The city that is a fort

Jaisalmer Fort has been continuously inhabited since the time of the Crusades. Falling once to Allaudin Khilji, it is remembered in the folk memory of India as the fort of the Aadhaa Jauhar, in which the Princesses and Queens took their own lives rather than be dehumanized as part of Khilji's harem.

Not surprisingly, it is India's second largest fort, appearing as a crown upon the rest of the city of Jaisalmer.


The rather unassuming Akh Pol [Cactus Gate] is the main entry to the Fort


The Surya Pol [Sun Gate] is positioned in such a way that enemy elephants cannot gain the momentum to breach it.


The Maharaja still celebrates Diwali on these premises


A quarter of Jaisalmer's population still lives inside the fort in small galis [alleys]


The rest lives outside the walls in an equally medieval Jaisalmer.


The last time the fort was in active use was in 1965, when Pakistani forces crept from the horizon to make an ill-conceived siege of the fort. They of course failed miserably.