Garh kundar a mysterious fort

Garh Kundar is an abandoned fort quite unlike any other. For one thing, there is no visible sign of vandalism on its walls. Second, no encroachment has taken place on its premises – a fact made quite surprising since the fort has no caretaker. Third, it is squeaky clean, devoid of even bats that could otherwise have made a home in its innermost crevices.

How could a fort, forty kilometers from the nearest settlement, be in such a state of relative well-preservation? According to the locals goatherds, who themselves never venture into the fort, the fort is haunted. Bardic tradition is of the opinion that anyone who attempts to spend a night within is never seen again. Research into the fort’s history made for interesting reading.

The Kundar fort was built by the Chandellas. Over time, governance of the fort passed into the hands of the Khangar dynasty that had a love-hate relationship with the Bundelas. Matters came to a head during a marriage ceremony between a Bundela princess and a Khangar prince at the fort. After having participated in the celebrations and ensured that the Khangars were dead drunk, armed Bundelas crept into the fort in the middle of the night.

What is believed to have followed is a massacre of the Khangars in a single night after which the fort passed into Bundela control. An alternate story credits the Tughlaks with the destruction of the Khangars and says that the Bundelas snatched the fort after the Tughlak forces had withdrawn.

Whatever be the truth, the reality is that Kundar was abandoned way back in 1517 and has stayed that way since. The fort is built as a central citadel surrounded by an outer, battlemented wall. Though structurally weakened over time, both the wall and the inner citadel could last a long time with a bit of restoration. For one who lived in the constant cacophony of an urban environment, I found the silence at Kundar eerie. In the hours spent exploring the fort, not once was a sound heard, be it from man or animal.

In the time spent at the fort, I couldn’t find an answer to either eliminate the ghost theory or prove it and as my vehicle sped away the fort, it seemed to wrap itself in its comfortable blanket of silence once more.