01Durgavati’s stronghold
The Gond kingdom of Garha, centred on Jabalpur, was built up by Sangram Shah, who is credited with dozens of forts; Chauragarh, on a hill in the northern Satpuras above the Narmada valley, is traditionally his work. When Rani Durgavati ruled for her son Vir Narayan she governed from Singorgarh and Garha, but Chauragarh was her treasury and last refuge. In 1564 Asaf Khan, the Mughal governor of Kara, invaded Garha. Durgavati met him near Narai, was wounded by arrows, and took her own life with her dagger rather than be captured, on 24 June 1564.
02The fall of Chauragarh
Abul Fazl’s Akbarnama, the Mughal court’s own history, tells what followed. Asaf Khan marched on Chauragarh, where the young Vir Narayan had withdrawn. The prince died fighting in its defence, and when the fort could not be held the women inside performed jauhar. Asaf Khan took the fort’s great treasure, and Abul Fazl says he hid much of it from the emperor. Garha survived as a reduced Gond state under Mughal overlordship; Chauragarh passed later to the Bhonsles of Nagpur and then, in 1818, to the British. Its walls and tanks now lie in forest, reached by a climb from the village below.
The life of this place
- early 16th centurySangram Shah of Garha is credited with building the fort.
- 24 June 1564Rani Durgavati falls fighting Asaf Khan near Narai.
- 1564Asaf Khan takes Chauragarh; Vir Narayan is killed and the women perform jauhar.
- 1818The fort passes from the Bhonsles of Nagpur to the British.
