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Gohad Fort is situated at Gohad
city in Bhind district of Madhya Pradesh, India. The
town is situated at a distance of 45 km from Gwalior.The
site of Gohad fort was selected strategically on the
Vaisli River where it takes a circular turn. The Gohad
fort is in circular shape. It is protected by the
rampart constructed around the fort in a length of 5
km. The river was dug and flow of river was extended up
to the fort to take a semi circular shape. The fort has
7 gates named after the villages to which they face and
the way they lead to. These are Itayli (in south),
Barthara (in west), Gohadi (in northwest), Birkhari (in
northeast), Kathwan (in east), Kharaua (in southeast)
and Saraswati. Gohad fort has following important
buildings inside the fort: ‘Navin Mahal’, constructed
by Maharana Chhatra Singh, is the most attracting
building used now as government offices. This has got
Diwane Ām, Diwane Khās and other offices needed at
that time. The architectural peculiarity of this
building was that the King could reach the top storey
riding on horse through a gently sloped rounded ramp.
Other buildings are Khās Mahal, Shish Mahal,
Sāt-Bhānwar, Deoghar, Khās Darbār, Ām Darbār, Bhandār
Grih and Rāni Bāgh. There are temples of Rāma Jānaki,
Laxman, Rādhā Krirshna, Shiva and Markandeshwar. There
are also ponds namely Rāmsāgar, Bhimsāgar, Laxmantāl
etc. The fort was protected with four lines of defence.
Constructing an outer rampart of 10-metre height
surrounded with a trench created the first line of
defence. Depositing the soil dug out from the trench
inside the outer rampart created the second line of
defence. Constructing a pucca trench with higher wall
created the third line of defence. This wall 1 km in
length, was safeguarded by Laxman Tal (pond) and deep
Vaisli River. This wall had two gates namely ‘Hathai
paur’ (east) and Sankal gate (west). Constructing a
very high and the strongest wall half km long created
the fourth line of defence. This was for the personal
safety of the King and his places. Maharana Chhatra
Singh inside this wall except ‘Navin Mahal’
constructed all the important buildings.
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