The Bhatner Fort was built by son of Rao Bhati, about 419 km northwest of

Jaipur Jaipur (; , ) is the List of state and union territory capitals in India, capital and the List of cities and towns in Rajasthan, largest city of the north-western States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan. , the city had ...

along the old

Multan Multan is the List of cities in Punjab, Pakistan by population, fifth-most populous city in the Punjab, Pakistan, Punjab province of Pakistan. Located along the eastern bank of the Chenab River, it is the List of cities in Pakistan by populatio ...

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

route and 230 km north-east of Bikaner. Another name of Hanumangarh was Bhatner, which means "fortress of the Bhati". Believed to be 1700 years old, it is considered to be one of the oldest forts of India.

History

The ancient fort situated on the bank of River Ghaggar, was built in 295 AD by the King Bhupat of Bhati Dynasty, in memory of his father, Rao Bhatti. There he constructed a safe castle for himself which came to be known as Bhatner. The entire fort is built of bricks, covering an area of 52 bighas. It is in the shape of a

parallelogram In Euclidean geometry, a parallelogram is a simple polygon, simple (non-list of self-intersecting polygons, self-intersecting) quadrilateral with two pairs of Parallel (geometry), parallel sides. The opposite or facing sides of a parallelogram a ...

, with a dozen

bastion A bastion is a structure projecting outward from the curtain wall of a fortification, most commonly angular in shape and positioned at the corners of the fort. The fully developed bastion consists of two faces and two flanks, with fire from the ...

s on each side. Painted Grey Ware (circa 1100-800 BCE) and Rang-Mahal Ware (1st-3rd century CE) have been found in wells situated along the wall. Bhatner was wrested by

Timur Timur, also known as Tamerlane (1320s17/18 February 1405), was a Turco-Mongol conqueror who founded the Timurid Empire in and around modern-day Afghanistan, Iran, and Central Asia, becoming the first ruler of the Timurid dynasty. An undefeat ...

by defeating Bhatti King Rai Dul Chand. A mention has been made in "Tuzuk-e-Timuri" (Autobiography of Timur) about this fort and he stated this fort one of the strongest and secured fort of India. Timur invaded India in 1398, when he held a vast empire in the Middle East and Central Asia. He suffered tough resistance in India only from the Bhati ruler, Rai Dul Chand of Bhatner. Rajputs and Muslims fought together against Timur under him but the Bhatner fort was ultimately sacked with the city burnt and laid waste. Also

Akbar the Great Akbar (Jalal-ud-din Muhammad Akbar, – ), popularly known as Akbar the Great, was the third Mughal emperor, who reigned from 1556 to 1605. Akbar succeeded his father, Humayun, under a regent, Bairam Khan, who helped the young emperor exp ...

described it in his book "Ain-I-Akbari". Subsequently, the fort appears to have been held by Bhatis, Johiyas and Chayals until 1527 when it was taken by Rao Jet Singh of

Bikaner state Bikaner State was the princely state, Princely State in the north-western most part of the History of Bikaner, Rajputana province of imperial British India from 1818 to 1947. The founder of the state Rao Bika was a younger son of Rao ...

. After that, it came twice under Mughal control as well, in addition to being the possession of the royal families of Chayals and

Bikaner Bikaner () is a city in the northwest of the States and territories of India, state of Rajasthan, India. It is located northwest of the state capital, Jaipur. It is the administrative headquarters of Bikaner District and Bikaner division. Fo ...

. Researchers believe that the famous Second Battle of Tarain fought between Mohammad Ghori and

Prithviraj Chauhan Prithviraja III (IAST: Pṛthvī-rāja; 22 May 1166 – February 1192), popularly known as Prithviraj Chauhan or Rai Pithora, was a king from the Chahamanas of Shakambhari, Chauhan (Chahamana) dynasty who ruled the territory of Sapadalaksha, w ...

is the present Talwara Jheel area of the district. This fort stands in the path of invasion of India from

Central Asia Central Asia is a region of Asia consisting of Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, and Uzbekistan. The countries as a group are also colloquially referred to as the "-stans" as all have names ending with the Persian language, Pers ...

and had acted as a strong barricade against the attack of enemies. Finally in the year of 1805, it was captured by Soorat Singh of Bikaner and remained with it until the formation of Rajasthan. Since the day of victory was Tuesday (known as day of the Hindu God

Hanuman Hanuman (; , ), also known as Maruti, Bajrangabali, and Anjaneya, is a deity in Hinduism, revered as a divine ''vanara'', and a devoted companion of the deity Rama. Central to the ''Ramayana'', Hanuman is celebrated for his unwavering devotio ...

), so he named Bhatner as Hanumangarh.

References

Archaeological Survey of India
* *{{citation , url=https://books.google.com/books?id=C4tRAQAAIAAJ&q=Bhatner , title=An Approach to Indian Archaeology, Volume 1 , author=Sudhir Ranjan Das , publisher=Pilgrim Publishers , year=1972 , quote=The well-known medieval Bhatner fort, near Hanumangarh, actually stands on a high mound, the lower levels of which revealed prehistoric remains. Four miles to the east of Hanumangarh, the Bhadrakali mound rises up to a height of 43 ft. * https://web.archive.org/web/20090505194825/http://hanumangarh.nic.in/places_of_interest.html Forts in Rajasthan Hanumangarh district

History

See also

References