1. Fort is 55 from Jhansi, not so known. “It is located in such a way that from 12kms, it remains visible from naked eye but one you get closer to it, it gets dis-appeared and become difficult to locate. It was used a kingdom capital till 1539 AD. Later capital was shifted to Orchha i.e. on bank of Betwa River”.
2. View of fort from base of hill. Centre of pic is King’s palace, the Queen’s is behind. “It has a great history of love, affair, greediness and dreadful sabotage. Prominent personalities in Garh Kundar history are Nagdeo and Roopkunwar. Their love affair stories are still said in folk songs of Bundelkhand.”
3. Steps to enter palace.
4. Palace gate. “Garh means Fort where as Kundar is combination of two words "Kund" & "Arka". Due to presence of a pond with medicinal quality to cure skin disease, this region gained publicity in past. In Hindi language, "Kund" means water reservoir and "Arka" means shining sun”.
5. First view of 5 storeyed palace.
6. View from point before you enter palace. To see very good video 9 minutes that shows you Aerial view of fort https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fI7eEXWvaJc
7. Side view of fort walls, right side is palace. “Garh Kundar fort remained under influence Bundelkhand rulers like Chandela, Bundela and Khangars. It came into light when in year 1180, chief of king Prithvi Raj Chauhan, Khet Singh Khangar planned to make his capital here.”
8. Brackets on side of fort wall.
9. Similar style brackets in Jami Masjid Complex, Mandu i.e. near Indore.
10. Close up view of palace entrance. Top left is King Palace, highest point. “Later Khet Singh`s grandson Maharaja Khub Singh Khangar fortified the Jinagarh Palace and renamed it as Garh Kundar fort. Kundar rulers, ruled from this fort till 1347 A.D., when it was captured by Mohammed Tuglaq who handover the charge to Bundela rulers”.
11. When you cross gate to enter palace there are different paths to confuse you. Pic shows you one way i.e. in the basement. You have to bend your head to reach.
12. When you bend you come through, what you see in centre of pic, and then enter palace. What strategy? We can learn something.
13. Front view of palace. Left is Queen Palace, right is King. Centre steps is where you enter palace from. Round holes (covered) are for light to pass to basement. As per video lots of rooms and hidden exit points in basement that are sealed now.
14. Left side view. Left is Queen Palace. “The fort has overall height of 150 ft. and width of 400 ft. Fort has entrance gate having height of 20 feet. Outer wall have number of gazebo/towers to ensure security to fort complex.”
15. Centre is King Bedroom. See alignment. Rooms at lower level. “Fort is made up of sand stone which is easily available in local region. Also, bricks, sand, lime-stones were also used as construction material. It is designed in such a way that people from inside rooms can easily see outsider but outsider can`t see insiders”.
16. Way to King Bedroom. Top most part is storey 7 and on top of a hill means one gets a great view esp. in earlier times to spot enemy approaching. It also served as a watch tower.
17. From top of fort overview pic with terrain in background. Fort is in Bundelkhand. “It is a mountainous region in central and North India, in Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. It derives its name from Bundelas, a Suryavanshi clan of Rajputs”.
18. Sanjay went in early July, so green due to rains. Sanjay is a Guide in Orchha who especially went to click pictures of this fort. eSamskriti is grateful to him. His number is 91 22 83497 50493. Sanjay and Editor wrote captions.
19. Balcony on left side of fort.
20. Same level view on other side. Number of storeys clearly visible.
21. Queen Palace in front.
22. Area below Queen Palace gives an idea of number of rooms and openings for ventilation. What is inverted commas taken from this MP tourism link https://www.madhya-pradesh-tourism.com/destination/Garh-Kundar-Fort-35
23. Well in one corner of fort. Residents could enter lower most portion easily and take water. To see pics of Orchha https://www.esamskriti.com/a/Madhya-Pradesh/Orchha%20Madhya%20Pradesh.aspx
24. Well has 2 storeys. It is now covered. To see video 12 minutes of the underground ways in the fort for the Queens to escape in case of enemy attack. Interesting https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M9ysd2ROaUg