Shahi Qila (English: Royal Fort), also known as Karar Fort or Jaunpur Fort, is a

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

built during the 14th century in

Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh Jaunpur () is a city and a municipal board in Jaunpur district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located 228 km southeast of state capital Lucknow. Demographically, Jaunpur resembles the rest of the Purvanchal area in which it ...

, India. The fort is located close to the

Shahi Bridge Shahi Bridge or Munim Khan's Bridge or Akbari Bridge or Mughal Bridge or Jaunpur Bridge is a 16th-century bridge over river Gomti in Jaunpur, Uttar Pradesh, India. The Shahi Bridge is located north of Jaunpur Railway station, northwest of Za ...

on the

Gomti river The Gomti, Gumti or Gomati River is a tributary of the Ganges. According to beliefs, the river is the son of Rishi Vashishtha and bathing in the Gomti on Ekadashi (the 11th day of the two lunar phases of the Hindu calendar month) can wash away ...

Background

A tourist attraction of the Jaunpur city, it is located near

of the

, from Jaunpur. Constructed by Ibrahim Naib Barbak, a chieftain of

Firoz Shah Tughlaq Sultan Firuz Shah Tughlaq (1309 – 20 September 1388) was a Muslim ruler from the Tughlaq dynasty, who reigned over the Sultanate of Delhi from 1351 to 1388.

, it was built using the material owned by temples and palaces of the

Rathore The Rathore is a Rajput clan found in Northern India. Subclans Jodhana, Vadhel, Jaitawat, Kumpawat, Champawat, Meratiya, Udawat, Karamsot etc. are the branches or subclans of Rathore Rajputs. Coverage This article discusses the "Kanauji ...

kings of

Kannauj Kannauj ( Hindustani pronunciation: ənːɔːd͡ʒ is a city, administrative headquarters and a municipal board or Nagar Palika Parishad in Kannauj district in the Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. The city's name is a corrupted form of the class ...

. The fort was destroyed multiple times by rulers, including the Lodhis and the

British Empire The British Empire was composed of the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates, and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It began with the overseas possessions and trading posts e ...

. It went through extensive renovations and repairs during the rule of the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

History

The ''Kerar Kot'' fort once stood on the same site on the left (north) bank of the

. It contained a

mosque A mosque (; from ar, مَسْجِد, masjid, ; literally "place of ritual prostration"), also called masjid, is a place of prayer for Muslims. Mosques are usually covered buildings, but can be any place where prayers ( sujud) are performed, ...

and a spacious and stylish set of baths (hammam) installed by Barbak, the brother of Tughlaq. The fort's layout is an irregular quadrangle enclosed in stone walls. The walls surround raised earthworks. Most of the remains of the original structures are buried or in ruin."Jaunpur Fort,"
Archaeological Survey of India website. Accessed 7 December 2013. The main gates face east. The largest inner gate is in height. Its external surface is set with ashlar stone. A further outer gate was installed during the reign of the Mughal emperor Akbar under the patronage of the governor of Jaunpur, Min'im Khan, in the 16th century. It is designed in the shape of a flanking bastion. The spandrels or spaces between the arches of the outer gate were decorated with blue and yellow tiles. Ornamental

niche Niche may refer to: Science *Developmental niche, a concept for understanding the cultural context of child development *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ecology, the ...

s are built into the walls of the outer gate. The two-storey residential and administrative building or "palace" was built in a square layout. An interior pillared

verandah A veranda or verandah is a roofed, open-air gallery or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front and sides of the structure. Although the form ''vera ...

or ''aiwan'' overlooked the ground floor from the first.

Bhool bhulaiya

It symbolises a perfect Turkish bath, commonly known as ''Hammam''. The ''Hammam'' is partly underground, having both inlet and outlet channels, hot and cold water, and the like.

The Mosque

The mosque or ''masjid'' is likely the oldest building in Jaunpur township. It was a simple

arcade Arcade most often refers to: * Arcade game, a coin-operated game machine ** Arcade cabinet, housing which holds an arcade game's hardware ** Arcade system board, a standardized printed circuit board * Amusement arcade, a place with arcade games * ...

of about x in the Bengali style. It was supported by a pillar having a Persian inscription inscribed on it, telling the story of the erection of the mosque in 1362 by Barbak. There are three low central domes, but instead of

minar A minaret (; ar, منارة, translit=manāra, or ar, مِئْذَنة, translit=miʾḏana, links=no; tr, minare; fa, گل‌دسته, translit=goldaste) is a type of tower typically built into or adjacent to mosques. Minarets are generall ...

s, there are two nearby stone pillars. The outer gate has another inscription on the front, which appeals to everyone as "Hindus to read the Gita and Muslims to read the Koran, and Christians to read the Bible". The fort is named in the ''List of Monuments/Sites of Archaeological Survey of India of the Directorate of Archaeology, Uttar Pradesh''. and ''List of Monuments of Archaeological Survey of India''.

Entrance fee

The entrance is not free. The fee structure is different for Indians and foreigners. No fees are charged to children up to 15 years. Indian citizens and visitors from SAARC (Bhutan, Nepal, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Afghanistan, and the Maldives) and

BIMSTEC The Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) is an international organisation of seven South Asian and Southeast Asian nations, housing 1.73 billion people and having a combined gross domestic pro ...

Countries (Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh, Myanmar, and Thailand) at 25 INR per head. * Others -- US $2 or 100 INR per head * Timings: The fort can be visited from 9.00 AM till 5.00 PM.

References