Kumbhalgarh - Out of the Public Eye

This was our first 3000 kms road-trip in India and no points for guessing how thrilled we really were (like little babies, you know)! The roadmap was simple and mostly focused on tolled high-way for a clean Pune-Surat-Udaipur-Kumbhalgarh-Ranakpur-Baroda-Pune expedition. We had only 5 days in hand - it was the time when I quit my job and he had to exhaust his remaining leaves before it got exhausted. January cold and sunshine pulled the spark plug - our first trip of 2018 and third trip to Rajasthan was about to begin. We travelled super-light this time with only wollens to add up to one extra small bag, besides a suitcase and my handbag thick with on-road snacks, fruits, cookies, moisturiser, and emergency medicines.

Kumbhalgarh was our last-minute detour, we ditched jodhpur for this. The reason was simple: Kumbhalgarh was greener, remoter and less popular.

About 85 kms from Udaipur, Kumbhalgarh is situated on the top of the Aravalli Hills in the middle of a forest turned into a wildlife sanctuary – Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary. We had a day stop-over in Udaipur and started driving to Kumbhalgarh early in the morning. We had booked Kumbhalgarh Forest Retreat on the way for a night. 

The Udaipur-Kumbhalgarh drive was neat. The super smooth highway would have been a champion if not for the last 10 kms of extremely bumpy and terribly dusty towpath. But you just can’t ignore the beauty of these locales, this kind of experiences make for great stories to share and you become more of a traveller than just a tourist, right!

Built by Rana Kumbha to protect Mewar against the Mughal invaders, the Kumbhalgarh Fortress wall extends to the massive length of 36 kilometres later on acknowledged to be “the Great Wall of India”. A fortress embraced by the rocky Aravalli range from all sides, it is also the birthplace of Mewar’s legendary King Maharana Pratap. In 2013, this, being the second largest fortress in Rajasthan after Chittorgarh fort, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. And on our day two, we were right in front of it admiring the grandeur. 

It was so enormously high and stocky that we thought a day trip was not enough to explore – we thought we were wrong to have only half-a-day in hand for this massive piece of architecture. Being one of the thousands of vehicles lined up along the narrow road waiting for parking, we finally, after a good 30 minutes of first gear (read: exasperating) drive, found a place. The entrance fee of Rs. 20 per person was unbelievably low with no charges for camera. It certainly kept us wondering why ain’t all the forts and palaces of Rajasthan are this economical - why some have to be like Udaipur City Palace – overhyped and overpriced!

We started climbing up crossing several gates starting with Ram Pol, the main entrance gate. At the top of the fortress was Kumbha Palace. You get a breathtakingly gorgeous aerial view of the entire fortress and its scenic surroundings from here. Something not to miss!

Near Pagda Pol, along the Kumbha Palace, there is another palace known as Jhalia ka Malia. This is the place where Maharana Pratap was born. This is mostly in ruins but is great for taking highly dramatic pictures.

Badal Mahal is at the highest point of the fort. Roof of this palace offers a first-rate view of Kumbhalgarh Wildlife Sanctuary spreading over the Aravalli Hills. The winter sun painted an auburn horizon in front of us. The cold winter breeze brushed softly against our face – after all that running-around, we sat down to soak in everything about that mighty sundown behind the great wall of India - life’s little joys and us! 

There were about 300 temples strewn across the expanse - Ganesha Temple, Swami Narayan Temple, Neelkanth Mahadeva Temple, Parsvanath Temple etc. Of these, most of them belong to Jain deities and some belong to Hindu Gods and Goddesses as well. Just in case, you have time left in hand (unlike us), do pay a visit to atleast a few and then the magnificent light and sound show in the evening to see your time travel come a full circle, quite literally.

Kumbhalgarh trip is incomplete without a safari in the sanctuary. No, don’t expect a grand Ranthambore experience here as this is more like a fun-ride to explore the wilderness while having the fortress in the background (for a quick couple picture) - you may come across a good variety of birds, sambhar and nilgai, short of anything else more wilder or exquisite.

Kumbhalgarh is for people who appreciate the unknown, the unpopular – the exquisiteness is in the backwoods, the raw wilderness, the leap into the song unsung – some of these you might not even have heard from your friends or seen in the movies and yet when you go back to the grind, you have a tale to tell to everyone you know or you want to know, something that will live forever beyond your selfies and self-love. 

Happy trails to you all !! Keep exploring the unexplored !!