

Ratapani Tiger Reserve The Ratapani Tiger Reserve, located in the Raisen district of Madhya Pradesh, in Vindhya Range in central India, is one of the finest teak forests in the state and is less than away from the capital Bhopal. It has been a wildlife sanctuary s ...

on a rocky summit rising to 700m, Ginnorgarh has two natural water bodies and a fortified enclosure with the remains of several palaces, gatehouses and cisterns. Ginnorgarh Fort

Ginnorgarh was occupied late in the

Paramara The Paramara dynasty (IAST: Paramāra) was an Indian dynasty that ruled Malwa and surrounding areas in west-central India between 9th and 14th centuries. They belonged to the Parmara clan of the Rajputs. The dynasty was established in either th ...

period, as testified by architectural fragments incorporated into the current structures, but the location first rose to prominence under the Gond rulers. The palace may have been constructed by Nizam Shah, a powerful Gond warlord. The building is one of the gems of Indian palace architecture, close in style to the Kharbuja Mahal at

Dhar Dhar is a city located in Dhar district of the Malwa region in the state of Madhya Pradesh, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of the Dhar district. Before Indian independence from Great Britain, it was the capital of the Dhar ...

fort. After Nizam Shah was poisoned by his nephew, the chief of Chainpur Bari, his widow

Rani Kamlapati Dost Mohammad Khan (c. 1657–1728) was the founder of Bhopal State in central India. He founded the modern city of Bhopal, the capital of the Madhya Pradesh state. A Pashtun from Tirah, Dost Mohammad Khan joined the Mughal Army at Delhi in 1 ...

and her son took refuge in the fort. The queen sought protection from

Dost Muhammad Khan Dost Mohammad Khan Barakzai (Pashto/Persian: ; 23 December 17929 June 1863), nicknamed the Amir-i Kabir, Also titled Amir al-Mu'minin, was a member of the Barakzai dynasty and one of the prominent rulers of the Emirate of Afghanistan. His 37-year ...

who became the de facto ruler of the state. With Kamalapati's death in 1723, her son Nawal Shah took charge of the fort.

then organised an expedition to Ginnorgarh from

Bhopal Bhopal (; ) is the capital city of the Indian state of Madhya Pradesh and the administrative headquarters of both Bhopal district and Bhopal division. It is known as the ''City of Lakes'' due to its various natural and artificial lakes. It i ...

and was able to take the fort by stealth. The presence of the rulers of

at Ginnorgarh is testified by later buildings and an inscription in

Persian Persian may refer to: * People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language ** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples ** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...

on one of the gatehouses dated 1725–26. By the early twentieth century, C. E. Luard recorded that the buildings were falling into ruin.C. E. Luard, ''Gazetteer of the Bombay Presidency W. Western States (Malwa) Gazetteer'' (Bombay, 1908). Despite being a protected monument under the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Madhya Pradesh, the structures continue to decline and have been vandalised. Ginnaurgarh palace dome

References

{{coord, 22.8410, 77.5338, type:landmark_region:IN, display=title Tourist attractions in Raisen district History of Madhya Pradesh Forts in Madhya Pradesh