Travel Photo 308274

Mar 16, 2023 1:00pm

Our guide filled our heads with numerous dates and rulers and battles, over the 800 years of the fort’s occupancy, the most tragic of which were the three occasions on which the Maharaja decided the battle was lost, and rather than be captured by the invading Mughals, the men donned saffron martyrs’ robes and rode out from the fort to certain death, while the women and children threw themselves on huge funeral pyres, and commited “jauhur” (ritual mass suicide. The first of these events was 16,000 women & children, with similar figures being quoted for the other two.