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

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

built during the 14th century in

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

, 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 Z ...

on the Gomti river.

Background

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

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

Firoz Shah Tughlaq Firuz Shah Tughlaq (1309 – 20 September 1388), also known as Firuz III, was Sultan of Delhi from 1351 until his death in 1388. He succeeded his cousin Muhammad bin Tughlaq following the latter's death at Thatta, Sindh. His father was Si ...

, it was constructed using material from old Rathore structures. The fort was destroyed multiple times by rulers, including the Lodhis and the

British Empire The British Empire comprised the dominions, Crown colony, colonies, protectorates, League of Nations mandate, mandates, and other Dependent territory, territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom and its predecessor states. It bega ...

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

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...

History

The ''Kerar Kot'' fort once stood on the same site on the left (north) bank of the Gomti river. It contained a

mosque A mosque ( ), also called a masjid ( ), is a place of worship for Muslims. The term usually refers to a covered building, but can be any place where Salah, Islamic prayers are performed; such as an outdoor courtyard. Originally, mosques were si ...

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 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 expa ...

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 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 ...

. The

spandrels A spandrel is a roughly triangular space, usually found in pairs, between the top of an arch and a rectangular frame, between the tops of two adjacent arches, or one of the four spaces between a circle within a square. They are frequently fil ...

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 and growth *Ecological niche, a term describing the relational position of an organism's species *Niche differentiation, in ec ...

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 (also spelled verandah in Australian and New Zealand English) is a roofed, open-air hallway or porch, attached to the outside of a building. A veranda is often partly enclosed by a railing and frequently extends across the front an ...

or ''aiwan'' overlooked the ground floor from the first. Nothing much has survived inside the fort. A

and a Turkish

hammam A hammam (), also often called a Turkish bath by Westerners, is a type of steam bath or a place of public bathing associated with the Islamic world. It is a prominent feature in the culture of the Muslim world and was inherited from the model ...

are the only two prominent structures within the fort complex. Apart from these the complex also contains a gate-like structure along with a

dargah A Sufi shrine or dargah ( ''dargâh'' or ''dargah'', Turkish: ''dergâh'', Hindustani: ''dargāh'' दरगाह درگاہ, ''dôrgah'') is a shrine or tomb built over the grave of a revered religious figure, often a Sufi saint or dervi ...

Bhool bhulaiya

The structure consists of several domes with openings on tops allowing light to filter in. The interior consists of several rooms complete with water channels and tubs. The rooms are connected with a complex maze of passageways giving it a ''bhulaiya ''-like appearance.

The Mosque

The mosque or ''masjid'' is likely the oldest building in Jaunpur township. It follows a rectangular plan of dimension x . The mosque has a triple arch and is topped with three low central domes. There is a stone pillar next to the mosque.

References

External links