During the Indian Mutiny of 1857, several Europeans were moved to Nahargarh fort by the king of Jaipur, Sawai Ram Singh, for their protection.
Nahargarh Fort was built by Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh II, the founder of Jaipur.
Nahargarh Fort never came under attack during the course of its history
The fort was extended in 1868, during the reign of Sawai Ram Singh. In 1883-92, a range of palaces was built at Nahargarh by Dirgh Patel at a cost of nearly three and a half lakh rupees.
Until April 1944, the Jaipur State government used Nahargarh Fort for its official purposes solar time read from the Samrat Yantra in the Jantar Mantar Observatory, with a gun fired from Nahargarh Fort as the time signal.
Nahargarh Fort stands on the edge of the Aravalli Hills, overlooking the city of Jaipur in the Indian state of Rajasthan.
The popular belief is that Nahar here stands for Nahar Singh Bhomia, whose spirit haunted the place and obstructed construction of the fort.
The scenes were shot in Nahargarh Fort by some famous Bollywood films such as Rang De Basanti and Jodhaa Akbar.
The Madhavendra Bhawan in Nahargarh Fort was built for the Royal Women, The rooms of the castle have also been linked to the corridors, this is because the King could go to any queen’s room without notifying the other queens.
The Ajanta Caves are mentioned in the memoirs of several medieval era Chinese Buddhist travellers to India and by a Mughal-era official of Akbar era in the early 17th century.
The Ajanta Caves are one of the oldest UNESCO World Heritage Sites in India.
On 28 April 1819 a British officer named John Smith, of the 28th Cavalry, while hunting tigers discovered the entrance to Cave No. 10 when a local shepherd boy guided him to the location and the door.
The second period of construction was carried out during the rule of Emperor Harishena of the Vakataka dynasty.
The Ajanta Caves are approximately 30 rock-cut Buddhist cave monuments which date from the 2nd century BCE to about 480 CE in Aurangabad district of Maharashtra state of India.
The Ajanta caves are home to paintings and sculptures that depict the heavy influence of Buddhist philosophy and religious teachings of the Buddha.
The Ajanta Caves constitute ancient monasteries and worship-halls of different Buddhist traditions carved into a 75-metre (246 ft) wall of rock.
The Ajanta Caves are generally agreed to have been made in two distinct phases, the first during the 2nd century BCE to 1st century CE, and a second several centuries later.
The caves are over 2,000 years old, the Buddha statues had been added close 600 years later.
The caves of Ajanta were excavated from a horse-shoe shaped cliff along river Waghora.
There are 379 stairs inside the minaret to reach the top.
The Qutub Minar was perceived as the symbol of the beginning of Muslim rule in India.
There is a 2,000 years old iron pillar in the complex that hasn’t rusted in over two centuries.
There are more than half a dozen other minor monuments in the Qutub Minar Complex, that include mosques, tombs and pillars.
Qutub Minar is 73 metres (240 feet) tall.
The diameter of Qutub Minar is 14.32 metres at the base and 2.75 metres at the top.
Qutub Minar was built by Qutub-ud-Din Aibak in 1193.
The construction of the Qutub Minar was started by Qitub-ud-Din Aibak, but he only constructed the basement. The construction of the tower was later taken over by his successor Iltutmish who constructed three more stories. The last two storeys were completed Firoz Shah Tuglak.
Qutub Minar is named after Qutb al-Din Aibak – the founder of Delhi Sultanate.
The Iron Pillar located in Delhi, India, is a 7 m column in the Qutb complex. The iron pillar has stood the test of time and resisted rust since the last 2000 years.
The settlement at Amer was founded by Raja Alan Singh who was a ruler from the Chanda clan of Meenas in 967 CE
The Palace is divided into six separate but main sections each with its own entry gate and courtyard.
Amer is a town with an area of 4 square kilometres.
Amber Fort is a fort located in Amer, Rajasthan, India. located 11 kilometres from Jaipur, the capital of Rajasthan.
Amber Fort, along with five other forts of Rajasthan, was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site as part of the group Hill Forts of Rajasthan.
The Amer fort is built of red sandstone and marble.
Amber takes its name from Amba Mata, the fertility and earth goddess of the Minas
Amber Fort in Jaipur was built in 1592, by the Rajah Man Singh I.
Ganesh Pol is a very exquisitely decorated entrance gate to the third courtyard which houses the private premises of the ruler, named after Lord Ganesha who is a symbol of wisdom and new beginnings.
There is a secret tunnel of 2 Km at Amber fort that connects it to the Jaigarh fort.
Hawa Mahal has been built in the shape of a crown.
The structure was built in 1799 by Maharaja Sawai Pratap Singh, the grandson of Maharaja Sawai Jai Singh, who was the founder of Jaipur.
In 2006, renovation works on the Mahal were undertaken, after a gap of 50 years, to give a facelift to the monument at an estimated cost of Rs 4.568 million.
The Hawa Mahal’s windows were designed to replicate the honeycomb of a beehive.
This palace is a five-story pyramidal shaped monument that rises to about 50 feet (15 m).
Hawa Mahal was also known as the chef-d’œuvre of Maharaja Jai Singh as it was his favourite resort because of the elegance and built-in interior of the Mahal.
Hawa Mahal is a palace in Jaipur, India approximately 300 kilometres from the capital city of Delhi.
The monument stands upright because of its pyramidal shape. It is a five-storey building, but due to the lack of solid foundations, it is curved and leans at an angle of 87 degree.
Hawa Mahal means the ‘Palace of Winds’ or the ‘Wind Palace’.
Hawa Mahal does not have a direct entrance; you will have to enter from the side of the City Palace.
The Taj Mahal incorporates and expands on design traditions of Persian and earlier Mughal architecture.
The Taj Mahal was built by 22,000 labourers, painters, stonecutters, embroidery artists.
The name Taj Mahal means “crown of palaces”.
The Taj Mahal is located in Agra, a city in the Uttar Pradesh region of northern India.
Legend has it that Emperor Shah Jahan intended to build another Taj Mahal in black marble across the river but a war with his sons interrupted these plans.
The Taj Mahal was designated as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1983 for being “the jewel of Muslim art in India and one of the universally admired masterpieces of the world’s heritage”.
Under the British control in the late 19th century, the Taj Mahal’s greenery adopted a subtler character more common to British gardens.
On the sides of the actual tomb of Mumtaz Mahal, has 99 names of Allah can be found as calligraphic inscriptions.
The Taj Mahal is actually cracking at an alarming rate due to lack of groundwater beneath the structure.
The Taj Mahal is made of white marble.
In 2008, a Bangladeshi filmmaker constructed a replica of the Taj Mahal at a cost of US $56 million dollars so that his impoverished countrymen in Bangladesh could enjoy the famous monument without travelling to India. The replication took five years to complete with modern equipment.
Cars and buses are strictly prohibited from coming within 500 meters of the Taj Mahal.
Taj Mahal is the most famous Indian landmark.
Taj Mahal was declared a winner of the New 7 Wonders of the World (2000–2007) initiative.
Taj Mahal was commissioned in 1632 by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan (reigned from 1628 to 1658) to house the tomb of his favourite wife, Mumtaz Mahal; it also houses the tomb of Shah Jahan himself.
The full height of the Taj Mahal is 171 metres (561 feet).
Ustad Ahmad Lahauri, generally regarded as the chief architect of the Taj Mahal, was not Indian; he was a Persian from Iran.
The materials that were used to build Taj Mahal were transported to the construction site by 1,000 elephants.
Islamic tradition forbids the decoration of graves, so Shah Jahan and his wife are actually buried in a plain crypt beneath the main inner chamber of the Taj Mahal.
The Taj Mahal complex is bordered on three sides by crenellated red sandstone walls; the side facing the river is open.
Taj Mahal attracts 2-4 million visitors annually with over 200,000 from overseas.
The Taj Mahal complex includes a large garden, a reflecting pool, a mosque and other mausoleums.
British soldiers pried precious stones from the walls of the Taj Mahal during the Sepoy Rebellion in 1857.
False structures and scaffolding were constructed around the Taj Mahal throughout different conflicts to confuse German, Japanese, and Pakistani bomber pilots.
The garden uses raised pathways that divide each of the four quarters of the garden into 16 sunken parterres or flowerbeds.
Patna is the capital and largest city of the state of Bihar in India.
Patna has an area of 250 square kilometres (97 sq mi).
Patna was founded in 490 BCE by the king of Magadha. Ancient Patna, known as Patliputra, was the capital of the Magadh Empire under the Haryanka, Nanda, Mauryan, Shunga, Gupta and Pala empires.
The Patna urban agglomeration is the 18th largest in India.
Patna serves as the seat of Patna High Court.
The modern city of Patna is situated on the southern bank of the river Ganges.
The Patna Golf Club was established on 21 March 1916 is one of the oldest golf course of India.
Patna hosted the first-ever woman’s Kabaddi world cup. It was held at the Patliputra Sports Complex, Kankarbagh from 1 to 4 March 2012.
The estimated population of Patna is 2.4 Million, as of 2020.
The Buddhist, Hindu and Jain pilgrimage centres of Vaishali, Rajgir, Nalanda, Bodh Gaya and Pawapuri are nearby and Patna City is also a sacred city for Sikhs as the tenth Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh was born here.
Vadodara is the 18th-largest city in India with an area of 235 square kilometres.
The moon of Baroda is 24.04 carats cut diamond discovered in Vadodara.
Vadodara is the third-largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It is the administrative headquarters of Vadodara District.
Vadodara is known as Sanskari Nagari, The Cultural City, and Kala Nagari, the city of art, of India.
Kamati Baug is the largest garden in western India, situated in Vadodara.
Vadodara is located at 22.30°N 73.19°E in western India at an elevation of 39 metres (128 ft).
The highest recorded temperature was 46.7 °C on 11 May 1960 crossed with 48.0 °C on 19 May 2016, while the lowest recorded temperature was −1.1 °C on 15 January 1935.
India’s first-ever Narrow Gauge was laid in Vadodara in 1862 and the first railway to be owned by a princely state.
The golden period in the Maratha rule of Vadodara started with the accession of Maharaja Sayajirao III in 1875
The world-famous Kovalam Beach is situated in this area of Trivandrum City.
Kovalam is an area of Trivandrum City in Kerala, India, located around 17 km south of the city centre.
Kovalam first received attention when the Regent Maharani Sethu Lakshmi Bayi of Travancore constructed her beach resort, Halcyon Castle, here towards the end of the 1920s.
Kovalam means a grove of coconut trees and true to its name the village offers an endless sight of coconut trees.
Kovalam has three beaches separated by rocky outcroppings in its 17 km coastline, the three together form the famous crescent of the Kovalam beach.
The larger of the beaches is called Lighthouse Beach for its 35 meters high lighthouse which towers over it atop Kurumkal hillock.
The nearest train station is Thiruvananthapuram Central railway station, about 16 km (9.94 mi) away.
The sands on the beaches in Kovalam are partially black in colour due to the presence of ilmenite and Monazite.
Goa is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the region known as the Konkan, and geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats.
Goa is India’s smallest state by area and the fourth-smallest by population.
Goa has the highest GDP per capita among all Indian states.
Goa was known by many names, such as Gomanchala, Gopakapattana, Gopakapattam, Gopakapuri, Govapuri, Govem, and Gomantak.
Rock art engravings found in Goa exhibit the earliest traces of human life in India.
one-third of Goa is covered by forest.
Panaji is the headquarters of North Goa district and is also the capital of Goa.
Dudhsagar Falls which has a height of 310 m is one of the highest falls of India.
In 1524, the Portuguese captain Vasco da Gama landed in Goa.
On 18th December, the Portuguese governor officially surrendered, and the next day, Goa officially became a part of India, Goa celebrates this second independence day on 19th December every year.
Goa’s major cities include Panaji, Margao, Vasco, Mapusa, Ponda, Bicholim, and Valpoi.
In the 3rd century BC, Goa was part of the Maurya Empire, ruled by the Buddhist emperor, Ashoka of Magadha.
Goa encompasses an area of 3,702 km2 (1,429 sq mi). It lies between the latitudes 14°53′54″ N and 15°40′00″ N and longitudes 73°40′33″ E and 74°20′13″ E.
Goa features a tropical monsoon climate under the Köppen climate classification.
Due to the High amount of Tourists, Goa has over 7,000 bars.
The politics of Goa are a result of the uniqueness of this region due to 450 years of Portuguese rule, in comparison to three centuries of British colonialism experienced by the rest of India.
The estimated population of Goa is 1.5 Million as of 2020.
The first medical school of India was established in Panaji, Goa in 1842. It is demolished in 2004.
Goa is the second state in India after Orissa where world-famous olive ridley turtles flock the Morjim to lay their eggs.
The state is divided into two districts: North Goa and South Goa. Each district is administered by a district collector, appointed by the Indian government.
