Page 49 - Lohgarh

Structure and Location of the Lohgarh Fort w 49

on one side, and steep rise of hills on other side, surrounded by seasonal
rivulets flowing along with their foot, made it highly defensive. Bahadur
Shah, the Mughal Emperor himself reached Lohgarh in 1710, to free
this Fort from the Sikh army. After reaching this place, he realized the
gravity of the situation, i.e. the defensibility and invincibility of the Fort,
and, he was compelled to move back without capturing it. Now the
fear of collapse of the vast Mughal Empire hovered over his mind as a
result of which depression overwhelmed him due to which he became
insane and died after some time.
For the construction of such a large Fort, a large number of men
forces both skilled and unskilled i.e. in the shape of laborers, masons &
architect were required. The Construction materials i.e. bricks, stone of
different size, sand and crushed stone were the requirement a heavy
demand; hence, the mission was supposed to be completed secretly
without disclosing its objectives to the common man.

Remnants of Fortification Walls found at Lohgarh Fort

A systematic archaeological investigation of the site of the Lohgarh
was conducted for months together and a large number of remnants
pertaining to Fortification walls were found at Lohgarh. These
Fortification walls bear the thickness from 3 to 4 meters. Such large
and heavy Fortifications were done with anticipation of huge battle
with the Mughals and the Sikhs had the information that the Mughals’
arsonary had the world’s best cannons including the small cannons
which could be installed on the camels.
The Fortification wall was found around the Lohgarh Fort and this
wall is made of Ashlar stone masonry using dressed blocks of given
dimensions with faces perpendicular to each other and laid in the course
by using lime motor as the binding materials. The masonry and the
workmanship of the walls is wonderful.
The remains of the defense walls have been found in the Pahlori
Reserve Forest. These archaeological evidences are located in the North
east side of Fort Lohgarh. The back side of this area is a dense jungle,
which has now been declared as the Sher Jung National Park. We can