01Hammira’s stand
After Prithviraj Chauhan fell in 1192, his grandson Govindaraja set up a Chahamana line at Ranthambore. Iltutmish took the fort in 1226 and it changed hands more than once. Hammiradeva came to the throne in 1283. When Mongol officers who had mutinied against Alauddin Khalji took refuge with him, he refused to give them up. The Khalji army laid siege in 1300; its general Nusrat Khan was killed by a stone from the walls, and Alauddin came himself. Nayachandra Suri’s Sanskrit Hammira Mahakavya and Amir Khusrau, who was in the Sultan’s camp, both tell the end: in July 1301 the women performed jauhar and Hammira died fighting.
02Mewar, Akbar and the Ganesh temple
Rana Kumbha of Mewar held Ranthambore in the 15th century, and Rana Sanga held it in the early 16th. In 1568–69 Akbar besieged it, and the Hada Rao Surjan of Bundi, who held it then, surrendered in March 1569 and entered Mughal service. Later the fort passed to the Kachwahas of Jaipur. Its Trinetra Ganesh temple, with an image of Shri Ganesh with three eyes, receives letters and wedding cards from all over Rajasthan, sent so that Ganapati is invited first. The fort is part of the ‘Hill Forts of Rajasthan’ World Heritage Site.
The life of this place
- 1226Iltutmish takes Ranthambore from the Chahamanas.
- 1283Hammiradeva becomes king at Ranthambore.
- July 1301Alauddin Khalji takes the fort after a year’s siege; jauhar, and Hammira dies fighting.
- March 1569Rao Surjan Hada surrenders the fort to Akbar.
- 2013Inscribed with five other Rajput forts as the Hill Forts of Rajasthan World Heritage Site.
Inside Ranthambore National Park, 12 km from Sawai Madhopur. The road to the fort is open to pilgrims without a safari permit; Ganesh Chaturthi brings a great mela.
