A fort built to guard a fort
Amber was a palace. Jaigarh was its bodyguard, standing on the one hill from which an enemy might have looked down into the king's courtyards.
Six centuries in the valley: the Kachwaha Rajputs ruled from Amer long before Jaipur existed.
A palace overlooked: their palace sat low above Maota Lake, comfortable and beautiful, with a higher, steeper hill rising above it. Whoever held that summit held Amber.
The fort of victory: the kings fortified it, and the defences grew into Jaigarh, named after Sawai Jai Singh II, who gave it most of its present shape in the early eighteenth century.
At a glance
- Built
- Mainly early eighteenth century
- Built by
- Sawai Jai Singh II, on older defences
- Open
- By day, leave before dark
- Allow
- About two hours
- Best time
- Mid to late afternoon
- Photography
- Long lens for Amber, wide for the ridge
- Getting there
- By road from the Amer side
- The hill of eagles: its hill is the Cheel ka Teela, and on a clear afternoon kites and eagles still ride the air above the walls.
- Three kilometres of ridge: the fort stretches north to south along the hill, linked to Amber below by fortified walls and passages.
- The escape route: in danger the royal family could move up from the palace unseen. The long wall snaking down the hillside is that route.
- A working fort: it held soldiers, stores, weapons, water and, by repute, the dynasty's treasure.
- Never taken: the working heart of Kachwaha military power was never captured in battle.
- Who runs it today: a charitable trust of the former royal family manages the fort.
- After 1727: when Jai Singh moved his capital to the plain, the fort guarded both the old palace and the approach to the new city.
- Generals of the empire: from Akbar's reign, the kings of Amer were among the Mughals' most trusted generals and governors, and guns cast here served imperial campaigns too.
- Read more: our piece on Mughal and Rajput history explains why a Rajput fort above Amber came to hold one of north India's great arsenals.
The cannon foundry and the Jaivana
In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries Jaigarh was one of the most important cannon foundries in India. Its masterpiece still stands on the walls.
Why guns here: the hills around Amer had iron ore, and the Kachwahas, as Mughal generals, had every reason to make guns.
A great foundry: under the emperors, Jaigarh became one of the most important in India.
What survives: a furnace once fanned by wind drawn through channels in the hill, and a deep casting pit for pouring molten metal into moulds.
The Jaivana in brief
- Cast
- 1720, at Jaigarh
- Barrel
- More than six metres long
- Weight
- Around fifty tonnes
- Fired in war
- Never
- Claim
- Once the largest cannon on wheels
- Ox-power: you can also see where a boring machine turned by oxen drilled out the barrels.
- Rare survival: it is unusual to see so much of a pre-industrial arms factory in place, and it explains why so many cannon of this region came from one hilltop.
- The Jaivana: cast here in 1720, in Jai Singh II's reign. Its barrel is over six metres long and it weighs around fifty tonnes.
- Wheels taller than you: in its day it was the largest cannon on wheels in the world.
- The one shot: legend says it was fired once as a test, with a hundred kilograms of gunpowder, and the ball flew some thirty-five kilometres.
- The pond: the crater became a village pond. Every guide tells it differently, and every village in the valley seems to claim the spot.
- Look closely: cast ornament runs along the barrel, made by craftsmen who thought a weapon of state should be beautiful as well as frightening.
- The gunners' view: walk round it slowly, then step back to the wall and look across the valley. You'll see why the kings felt safe on the plain below.
Local tip
Go to the Jaivana first, before the tour groups gather around it, then walk the foundry while they crowd the cannon.
Walking the fort, from gate to garden
Jaigarh is big and open, and it rewards a guide who knows the order. This is the route we follow.
The route
- Arrive
- Main gate, road from the Amer side
- First
- The Jaivana, before the groups
- Then
- Foundry, armoury, tanks, apartments
- Garden
- Aram Mandir
- Finish
- Watchtower and walls
The gates and the approach
By road: most visitors arrive from the Amer side and enter through the main gate onto the ridge.
- On foot: a steeper route climbs up from Amber itself, a good walk on a cool winter morning.
- Awani Darwaza: on the western side, a triple-arched gate.
- First impression: space, long walls, wide courts and sky. A garrison fort built for movement and storage, not display.
The foundry and the Jaivana
- Cannon first: we go before the tour groups gather around it.
- Then the works: your guide explains how a fifty-tonne gun was cast on a hilltop with fire, wind and oxen.
The armoury and museum
The armoury: swords, shields, matchlock guns and cannonballs, including one said to weigh about fifty kilograms.
- The museum: old royal family photographs, hand-drawn palace plans, coins, stamps and curiosities from the household.
- Time needed: old-fashioned, and we like it that way. Ten or fifteen minutes is enough.
The water tanks
- Where: great underground tanks beneath the central courtyard, among the largest in any Rajput fort.
- What to see: the openings and the channels that fed them, the real engineering marvel of the fort.
The palace apartments
Who built them: Jai Singh II and his successors, for the king's stays at the fort.
- What they're like: modest by Amber's standards, with painted walls, small courtyards and windows over the valley.
- Why go: they show how a Rajput ruler lived among his soldiers rather than his court.
Aram Mandir and its garden
- What it is: the hall of rest, on the northern side, with a courtyard garden in the formal Mughal manner, quartered by water channels.
- Why go: a soft, green surprise after the hard stone, with terraces looking down onto Amber.
The temples
Ram and Harihar: one temple, often dated to the tenth century.
- Kal Bhairav: the fierce guardian form of Shiva, said to be from the twelfth.
- Older than the fort: a reminder this hill was sacred long before it was fortified. Remove your shoes and step in quietly.
The watchtower and the walls
- The watchtower: on the highest ground, with views across the Aravallis in every direction.
- The Amber walls: they look straight down onto the palace. We bring guests here in the last hour.
The water that kept the fort alive
A fort on a dry hilltop can be starved of food, but it surrenders for lack of water. Jaigarh's builders made sure that never happened.
Every drop harvested: rain falls on these hills for a few months a year, and sometimes hardly at all.
The channel: about four kilometres long, gathering runoff from the hills to the west and leading it into the fort.
Facts to know
- Rain
- A few months a year, sometimes hardly any
- Channel
- About four kilometres long
- Tanks
- Three, under the central courtyard
- Largest
- Said to hold around six million gallons
- Three huge tanks: under the central courtyard. The largest is said to hold around six million gallons.
- A long siege: with the tanks full after a good monsoon, the garrison could hold out for a very long time.
- Rajput common sense: our grandparents said the palaces were for show, but the tanks were for survival.
- The same thinking elsewhere: at Amber, at Nahargarh and in stepwells like Panna Meena ka Kund in Amer town.
- How the desert keeps water: see our page on the stepwells of Rajasthan.
- And a legend: where better to keep a king's treasure than in a dry tank under a fortress no one had ever taken?
The treasure that was never found
For centuries Jaipur whispered that the Kachwaha kings had hidden a fortune in Jaigarh. In 1976 the government came to look.
Where it starts: Raja Man Singh I of Amer led Mughal armies to Afghanistan, Bengal and the Deccan.
The plunder: he came home, the legend says, with treasure that never reached the imperial treasury, and his descendants guarded it in Jaigarh.
Facts to know
- The legend
- Man Singh I's hidden plunder
- The search
- 1976, during the Emergency
- Who searched
- Government officials, then the army
- Found
- Officially, nothing
- A growing tale: over the generations the story grew, and so did the fort's reputation as the dynasty's treasure-house.
- 1976: during the Emergency, central government officials and later an army unit searched the fort for months.
- Dug and drained: they dug, drained and swept with metal detectors. Officially, they found nothing.
- Questions in Parliament: were asked, and rumours of convoys on the Delhi road at night have never quite died.
- Our favourite theory: the treasure was real, but was spent long ago on building the city of Jaipur itself.
- Ask your guide: to show where the searches happened. Believe it or not, it shows how much power sat on this hilltop.
The best view of Amber there is
Visitors to Amber see the palace from below. From Jaigarh you see it the way an eagle does.
When: walk to the walls on the Amber side in the mid-afternoon.
Below you: the palace stepping down the hill in courts and terraces, its honey-coloured walls in the sun and gardens laid out on the lake.
The view in brief
- Where
- The walls on the Amber side
- When
- Mid-afternoon
- Below
- Amber Fort, Maota Lake and old Amer
- To the south
- The ridge to Nahargarh and the city
- Maota Lake: turns silver.
- Beyond it: the old town of Amer, its temples and havelis filling the valley, and long walls running over the hills on every side.
- A geography lesson: the clearest one in Kachwaha history you could ask for.
- Turn round: to the south the ridge runs towards Nahargarh and the plain, and on a clear day you can see Jaipur in the distance.
- Lenses: a longer one for Amber's courtyards and a wide one for the ridge. Our photography tips cover the light.
Reading a soldiers' fort
Jaigarh is not decorated to impress visitors. It is designed to defeat attackers, and the design is worth reading.
Built to defeat attackers: red sandstone, thick walls and rounded bastions that spread the force of cannon fire.
Sloping ramparts: at the corners, so defenders could move guns up and down quickly.
Angled gates: placed so an attacker could never charge straight at them.
Reading the defences
- Stone
- Red sandstone
- Bastions
- Rounded, to spread cannon fire
- Gates
- Set at angles to the approach
- Garden
- A Mughal-style charbagh
- Eyes everywhere: the central watchtower on raised ground gave the garrison a view over the whole range.
- Practical first: barracks, stores and the foundry take most of the space.
- Royal corners: the apartments and the Aram Mandir garden are tucked into the safer northern side.
- One concession to beauty: the charbagh, a garden divided into four in the Mughal style. The temples are older than everything else.
- Court and camp: at Amber the defences frame a palace. Here the palace serves the defences. Together they are the two halves of a Rajput kingdom.
- Go further: our guide to Rajasthani architecture and the best forts of Rajasthan.
The best hour, and the best season
Amber is a morning sight. Jaigarh is an afternoon one. Plan the day so the sun works for you at both.
Mid to late afternoon: the midday heat has passed, the light is warm and slanting, and Amber below is lit from the west.
Fewer people: the tour groups that rush up at noon have usually gone.
Facts to know
- Best hour
- Mid to late afternoon
- Then
- The ridge road to Nahargarh for sunset
- Best season
- October to March
- Hot months
- Short and late visits
- Clearest views
- After monsoon rain
- The perfect afternoon: two hours here leaves time to drive the ridge to Nahargarh for sunset, the most beautiful afternoon in Jaipur.
- October to March: clear skies and cool breezes on the ridge.
- December and January: perfect afternoons and cold evenings.
- April to June: hot and shadeless until late, so keep the visit short and late.
- Monsoon: the Aravallis turn green, the tanks begin to fill, and views after rain are the clearest of the year.
How to visit
Jaigarh is easy to reach and big to explore. These few points make it comfortable.
Arriving: most guests come by car on the road from the Amer side, which continues along the ridge to Nahargarh. Your chauffeur can wait at the gate.
Hire a guide: the foundry, the tanks and the treasure story only come alive with someone who knows them, and the fort is big enough to get lost in.
Before you go
- By car
- Road from Amer, on to Nahargarh
- Guide
- Essential for the foundry and tanks
- Carry
- Water and a hat, little shade
- Leave
- Before dark
- Dress for the walls: comfortable shoes with grip, water and a hat. There is little shade and long distances between the main sights.
- Limited mobility: the cannon and some courtyards can be reached by vehicle and short walks. Ramparts and watchtower involve steps and slopes. See our accessible travel guide.
- Temples: remove shoes and dress modestly.
- Monkeys: they live on the ridge. Keep food out of sight and don't feed them.
- Before dark: the ridge is forest and home to wildlife, and the road is better driven in daylight.
What most visitors miss
Most people photograph the cannon and leave. These are the things that make Jaigarh special to us.
The wall down to Amber
- Find it: the stretch of wall running from Jaigarh down the hillside to Amber Fort.
- Imagine it: the royal family climbing it under guard. It turns two monuments into one story.
The foundry, not just the cannon
- Five minutes: the furnace and casting pit tell you how the Jaivana was made.
- Why stop: it is rare to see the workshop as well as the product.
The temples at the quiet hour
- When: late afternoon, often empty but for a priest and a few bells.
- Why stop: a moment of calm before the walls.
The eagles
- Look up: the hill is named for them, and they still use it.
- When: in the afternoon thermals above the watchtower you will usually see kites and eagles turning on the wind.
Sights to pair with Jaigarh
Jaigarh is the middle link in a chain of forts and palaces. It makes most sense as part of a day on the ridge.
Close by
- Directly below
- Amber Fort
- Along the ridge
- Nahargarh
- In Amer town
- Panna Meena ka Kund
- Heading back
- Jal Mahal
Amber Fort, directly below
Morning: Amber at opening, when the Sheesh Mahal is nearly empty.
- Afternoon: rest over lunch, then climb to Jaigarh and look down at the courts you walked that morning.
- No elephants: we never book elephant rides at Amber. We walk or drive guests up.
Nahargarh, along the ridge
- How: the ridge road runs from Jaigarh to Nahargarh, which looks out over Jaipur itself.
- When: drive on for sunset as the city lights come on.
Panna Meena ka Kund
- Where: in Amer town below the forts, a geometric stepwell among the most photographed in Rajasthan.
- When: after Amber in the morning, before the light gets harsh.
Jal Mahal, on the way back
- Where: the water palace on Man Sagar Lake, on the road between Amer and Jaipur.
- How: stop on the promenade on your way back to the city.
A day with Jaigarh at its heart
This is how we plan a fort day for guests who want to see the Kachwaha world properly, without rushing.
The day at a glance
- First light
- Amber Fort as the gates open
- Midday
- A long lunch and a rest
- Afternoon
- Jaigarh as the heat eases
- Sunset
- Nahargarh, along the ridge road
Morning, the palace
First light: leave Jaipur and reach Amber Fort as the gates open.
- With a guide: the courts, the Sheesh Mahal and the Ganesh Pol.
- Then: Panna Meena ka Kund and the old town temples, and a long lunch and rest.
Afternoon, the fortress
- As the heat eases: drive up to Jaigarh.
- See: the Jaivana, the foundry and the tanks, then walk the walls above Amber and finish at the Aram Mandir garden.
Evening, the city
- Sunset: follow the ridge road to Nahargarh, then drive down for dinner.
- Plan it: our Jaipur in three nights journey uses this day, and our Jaipur itinerary guide has variations.
Where to stay close by
Jaigarh is on the Amer side of Jaipur. Stay north of the city, or choose a fort hotel of your own.
The Raj Palace
- Where: a restored nobleman's palace near the northern gates of the walled city, on the Amer side.
- Why stay: the forts are an easy drive in the morning and the afternoon.
The Leela Palace and Fairmont Jaipur
- Where: The Leela Palace Jaipur and Fairmont Jaipur are on the northern side of the city towards the Delhi road, convenient for Amer and the ridge.
- What they are: modern palace-style hotels with big rooms, pools and spas.
A fort of your own
Sleep inside walls: if Jaigarh leaves you wanting to, Alila Fort Bishangarh is a hilltop warrior fort turned hotel.
- A village palace: Samode Palace sits in a village in the Aravallis.
- Compare: our guide to luxury hotels in Jaipur.
Who will love Jaigarh, and who won't
Jaigarh is a different kind of monument from the palaces of Jaipur. It is worth knowing which kind of traveller you are.
History lovers and engineers: anyone curious about how a kingdom actually worked will find it more revealing than any palace. The foundry, tanks and walls show how power was built and kept.
Children: a cannon the size of a lorry, a treasure legend and miles of walls make a very good afternoon. Our family journeys often include it.
- Walkers and photographers: the ramparts, the eagles and the light on Amber below. Come with time to wander.
- Want painted ceilings? Jaigarh is plainer than Amber or the City Palace. Treat it as the frame rather than the picture, and give it ninety minutes.
- Heat or long walks hard for you? Keep to the cannon, the garden and one stretch of wall with a vehicle nearby, and skip the far bastions.
