Gwalior Fort

Gwalior Fort crowns a long sandstone ridge called Gopachal, which rises roughly 90 to 100 metres above the city of Gwalior in Madhya Pradesh. The fort may date back to the 6th century and certainly existed by the 8th century. Its steep cliffs and strong walls earned it the nickname of the Gibraltar of India.

Over the centuries it passed between many rulers, including the Tomars, the Mughals, the Marathas under the Scindias, and the British. The Tomar king Man Singh, who ruled in the late 15th and early 16th centuries, built its most famous palaces. In 1609 the Sikh Guru Hargobind was held prisoner here, an event marked by the Gurdwara Data Bandi Chhor inside the fort.

Man Mandir Palace is decorated with bands of blue, green and yellow glazed tiles showing ducks, elephants, peacocks and banana trees, and has underground rooms below. The Gurjari Mahal, built by Man Singh for his queen, now houses an archaeological museum. Teli ka Mandir is a tall early temple with an unusual barrel-vaulted roof, and the twin Sas-Bahu temples were built in 1092 and 1093. Along the rock faces of the Gopachal ridge, large Jain statues of the Tirthankaras are carved into the cliffs.

In the small Chaturbhuj Temple, a stone inscription includes one of the oldest known written forms of the number zero used with place value, an important record in the history of mathematics.

Tickets are sold at the gates, with separate rates for Indian and foreign visitors. The fort can be reached by road to the upper gate or on foot up the steep path from the Gwalior Gate on the east side. Allow at least half a day, and visit between October and March to avoid the heat.

Size of the plateau and its cliff-top walls

The fort covers about 3 square kilometres on a hill some 2.4 kilometres long and around 910 metres wide on average, reaching 104 metres at its highest point. Its walls run along the edge of the cliffs for almost the whole length of the plateau, which is why attackers found it so hard to take.

The main entrance is Hathi Pol, the Elephant Gate, on the south-east side beside Man Mandir Palace. Visitors walking up from the city pass through a chain of older gates, among them Alamgiri Darwaza, Ganesh Pol, Chaturbhuj Pol and Laxman Pol.

Teli ka Mandir and the early zero inscription

Teli ka Mandir was built by the Pratihara emperor Mihira Bhoja. Its Nagara-style tower stands 25 metres high, the tallest structure on the plateau, and it was repaired by the British in 1881 to 1883. The Chaturbhuj Temple's inscription with an early written zero is about 1,500 years old, and mathematicians still come to see it.

The Scindia School and separate monument tickets

The Scindia School, founded by Madho Rao Scindia in 1897, occupies part of the plateau, so you will see students and staff on the roads. Its buildings are not open to tourists.

Tickets are sold separately for Man Mandir and the state monuments on top, and rates vary between Indian and foreign visitors, so carry cash for several counters. The sound and light show at Man Mandir runs in Hindi and English after dark; buy tickets at the palace counter on the day, as online booking is not offered.