Baghsar Fort () is an ancient fort built in

Samahni Valley Samahni () is a small town and tehsil in Bhimber District of Azad Kashmir, Pakistan, located at a distance of by road northeast of Bhimber. It lies in the Samahni Valley, an area noted for its production of medicinal plants. In 2017 it had a po ...

near

Bhimber Bhimber () is a town and the headquarters of the eponymous district in Pakistan-administered Azad Kashmir. The town and district are between the Jammu region of Indian-administered Kashmir and Pakistan proper, about by road southeast of M ...

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

, close to a place known as Baghsar. The fort was constructed by

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

rulers A ruler, sometimes called a rule, scale, line gauge, or metre/meter stick, is an instrument used to make length measurements, whereby a length is read from a series of markings called "rules" along an edge of the device. Usually, the inst ...

. Some parts of it are currently closed to visitors, due to it being right beside the line of control between Pakistan and India.

History

Very little knowledge is available about the true history of the fort. In the 15th century, Bhimber was under control of a local chieftain

Jasrat Jasrat Khan ( – ), also known as Jasrath, was a 15th-century Punjabi Muslim chieftain who ruled parts of Punjab from 1410 until his death in 1442. He had his capital at Sialkot. A son of Shaikha, Jasrat fought against Tamerlane during his i ...

, who is known to have constructed a series of forts in the region. Bhaghsar fort may have been first constructed during his reign. Later it came under control of

Mughals The Mughal Empire was an early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to the highlands of pre ...

, who may have re-constructed it.

Godfrey Vigne Godfrey Thomas Vigne (1 September 1801 – 12 July 1863) was an English amateur cricketer and traveller. Early life Vigne was born on 1 September 1801 at Walthamstow, then in Essex, the eldest son of Thomas Vigne. He entered Harrow School in ...

, an English traveller who extensively travelled through Kashmir, mentioned it as Bagh Sar castle in his book.

Layout

Outer perimeter consists of boundary wall and thirty eight small rooms while inner side of the fort consists of darbar hall, a water pond and forty three rooms. There are three entrances to the fort. Northern main entrance, south eastern entrance and the entrance to inner perimeter. Observation point is prominent on the south eastern corner. There is a firing bay on western wall. Fort is surrounded by embrasures in the walls to allow archers to fire and remain under cover. There is a big room along the southern wall. Here the ruler of the time was used to meet his courtiers and delegates.

Tomb of Jahangir

Mughal emperor

Jahangir Nur-ud-din Muhammad Salim (31 August 1569 – 28 October 1627), known by his imperial name Jahangir (; ), was List of emperors of the Mughal Empire, Emperor of Hindustan from 1605 until his death in 1627, and the fourth Mughal emperors, Mughal ...

on his way to Lahore from Kashmir died somewhere in between Chingus Sarai,

Rajouri Rajouri or Rajauri (; ; ) is a city in the Rajouri district in the Jammu division of the Indian union territory of Jammu and Kashmir (union territory), Jammu and Kashmir. It is located about from Srinagar and from Jammu (city), Jammu city on ...

and Sarai Saadabad, Bhimber. To preserve his body his entrails were removed and buried in Baghsar fort. Then body was sent to Lahore where it was buried in mausoleum built along the banks of

Ravi Ravi may refer to: People * Ravi (name), including a list of people and characters with the name * Ravi (composer) (1926–2012), Indian music director * Ravi (Ivar Johansen) (born 1976), Norwegian musical artist * Ravi (rapper) (born 1993), a Sou ...

Conservation

Despite being on line of control, structure of the fort is still intact. But it is severely neglected by government in regard to conservation.

References

{{Castles in Pakistan Forts in Azad Kashmir Castles in Pakistan

History

Layout

Tomb of Jahangir

Conservation

See also

References