Page 26 - Lohgarh

26 w Lohgarh : The World’s Largest Fort

The Sikh soldiers used these vines for approaching various parts of the
Fort. During the attack of an enemy, these vines proved very helpful.

Secret Passages
At the Lohgarh Fort, there were secret passages in the hills of the Fort.
These passages were not carved in a couple of hills but in almost all the
hills and at all the levels, throughout the Lohgarh Fort. Some of these
were like proper rocks and/or brick roads. Though bushes, shrubs and
trees have covered many of them, some of these are still in existence.
These were well known to the Sikhs. These passages were set up in
such a style that if a stranger tried to enter those paths, he would slip
and fall down the hill and might even lose limbs or even life. Besides,
the Sikh soldiers could hide in these passages and make a sudden attack
when the enemy reached there or tried to pass through these passages.
They could even trap the enemy and kill them.

Water system

The Lohgarh Fort had a great system of the supply of drinking water.
There was a major river, Markanda on one side of the Fort. Besides,
there were two small rivulets and more than 94 springs, falls and flows
of water (like Lohgarh Khol, Haripur Khol, Nagli Ki Khol, Boli Khol, Asrodi
Khol, Kaludeo Ka Khol, Guru Ki Khol etc.), in and around the Fort. Other
than this, there were several dams and reservoirs where water was
stored for drinking, bathing and irrigation purposes etc. More than 100
such dams are still in existence there.

Hand Mills, Oil-Pressers and Utensils
A very large number of clay utensils, hand mills, flour mill, oil presses
have been found not only in some of the hills but in a large number of
hills in various parts of the Fort also and, not only in lower hills but also
in the higher hills. It proves that several villages existed on these hills
and, a very large number of people used to live there. Families of the
soldiers might have been living there. This also shows that the Lohgarh
Fort was a very big Fort.