Asigarh Fort, also called Hansi Fort, is located on the eastern bank of ''Amti lake'' in

Hansi Hansi, is a city and municipal council in Hisar district in the Indian state of Haryana. It appears that at one time Hansi was larger, more prosperous and more important than Hisar. The town has several important buildings of archeological impor ...

city of

Haryana Haryana () is a States and union territories of India, state located in the northern part of India. It was carved out after the linguistic reorganisation of Punjab, India, Punjab on 1 November 1966. It is ranked 21st in terms of area, with les ...

, India, about 135 km from Delhi on NH9. Spread over 30 acres, in its prime days this fort used to be in control of 80 forts in the area around it.Planning a vacation? Here's why you should visit Hansi in Haryana or go trekking in Kemmanagundi
Economic Times, 3 Nov 2016. The fort is said to be one of the most impregnable forts of

ancient India Anatomically modern humans first arrived on the Indian subcontinent between 73,000 and 55,000 years ago. The earliest known human remains in South Asia date to 30,000 years ago. Sedentism, Sedentariness began in South Asia around 7000 BCE; ...

and has been declared a centrally protected monument by ASI in 1937.

Etymology

Asigarh is known as the Fort of Swords, from '' Asi'' (sword) and ''garh'' (fort), as this was the centre of sword making from the ancient times of Hindu rulers. There are several names used for the fort in different anecdotes, such as Asidurga, Asigarh, Asika, A-sika, Ansi, Hansi, etc.,

History

Earlier Fort

Hansi fort or Asigarh Fort has long history with little clarity about the earlier period. The excavation of ancient coins belong to the BCE period shows that there have been long history of settlements on the mound on which fort is built.

Tomaras- Builder and first rulers of present Asigarh Fort

As per British library, Hansi city is believed to have been founded by

Anangpal Tomar Anangpal II, popularly known as Anangpal Tomar, was an Indian ruler from the Tomara dynasty. He is known to have established and populated Delhi in the 11th century. He is often confused with Anangpal I, the founder of Tomar Dynasty of Delhi, ...

(Anangpal II), the

Tomar Rajput Tomar (also called Tomara) is a clan name, some members of which ruled parts of North India at different times. They are Rajputs and claim Chandravanshi descent. Most of their population is primarily concentrated in Delhi, Haryana- Torawati and ...

king of

Delhi Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...

. The son of King

, Drupad established a sword manufacturing factory in this fort, hence it is also called "Asigarh". Swords from this fort were exported as far away as to Arab countries. As per ''Talif-e-Tajkara-e-Hansi'' by Qazi Sharif Husain in 1915, around 80 forts across the area were controlled from this centre "Asigarh". The Tomar Empire during the reign of Anangpal II extended over various parts of

Punjab Punjab (; ; also romanised as Panjāb or Panj-Āb) is a geopolitical, cultural, and historical region in South Asia. It is located in the northwestern part of the Indian subcontinent, comprising areas of modern-day eastern Pakistan and no ...

Himachal Pradesh Himachal Pradesh (; Sanskrit: ''himācāl prādes;'' "Snow-laden Mountain Province") is a States and union territories of India, state in the northern part of India. Situated in the Western Himalayas, it is one of the thirteen Indian Himalayan ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

and

Rajasthan Rajasthan (; Literal translation, lit. 'Land of Kings') is a States and union territories of India, state in northwestern India. It covers or 10.4 per cent of India's total geographical area. It is the List of states and union territories of ...

. In addition to the Asigarh (

), other important places of this dynasty were Sthaneshwar (

Thanesar Thanesar (IAST: Sthāṇvīśvara) is a historic city and Hindu pilgrimage sites, Hindu pilgrimage centre in the Kurukshetra district of Haryana, India. It is located approximately 160 km northwest of Delhi. The city Kurukshetra's area merge ...

), Sonkh (

Mathura Mathura () is a city and the administrative headquarters of Mathura district in the states and union territories of India, Indian state of Uttar Pradesh. It is located south-east of Delhi; and about from the town of Vrindavan. In ancient ti ...

), Taragarh, Gopachal(

Gwalior Gwalior (Hindi: , ) is a major city in the central Indian state of Madhya Pradesh; It is known as the Music City of India having oldest Gwalior gharana, musical gharana in existence. It is a major sports, cultural, industrial, and political c ...

), Tanwarhinda (

Bhatinda Bathinda is a city and municipal corporation in Punjab, India, Punjab, India. The city is the administrative headquarters of Bathinda district. It is located in northwestern India in the Malwa (Punjab), Malwa Region, west of the capital city o ...

), Tanwarghaar,

Pathankot Pathankot () is a city and the district headquarters of the Pathankot district in Punjab, India. Pathankot is the sixth most populous city of Punjab, after Ludhiana, Amritsar, Jalandhar, Patiala and Bathinda. Its local government is a municipal ...

- Nurpur, Patan - Tanwarawati, Nagarkot ( Kangra), Multiple (three) Tomara kings seem to have shared the name "Anangapala" (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...

: Anaṅgapāla). Around 1000 CE, Asigarh, Haryana and Delhi were in control of emperors of

Tomara dynasty The Tomaras of Delhi (also called Tomar dynasty in modern vernaculars due to schwa deletion) ruled parts of present-day Delhi and Haryana in India during 8th–12th century. Their rule over this region is attested to by multiple inscriptions ...

, when in 1014

Mahmud Ghazni Abu al-Qasim Mahmud ibn Sabuktigin (; 2 November 971 – 30 April 1030), usually known as Mahmud of Ghazni or Mahmud Ghaznavi (), was Sultan of the Ghaznavid Empire, ruling from 998 to 1030. During his reign and in medieval sources, he is usuall ...

attacked

and Hansi where he mass destroyed Hindu temples, and again in 1025 he also attacked Somnath temple. Mahmud Ghazni had sent his son

Mas'ud I of Ghazni Masoud (; ) is a given name and surname, with origins in Persian and Arabic. The name is found in the Arab world, Iran, Turkey, Tajikistan, Afghanistan, Uzbekistan, Pakistan, Russia, Bangladesh, Malaysia, and China. Masoud has spelling variations p ...

to attack Hansi in 1037 CE, when Masud attacked swordsmen of Hansi and took Hindu women into slavery who were later sold at Gazni. In 1041 in revenge for murder of his father, Mahmud Ghazni's nephew Mawdud of Ghazni (r. 1041-50 CE) seized the throne from his uncle Mahmud Ghazni. Kumarpal Tomar (Mahipal Tomar) of Tomara dynasty who ruled this area from Delhi in the 11th century recaptured Hansi and Thanesar regions from Mawdud, and based on fragmentary Tomar inscriptions discovered from Mahipalpur in Delhi it has been theorized that Mahipala established a new capital at Mahipalapura (now Mahipalpur).

Chauhan rule

According to the

Bijolia Bijoliya is a census town in Bhilwara district in the state of Rajasthan, India and is surrounded by nature and waterfalls and is famous for Tapodaya Teerth Kshetra and Mandakini Temple. Geography Bijoliya Kalan is located at . It has an avera ...

inscription of Someshvara of

Chauhan dynasty Chauhan, a name derived from the historical Chahamanas of Shakambhari, Chahamanas, a clan name associated with various ruling Rajput families in the present-day Indian state of Rajasthan from seventh century onwards. Subclans Khichi Chauhan, ...

, his brother

Vigraharaja IV Vigraharāja IV (r. c. 1150–1164 CE), also known as Vigraharāja the Great and also Visala-deva (or Visaldev), was a king from the Chahamanas of Shakambhari, Chahamana (Chauhan) dynasty in north-western India, and is generally considered as ...

had captured Dhillika (Delhi) and Ashika (Hansi). He probably defeated the Tomar king Anangapala III. Additions were made to the fort by

Prithviraj Chauhan Prithviraja III (IAST: Pṛthvī-rāja; 22 May 1166 – February 1192), popularly known as Prithviraj Chauhan or Rai Pithora, was a king from the Chahamanas of Shakambhari, Chauhan (Chahamana) dynasty who ruled the territory of Sapadalaksha, w ...

in the 12th century.

Muslim rule

In 1192, after the defeat of

by Mohammed Gauri, Hindu rule ended in Hansi. After that the

Battle of Bagar The Rebellion of Jatwan was a revolt staged by Jatwan against the Ghurid empire in 1192CE. The Ghurids defeated the rebel forces and Jatwan was killed in the battle. In 1192, soon after the second battle of Tarain, Jatwan, a subordinate of Pri ...

took place in which

Jatwan Jatwan was a chieftain of present-day Haryana who rebelled against Qutb ud-Din Aibak of the Delhi Sultanate in 1192 CE. He finds a mention in Hasan Nizami's ''Tajul-Ma'asir'', according to which the Delhi army defeated and killed him on the border ...

besieged the Muslim commander Nasrat Uddin at

in 1192 CE, shortly after the defeat of Prithviraj. On receiving this news Qutb-ud-din marched twelve farsakhs, i.e., about 40 miles during one night.

raised the siege of

and prepared for an obstinate conflict. "The armies attacked each other" says the author of Taj-ul-Maasir "like two hills of steel, and the field of battle (on the borders of the Bager country) became tulip-dyed with the blood of warriors. Jatwan had his standards of God-plurality and ensigns of perdition lowered by the hand of power". And the

Ghurid The Ghurid dynasty (also spelled Ghorids; ; self-designation: , ''Šansabānī'') was a Persianate dynasty of eastern Iranian peoples, Iranian Tajik people, Tajik origin, which ruled from the 8th-century in the region of Ghor, and became an Emp ...

forces took control of the fort.

Sikh and Maratha rule

In 1705, during the time of

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

Guru Gobind Singh Guru Gobind Singh (; born Gobind Das; 22 December 1666 – 7 October 1708) was the tenth and last human Sikh gurus, Sikh Guru. He was a warrior, poet, and philosopher. In 1675, at the age of nine he was formally installed as the leader of the ...

toured Hansi to inspired the people to revolt against the oppressive Mughal rule. In 1707, Baba Banda Singh Bahadur attacked Hansi. In 1736, the fort was under

Maratha The Marathi people (; Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-A ...

rule. In 1780s Maharaja

Jassa Singh Ramgarhia Jassa Singh Ramgarhia (1723–1803) was a prominent Sikh leader during the period of the Sikh Confederacy. He was the founder of the Ramgarhia Misl. Early life Jassa Singh Ramgarhia was born into a Sikh family in 1723. According to W. H. McLe ...

also took this area under his control for some years as a Maratha vassal and then left.

British colonial rule

From 1798 to 1801, George Thomas, an Irish immigrant who rose from an ordinary sailor, usurped the area around Hansi and made Asigarh fort his capital.Desi Irish Raja of Haryana, TIme of India newspaper, Jul-24-2016
/ref>Military memoirs of George Thomas, William_Francklin, 1805
/ref> In 1803 after the

Anglo-Maratha Wars Anglo-Maratha Wars may refer to: * First Anglo-Maratha War (1775–1782) * Second Anglo-Maratha War Second Anglo-Maratha War (from 1803 –1805) was a large conflict within the Maratha Confederacy, Maratha Empire involving the British East In ...

, the British East India Company rule seized the fort, but did not take control until 1810 and after which they controlled it till independence of India in 1947. The fort was again built by George Thomas in 1798 when he carved out his own kingdom consisting of

Hisar Hissar () means fort or castle in Arabic, with variants adopted into Persian (hesar, hessar) and Turkish (hisar). Hissar, Hisar and Hesar may refer to: Places Asia (South and Central) India *Hisar (city), a city in Haryana **Hisar Airport in Hi ...

and

Rohtak Rohtak () is a city and the administrative headquarters of the Rohtak district in the Indian state of Haryana. It lies north-west of New Delhi and south of the state capital Chandigarh on NH 9 (old NH 10). Rohtak forms a part of the Nationa ...

districts with capital at

. In 1803 Hansi was also the headquarters of Colonel James Skinner CB (1778 – 4 December 1841) the Anglo-Indian military adventurer in India, who founded 1st Skinner's Horse and

3rd Skinner's Horse The 3rd Skinner's Horse was a cavalry regiment of the British Indian Army. It was originally raised at Hansi by Lt.-Col. James Skinner as the 2nd Regiment of Skinner's Horse in 1814, the various changes and amalgamations are listed below. *181 ...

at Hansi in 1803. These units are still part of the

Indian Army The Indian Army (IA) (ISO 15919, ISO: ) is the Land warfare, land-based branch and largest component of the Indian Armed Forces. The President of India is the Commander-in-Chief, Supreme Commander of the Indian Army, and its professional head ...

. in 1818 was granted a ''

jagir A jagir (), ( Hindustani: जागीर/جاگیر, ''Jāgīr''), ( Marathi: जहागीर, ''Jahāgīrá'') also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar ( Zamindar ...

'' of

(

Hisar district Hisar district is one of the 22 districts of Haryana, India. Hisar city serves as the district headquarters. Hisar district has four sub-divisions that is, Hisar, Barwala, Hansi and Narnaud, each headed by an SDM. The district is also part of ...

), yielding Rs 20,000 a year. Hansi took an active part in the

Sepoy Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form ...

(Gadar), Lala Hukam Chand Jain was martyred in 1857 by Britishers.

British Indian Army The Indian Army was the force of British Raj, British India, until Indian Independence Act 1947, national independence in 1947. Formed in 1895 by uniting the three Presidency armies, it was responsible for the defence of both British India and ...

built a cantonment in this fort after George Thomas surrendered to

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

in 1803. During the

revolt of 1857 The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the form ...

, the cantonment was abandoned and the fort was damaged. The prisoners of the Kuka movement were imprisoned in this fort during the 1880s.

Fort details

The fort is said to be one of the most impregnable forts of

The walls of the fort are high and thick. At the south end of the fort is a big gate added later by George Thomas. The carvings on the walls assign it to be of Hindu origin.

Main gate

The main gate has the beautiful carvings of birds, animals and Hindu deities.पुरातत्व विभाग Rs.10 लाख से स्मारकों की करवाएगा वाशिंग और कोटिंग, किले के मुख्य द्वार पर काम शुरू
Dainik Bhaskar, 10 Dec 2018.

Baradari

Long pillared structure with a flat roof is situated on the top of the mound and is known as Baradari.

Char Qutub Dargah

A mosque is also located inside the fort complex which was added after the defeat of Prithviraj Chauhan.

Excavations

The ancient coins of the period before Christ were found here. 57 bronze images of Jain thirthankars were found during excavation in the fort. A statue of the

Buddha Siddhartha Gautama, most commonly referred to as the Buddha (),* * * was a wandering ascetic and religious teacher who lived in South Asia during the 6th or 5th century BCE and founded Buddhism. According to Buddhist legends, he was ...

was excavated here. In February 1982, a large hoard - known as

Hansi hoard The Hansi hoard is a collection of 58 bronze images of Jain Tirthankaras that were accidentally discovered by children on January 19, 1982. The Archaeological Survey of India excavated the entire hoard, which was located in Hansi, in the Hisar ...

- of Jaina bronzes including idols belonging to the

Gupta period The Gupta Empire was an Indian empire during the classical period of the Indian subcontinent which existed from the mid 3rd century to mid 6th century CE. At its zenith, the dynasty ruled over an empire that spanned much of the northern Indian ...

(319 to 605 CE) and 7th–8th centuries (a period belonging to the emperor Harshavardhana's Pushyabhuti dynasty, c. 500 to 647 CE) were discovered.Jaina Bronzes From Hansi, by Devendra Handa, Indian Institute of Advanced Study, 2002

References

* * * * *

External links

Field study and documentation
by

American Institute of Indian Studies The American Institute of Indian Studies (AIIS), founded in 1961, is a consortium of 90 universities and colleges in the United States that promotes the advancement of knowledge about India in the U.S. It carries out this purpose by: awarding fell ...

in Jan-Feb 2010.
Video: Asigarh Fort
7.40m.
51-image Online picture gallery
of Asigarh fort taken by

in 2008 CE
Online picture gallery
of Indo-Islamic monuments of Haryana taken by

in 2008 CE
Images of Asigarh Fort on ASI website
{{Haryana Forts in Haryana Hisar (city) Archaeological sites in Hisar district Tourist attractions in Hisar (city) Archaeological sites in Haryana Tourist attractions in Haryana Rebuilt buildings and structures in India History of Hisar district Tourist attractions in Hisar district Cantonments of British India