India Guide
Rajasthan
Jaisalmer Fort
Every part of JaisalmerFort, from its outer walls to the palace, temples and houses within, is made of soft yellow Jurassic sandstone. Inside the fort the narrow winding streets are flanked with carved golden facades, and from the barrel-sided bastions, some of which still bear cannons, you can see the thick walls that drop almost 100m to the town below. Two thousand people live within its walls; seventy percent of them are Brahmins and the rest, living primarily on the east side, are predominantly Rajput.
A paved road punctuated by four huge gateways winds up to the fort's main chowk (square) – large round stones lie atop the ramparts above the entrance road, waiting to be pushed down onto any enemy army trying to force its way in. The main chowk was the scene of the terrible acts of johar that took place here three times during the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries. Choosing death rather than dishonour for themselves and their children if their husbands were ever defeated on the battlefield, the women of the royal palace, which overlooks the chowk, had a huge fire built, and jumped from the palace walls into it.
The fort also holds the Palace, now serving as the Fort Palace museum; a complex of Jain temples; and several Hindu temples, including the venerable Laxminath Temple of 1494, dedicated to Laxmi.