Loharu Fort, built in 16th century, is a state protected archaeological monument in

Loharu Loharu is a city, municipal committee and assembly constituency, near Bhiwani City in the Bhiwani district of the Indian state of Haryana. It is the administrative headquarters of one of the four administrative sub-divisions of the district a ...

town in

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 ...

state of India.Loharu Fort
Goibibo.Loharu Fort, Bhiwani, to be state-protected monument
The Tribune, 27 Aug 2021. Fort is part of interstate Shekhawati region which lies on the either side of Haryana-

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 ...

border in the sandy

bagar tract Bagar, also Bagad (बागड़) a term meaning the "dry country",Nonica Datta The Tribune, 3 July 1999. is a region refers in north-western India in north Rajasthan, West Haryana, south west Punjab, India where the Bagri language is spoken ...

History

After its foundation in 1570 CE, the control of Loharu fort passed from

Shekhawati Shekhawati is a region in the northern part of the States and union territories of India, Indian state of Rajasthan, comprising the districts of Sikar, Jhunjhunu, and Churu district, Churu. The language of this region is also called Shekhawat ...

rulers to

Alwar State Alwar (Rajasthani Pronunciation: �lʋəɾ is a city located in India's National Capital Region (NCR) and the administrative headquarters of Alwar District in the state of Rajasthan. It is located 150 km south of Delhi and 150 km ...

, then 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 ...

who gave

Loharu State Loharu State was one of the princely states of India during the period of the British Raj. It was part of the Punjab States Agency and was a nine-gun salute state. Loharu State encompassed an area of , and was situated in the south-east corner ...

as 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 ...

Nawab Nawab is a royal title indicating a ruler, often of a South Asian state, in many ways comparable to the Western title of Prince. The relationship of a Nawab to the Emperor of India has been compared to that of the Kingdom of Saxony, Kings of ...

''Ahmed Baksh Khan'', nawab of Loharu finally sold it to

Government of Haryana Government of Haryana, also known as the State Government of Haryana, or locally as the Haryana Government, is the supreme governing authority of the Indian state of Haryana and its 22 districts. It consists of an executive, ceremonially led ...

(GoH) in 1971.

Under Shekhwawati State

Foundation

In 1570 CE, ''Arjun Singh'', thakur of Loharu constructed a mud fort at Loharu and which remain a ''kaccha'' mud fort till 1800. ''Arjun Singh'' was a descendant of Loharu's founder, Rao ''Narhar Das''.Sohan Singh Khattar and Reena Kar, 2021
Know Your State Haryana
Arihant Publications, pp 308. ''

Rao Shekha Maharao Shekhaji (1433–1488) was a Rajput ruler in 15th-century India. He is the namesake of the Shekhawati region, comprising the districts of Sikar, Churu and Jhunjhunu in the modern Indian state of Rajasthan. His descendants are known a ...

'', the

Shekhawat Shekhawat is a sub-clan of Kachwaha Rajputs found mainly in Shekhawati region of Rajasthan tracing their descent from a common ancestor, Maharao Shekha, a prominent ruler who lived in the 15th century. History The Shekhawat Rajputs trace ...

Kachhwaha The Kachhwaha is a Rajput clan found primarily in India. They claim descent from the Suryavanshi (Solar) dynasty. Etymology According to Cynthia Talbot, the meaning of word ''Kachhwaha'' is tortoise. Origin There are numerous theories on ...

rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

ruler of

, had originally divided Shekhawati into 33 thikanas, of which

Fort was 33rd.

First battle of Loharu (1671 CE)

There have been 2 major battles fought over

Fort. The first battle of Loharu was fought in 1671 CE between ''Madan Singh'' of ''Loharu Thikana'' and the '' Mughal Governor of Hisar'' over former's refusal to pay the land revenue to

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 ...

during the reign 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 ...

(r. 1658–1707).

Second battle of Loharu (~1770s CE)

The second battle of Loharu was fought, some time around or after 1770s CE, between the ''Kirat Singh'' of ''Loharu Thikana'' and ''Bhopal Singh'' of '' Khetri Thikana'' of ''

Jaipur State The Kingdom of Amber, later the Kingdom of Jaipur or the Jaipur State, was located in the north-eastern historic Dhundhar region of Rajputana and was ruled by the Kachwaha Rajput dynasty. The kingdom was established by Dulha Rai, possibly t ...

'', who claimed ''Loharu'' as part of ''Khetri''. Bhopal Singh was killed in the battle outside

Fort, and a commemorative

chhatri ''Chhatri'' are semi-open, elevated, dome-shaped pavilions used as an element in Indo-Islamic architecture and Indian architecture. They are most commonly square, octagonal, and round. Originating as a canopy above tombs, they largely ser ...

was built at the place where he was cremated, which is located nearly 1 km from the fort.

Under Alwar State

The control of the fort later passed to

Under British raj: Nawab of Loharu State

In 1803,

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories and Crown Dependencies. * British national identity, the characteristics of British people and culture ...

gave Loharu and

pargana Pargana or parganah, also spelt pergunnah, equivalent to Mohallah as a subunit of Subah (Suba), was a type of former administrative division in the Indian subcontinent during the time of the Delhi Sultanate, Mughal and British Colonial empire ...

Ferozepur Jhirka Ferozepur Jhirka, ocassionaly called Jhirka, is a town and historical settlement in the Ferozepur Jhirka, a sub-division of the Nuh district in the Indian state of Haryana. Sh Rajkumar Gupta won the presidential election of Bar Association F ...

to the

''Ahmed Baksh Khan'' of

, a princely state under

company raj Company rule in India (also known as the Company Raj, from Hindi , ) refers to regions of the Indian subcontinent under the control of the British East India Company (EIC). The EIC, founded in 1600, established its first trading post in India ...

, who then converted the mud fort into a ''pucca'' (brick and masonry) fort. Urdu poet ''

Mirza Ghalib Mirza Asadullah Beg Khan (27 December 179715 February 1869), commonly known as Mirza Ghalib, was an Indian poet. Widely regarded as one of the greatest poets in the Urdu language, he also produced a significant body of work in Persian. Ghali ...

'' was married to ''"Umrao Begum"'', niece of Loharu's Nawab, ''Ahmad Bakhsh Khan'', and daughter of his younger brother, ''Mirza Ilahi Bakhsh Khan''.

After 1947 independence of India

In 1971, then nawabs of Loharu, ''Aminuddin Ahmed Khan'' sold it to the Government of Haryana. In 2021, GoH announced that the fort will be given the status of a state protected monument.

Architecture

The Loharu Fort is built on 64 kanal and 18 marla, which is nearly eight acres. Present fort was built by Nawab Ahmed Baksh Khan in 1803 to replace the earlier Shekhwati mud fort constructed in 1570. The present fort combines three styles of architecture,

Rajput Rājpūt (, from Sanskrit ''rājaputra'' meaning "son of a king"), also called Thākur (), is a large multi-component cluster of castes, kin bodies, and local groups, sharing social status and ideology of genealogical descent originating fro ...

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 ...

and

British colonial The British Overseas Territories (BOTs) or alternatively referred to as the United Kingdom Overseas Territories (UKOTs) are the fourteen territories with a constitutional and historical link with the United Kingdom that, while not forming p ...

. The Government of Haryana notification about the protected status for the fort states, ''"The south-wing of the fort contained the Diwan-e-khas (special royal hall) and the Sheesh Mahal or The Room Of Mirrors, which has Mughal/Rajput style details. The central part of the south wing contained a large Victorian style audience chamber and banquet hall. The right side of the south-wing consisted of the Zanana Mahal along with the kitchens. The left side of the south-wing was purely Mughal architecture. The east-wing was executed in the Delhi Haveli style which was considered very fashionable at the time and was distinct from the Shekhawati Haveli"''.

Conservation

Since 1971, after being sold to the government of Haryana, the fort remained uninhabited, all of the north-wing collapsed and so did a part of the east-wing. Only the south-wing of the fort (containing the Farukh Manzil) survives in a dilapidated state. In August 2021 GoH announced that after being given a ''State protected monument'' status, the fort will be conserved and developed into a tourist attraction. The details of the subsequent conservation project efforts are awaited by the civic society.

References

{{Haryana 16th-century forts in India Buildings and structures completed in 1588 Forts in Haryana