Jaisalmer Fort

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Jaisalmer is also called as "The Golden City" as it looks like that as it stands on the ridges of yellow sandstone on top of the trikuta hill. The town is crowned by a fort which contains a palace and several ornate Jain temples. The houses and the temples are sculptured beautifully and are a sight to visit. The fort is a live fort as nearly one fourth of the population lives inside the fort.

The fort of Jaisalmer stands at a 250 feet high vantage point on a hill. The walls of the fort follow the contour of the hill. There are five interconnected palaces in the fort. They have intricate jaali screens and the beautiful jharokas. The steep cobblestone pathways pass through the four gates and lead to the royal palace. There are sharp turns and twists that make the fort virtually invincible.

The Jaisalmer fort is made up of yellow sandstone. The fort is 250 feet tall and you can see the town of Jaisalmer from the top. The town looks enchanting with its narrow winding streets and barrel sided bastions. The fort is reinforced by an imposing crenellated 30 feet high sandstone wall. There are 99 bastions out of which 92 were built between 1633 and 1647 to be used as gun platforms. There are four huge gateways winding up the fort. You can approach these gateways by walking through the narrow lanes. The gateways are named as Suraj pol, Ganesh pol, Bhoot pol and Hawa pol. The traitors and criminals were thrown into a well called as Death well through the second gate. You can reach a main chowk through the fourth gate. There were many instances of Jauhar in this chowk hence; it is also called as Satiyon-ka-pagthiya (step of sati).

The fort has many temples dedicated to Surya, Goddess Laxmi, Lord Ganesh, Vishnu and Shiva. The Jain temple complex is very impressive. It is built in the Jurassic sandstone with yellow and white marble shrines. There are sculpted motifs covering the walls, ceilings and pillars of the temple. Small corridors and stairways connect the temples. There are Jain manuscripts, paintings and astrological charts dating back to the eleventh century. There is also one of the oldest (1060) palm leaf book copy of the Dronachraya's Oghaniryaktivritti.

The fort has a gadget hoisted on its ramparts, which was used to forecast the weather. Among the most prominent structures in the fort are the Diwan-i-Aam, Diwan-i-khas and the Sheesh Mahal.

As the name suggests, the sheesh mahal glows with thousands of mirrors. The moment the suns rays or the moon light falls on this mirror, the entire palace begins to radiate.