Pakistan Rohtas Fort
Rohtas Fort is 109 km from Rawalpindi/Islamabad.
You have to travel on G.T. Road towards Lahore for 100 km to Dina. The
road to Rohtas forks off G.T. Road one kilometer past Dina. The Fort is 8
km away to the right from this turn. It is one of the most impressive
historical monuments in Pakistan. It was built on the orders of Afghan
ruler Sher Shah Suri (1539-45 AD) to serve as a huge fortified base for
military operations against Gakkhars. The fort
is the symbol of strength and determination of its builder Sher Shah Suri
who ruled over
South Asia only for six years, 1540-45 A.D., but even during that short
period he created many splendours including Rohtas fort and the Great
Grand Trunk Road, connecting Kabul with Calcutta.
The Fort was later used by Mughal emperor
Akbar and the Sikhs.
Olaf Caroe described his
initial impression of this fort in the following words; "There it stands,
sprawling across a low rocky hill a few miles north of Jhelum. Its great
ramparts growing from the cliff like the wall of China, looking north a
sandy streambed to the low hills of the salt range and beyond them, to the
snows of Pir Panjal. The circumference is large enough easily to hold a
couple of Divisions of troops. As you approach the fort, the crenellations
look like ominous rows of helmeted warriors watching you with disapproval.
It is an awe-inspiring sight".
The plan of the fort is adapted
to suit the terrain and it is defended by a number of deep ravines as well
as the river Ghaan, which breaks through the low eastern spur of the Tilla
range. Within its huge terraced
rampart walls (4 km in circumference) with 68 robust bastions and twelve
gates, is located another fortress, palaces and ancillary building.
Besides providing strength to the wall, these
bastions give a touch of elegance and grandeur to the fort. The wall,
usually composed of two or three terraces, varies in thickness at
different points, the maximum being 36 feet near the Mon Gate. The
terraces are interlinked with each other by way of stair-line and the top
most terrace is the line of the merion shaped. The height of the
fortification wall ranges from 30 to 40 feet and a considerable number of
galleries have been provided in the thickness of the wall for the soldiers
and for use as storage space. The wall is built in sand stone coarse
rubble masonry laid in lime mortar mixed with granular brick grit.
Although built for purely
military purposes, yet a few of its twelve gates were exceptionally fine
examples of the architecture of that period. The Sohal Gate, guarding the
south west wall, is in fair condition even today and it is being used as a
rest house. This gate is an example illustrating that how a feature built
for strength could also be made architecturally graceful. As it is more
than eighty feet in height so it provides a grand entrance to the
magnificent fort complex. Every part of its structure has been carried out
in broad and simple manner, each line and plane has a sober and massive
elegance, while the whole is aesthetically competent.
Within the fort a small town has developed
and several thousand people live here.
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