Page 45 - Lohgarh

Structure and Location of the Lohgarh Fort w 45

cacti, lantana bushes, therefore a large scale assault was not possible,
from this side. Therefore, Lohgarh Fort was chosen with excellent
defensibility. In case of sieze there were many secret routes to escape
out of the Fort. It is not possible to construct such a huge Fort in a short
span of one or two years, and that too on a terrain which is about 1200
feet to 1900 feet above the sea level in the Shivalik hills. This land is still
densely forested area and for a normal man it is not possible to even to
make surveys of the area for making its design. The area is rich in
minerals of limestone and metamorphic rocks are available in ample
quality. Hence the raw materials must have been available on the spot
for construction of the Fort. Lohgarh Fort was the capital having a model
city with ample amount of water, food and ammunition.

The Western Side of the Fort
The elevated ridges (1200 to 1900 feet) of Dabar (lowest hills of Shivalik)
were chosen as the battle field which extended from Udhamgarh (near
Kala Amb) to Kalesar and exactly the centeral point of the ridges was
chosen for the Fort Lohgarh. On the North side, i.e. near Udhamgarh,
Markanda river flows which emerged from the Shivalik hills and flows
to the plain area after passing about 20 km along the hilly boundaries
of Dabar Hills, touching its feet. The width of the river while emerging
into plain area is more than 100 meter, but as it goes into and towards
Dabar hills, its width goes on decreasing and becomes deeper with more
and more high brims on both sides of the hilly areas. As the part of the
strategy the Mughal army laid a siege from 1710 to 1716, but it failed
to achieve the stereotype objective. Now a days, along the side of
Markanda river, a metalled road has been constructed from Nahan to
Paonta Sahib, through these hills. A dense forest having thorny bushes,
cacti, sub-tropical grasses, marshy meadows extends from the boundary
of the river up to the Lohgarh Fort wall.
The area between the wall of the Fort and Markanda river was thus
thickly covered with impassable forest and Sikh army made ramparts
and trenches at weak points to plug the entry of the enemy. These
thick thorny forests were also used as hide points of Sikh army so that