01Kumbha’s refuge
Mewar needed a fallback behind Chittor, and Kumbha built it here on the border with Marwar. His architect Mandana, author of the Vastu text Rajavallabha, laid out a wall wide enough on top for several horsemen abreast, closing in more than 300 temples, Jain and Hindu, along with farms and tanks enough to feed a garrison under siege. In 1468 Kumbha was killed here by his own son Udaysimha while at prayer. In 1537 the infant Udai Singh II, saved from the usurper Banbir by the nurse Panna Dai, was brought up in this fort, and his son Pratap was born here in 1540.
02The one fall
After Haldighati, Akbar sent Shahbaz Khan against Pratap’s hill strongholds. In April 1578 Kumbhalgarh fell, the only time it was taken; Pratap had already slipped away to continue the war from the hills. He won most of Mewar back in the 1580s, Kumbhalgarh among it. The Neelkanth Mahadev temple inside the walls, with its tall linga, is still in daily worship.
The life of this place
- 1443–1458 CEBuilt by Rana Kumbha to Mandana’s design.
- 1468 CERana Kumbha killed here by his son Udaysimha.
- 1540 CEMaharana Pratap born in the fort.
- April 1578Taken by Akbar’s general Shahbaz Khan, its only fall.
- 2013 CEUNESCO lists it among the Hill Forts of Rajasthan.
About 85 km north of Udaipur. Walk a stretch of the wall at sunset; the evening light show is in Hindi and English.
