Visit to Rohtas Fort ! A spectacular example of Afghan and Hindu architecture.

Since long I have been planning to visit Rohtas Fort and finally the day arrived when I was there. Its approximately 230 km from Mardan Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. It took an hour drive to Islamabad through motorway and then about two hours drive on the grand trunk G.T road from Islamabad to Lahore near a small town Dina.

This Fort was built purely in Afghan-Persian architectural style. Perhaps its a fine amalgamation of these two styles with Afghan style being prominent and is undoubtedly supposed to be an exceptional example of Pashtun Military architecture in central south Asia. It was built by Afghan Warrior king Sher Shah Suri (1472-1545) to block emperor Humayun's return to India and now its on UNESCO world heritage site. Later on, however a couple of buildings were made by Sikh and Hindus inside the fortress.

Its always been very fascinating to many of us to read and hear stories about the emperors, kings, queens and princesses .But to witness those old buildings and forts is interesting in itself. With such an olden times grandeur and full of mystery one such fortress is standing now in front of me known as "Rohtas Fort". This fort have reminded me about Brad Pitt's movie" TROY".

 Rohtas Fort was purely built for military purpose and that's why there are no residential palaces inside the fort except " Rani Mahal" or ( Palace of Queen)  which was built by Raja Maan Singh but its not the part of original structure. Unlike Lahore Fort where you may found the palace for queen inside the fort known as "Sheesh Mahal" supposed to be built for Queen  by King Shah Jahan, here in Rohtas no such palace had been built.

 The distinctive atmosphere of the Rohtas fort took me to olden times for a while where I could imagine the echoing sounds of the galloping horses of the Emperor Sher Shah Suri's soldiers. There are total 12 gates of the fort and its spread in a huge area with a beautiful Panoramic landscape behind. You can get some details about 12 gates in my post here 12 gates and a royal mosque. 

Though its not in very well condition yet its worth visiting place especially for the history lovers both nationally and internationally. Here I am giving just a brief description about the fort and some pics that I have took there but I'll give a detail account about different parts of the fort in next posts too. 



Sohail gate

Shah Chand wali gate

Stairs leading to the top of the fort

Terraces in the walls of the fort, where soliders used to stood in olden times with spears , rocks and arrows against enemies.

Another such deadly, horrible yet adventurous terrace view

Haveli of Man Singh

A panoramic view

A far view of Shah Chand wali gate

River flowing by the side of the fort

Narrow corridor

Terrace towards the river

Tips for visiting Rohtas Fort:  

The fort is constructed on a small hill, having rough and narrow rock steps. Some parts are steep. Its very dusty all over especially while walk from one area to another.

 I saw some girls who were formally dressed in silk suits with delicate heel sandals in their feet. All the time they were trying to hold back their slipping duppatas and further more at the end of the day their feet bruised badly in heel sandals. SO beware girls ! Dont get much formally dressed while visiting there. Do visit Rohtas as casual as you can be. And yea don't forget to apply a double layers of Sun block. I was thinking the winters sun is quite soft and doesn't harm but still the sun was so hot even in December and i have got a temporary suntan with in two hours. December and January are the suitable months to visit Rohtas. Otherwise the cloudy days would be more preferable but not rainy .

Last but not the least, it was quite interesting to visit Rohtas. I must suggest that every one should visit at least once.