Deeg Fort Bharatpur
 Deeg
in the 18th century, was the capital of Jat rulers. The central
citadel, set up in 1730 is square in layout and stands on a slightly
raised ground.
The whole monument is encircled by a shallow wide moat.
The protective walls are 8 km in circumference pierced by 10 gateways
and studded with 72 bastions.
The gateway to the fort is protected with anti-elephant strikes.
The most impressive are huge towers haughtily piercing the sky. The
towers are fitted with cannons to take a good shot at any approaching
enemy
Within the fort, is the Suraj Mal Haveli with its typical bangaldar
style - which is a typical Bengali curved bamboo roof, imported to
Rajasthan by Bengali architect of Jaipur - Vidyadhar Bhattacharya.
¤ Construction of Fort
Deeg became a capital city with Badan Singh, but most of the
buildings including this one were built by his illustrious son, Suraj
Mal (see History of Bharatpur for more). This central citadel,
standing on a slightly raised ground and almost square in layout, was
set up in 1730. A shallow wide moat encircles the whole monument,
beyond which stand protective walls made of course rubble and mud.
They are about 8km in circumference, pierced by 10 gateways and
studded with 72 bastions. These walls are sometimes even 28 meters
high! But perhaps nothing compares with the security of the Lohargarh
(Iron fort) in Bharatpur with its unimaginably strong outer mud walls.
¤ The Main Attractions of Fort
The entrance to the Deeg Fort is by a bridge in the north and through
a gateway protected with anti-elephant spikes. But the most impressive
part of the fort are its huge towers which stand haughtily piercing
the sky. There are 12 in all, the largest being the Lakha Burj in the
north-west corner. These towers were fitted with cannons to take a
good shot at any approaching enemy. The cannon of Lakha Burj is still
preserved. The Suraj Mal Haveli (haveli means mansion) is a nice
structure, with its typical domes of the bangaldar style. This kind of
a shaping is based on the Bengali curved bamboo roof, probably
imported to Rajasthan by the Bengali architect of Jaipur, Vidyadhar
Bhattacharya (see Jaipur for more). In fact, such rounded roofs are
the high point of Deeg's pleasure palaces too.
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