A festival for a king who wrote about music
Mewaris remember Rana Kumbha as a warrior and a builder of forts. Musicians remember him as one of their own.
Few medieval Indian kings left so clear a sense of a man who cared about beauty as much as power. The festival was created in that spirit, so that for three days the fort is used, as Kumbha might have wished, for music.
His reign: Kumbha came to the throne of Mewar in 1433 and ruled until 1468, spending much of it at war with the sultans of Malwa and Gujarat.
A builder of forts: tradition credits him with building or strengthening a great many of the kingdom's forts.
Facts to know
- When
- Usually early December
- Where
- Kumbhalgarh Fort, Rajsamand district
- Lasts
- Three days
- Best day
- Any evening, for the music in the lit fort
- Book by
- Two to three months ahead
- Good for
- Couples, families, music lovers, photographers
- The greatest of them: Kumbhalgarh, high in the Aravalli hills about 85 kilometres north of Udaipur.
- Its dates: the Archaeological Survey of India dates its main construction to roughly 1443 to 1458.
- Its wall: about 36 kilometres over ridges and down into valleys, one of the longest fortification walls anywhere.
- A scholar: he is credited with works on music, including the Sangitaraja, a large treatise on the art.
- A patron: of poets, architects, sculptors and temple builders of every faith.
- Ranakpur: under his rule and with his patronage, the Jain merchant Dharna Shah raised the marble temple of Ranakpur in the forested valley west of the fort.
- The Kirti Stambha: at Chittorgarh he raised the tower of victory, covered in carved figures of gods and musicians.
- The festival: created by Rajasthan Tourism, it brings classical and folk artists from across India to perform inside the fort, with craft stalls and village games by day.
- Old and new: a modern festival in an ancient setting, and one of the most beautiful evenings in the state's cultural calendar.
- Read more: our Kumbhalgarh guide tells the full story, from Kumbha's death at the Mamadev temple to the birth of Maharana Pratap within its walls.
When the festival is held
Unlike most festivals in Rajasthan, this one does not follow the moon. It follows the season.
The dates: usually known some weeks ahead, but they have shifted in some years, and the programme of artists is announced late.
Our promise: we confirm the dates each year as soon as they are published, and hold rooms for the likely week in the meantime.
Facts to know
- Usual dates
- Three days in early December
- Recent years
- Most often the first days of the month
- Set by
- Rajasthan Tourism, not the moon
- Altitude
- About 1,100 metres
- Evenings
- Chilly enough for a coat
- Dates
- We confirm them each year
- The weather: warm, sunny days, cold nights, and clear light for photographs of the wall.
- Cooler than Udaipur: at about 1,100 metres, the fort is noticeably cooler, and evenings on the ramparts can be chilly enough for a coat.
- Winter mist: the valleys often fill with it at dawn, so that the wall seems to float above a white sea.
- Read more: our guide to the best time to visit Kumbhalgarh goes month by month, and Rajasthan in December covers the rest of the state.
Local tip
Come in early December, just before the Christmas and New Year rush fills the hill resorts. The weather is perfect, the festival is on, and the crowds have not yet arrived.
The stage: a fortified valley in the hills
Kumbhalgarh is closer to a fortified valley than a castle, big enough to grow food and sit out a siege. For three days it becomes a theatre.
The gates: the approach climbs through a sequence of them, among them Ram Pol and Hanuman Pol, set at sharp angles so an attacking army could never charge straight through.
A hill town inside: palaces, water tanks, farmland, ruined houses and more than three hundred Hindu and Jain temples by the usual count.
- Badal Mahal: the palace of clouds at the very top, added much later in the time of Maharana Fateh Singh.
- The view: the finest in the fort, over the wall, the forest and the plains of Marwar.
- The stage: performances have been held in the open spaces inside the fort, with gates, bastions and palace walls lit up behind.
- Lit every night: the walls are lit every evening of the year after the light and sound show, but during the festival the whole fort seems to glow, and drums carry across the valleys.
- Read more: our journal on the Kumbhalgarh wall walk describes our favourite stretches for festival mornings.
Local tip
Between performances, walk a short way along the lit ramparts with a guide and a torch, and look back at the stage from above.
What happens during the festival
Each year's line-up changes, but the shape of the festival stays the same: the days for crafts and games, the evenings for music and dance.
Classical dance and music
- The evenings: often classical dancers and musicians from across India, in styles such as Kathak, Odissi or Bharatanatyam, with classical singers and instrumentalists.
- The image to take home: a Kathak dancer spinning in front of a fifteenth-century gate, with the wall lit up on the hills behind her.
Folk performers of Rajasthan
The dances: the swirling Ghoomar of Rajput women, and the Kalbelia dancers in black and silver.
- The desert music: Manganiyar and Langa musicians with their kamaicha and sarangi.
- Terah Taali: of the Kamad community, in which women play small cymbals tied to their bodies.
- Read more: our page on folk music and dance introduces them.
Puppets and storytellers
- Kathputli: past programmes have included puppet shows, which children adore. Our page on kathputli puppet theatre explains the tradition.
- Ballads: storytellers performing the old ballads of Rajasthan.
Crafts by day
The stalls: textiles, pottery, wooden toys, jewellery, miniature paintings and more, from Mewar and beyond.
- Demonstrations: some years artisans show their work.
- Buy well: from the makers if you can, and ask our guide which pieces are local.
Village games and contests
- The contests: turban tying, mehndi, tug of war and traditional village games, with visitors and locals joining in.
- The favourite: turban tying. A member of our team will happily coach you beforehand. Read about it on our Rajasthani turban page.
The light and sound show
- The story: narrated in Hindi, it tells of Rana Kumbha, Panna Dhai's escape with the infant Udai Singh and the life of Maharana Pratap.
- Timings: they may change during the festival, so we check them each year.
A festival day, the way we plan it
The festival gives you the evenings. The mornings belong to the wall, and the afternoons to rest.
Facts to know
- Sunrise
- A quiet stretch of wall
- Mid-morning
- Temples
- Late morning
- Crafts and contests
- Afternoon
- Lunch, swim, rest
- Around four
- Badal Mahal for last light
- Evening
- Music and dance
Sunrise, the wall
- At first light: be on the wall with a guide and a flask of chai, and walk a quiet stretch as the mist lifts.
- Why: the stone is cool, the light comes sideways across the hills, and you will have it almost to yourself.
Mid-morning, the temples
- Neelkanth Mahadev: a fifteenth-century Shiva temple ringed by stone pillars, where local families pour water and milk over the lingam in the morning.
- Then: the Vedi temple near Hanuman Pol and, if you have energy, the Jain shrines and the Bawan Devi, the fifty-two shrines.
Late morning, the crafts and contests
- Wander and join in: the craft stalls, the turban tying and the village games.
- By noon: the sun is strong, and it is time to go down to your hotel.
Afternoon, rest
- Slow down: lunch at your hotel, a swim if the sun is warm, and a long rest. The evening will be late and cold.
Late afternoon, Badal Mahal
- Go back up around four: climb to Badal Mahal for the last light over the hills.
- Stay on: watch the wall turn gold, then stay as the lights come on.
Evening, the performances
Wrap up: a warm coat and a shawl for the music and dance.
- Our arrangements: hot drinks and a place at the edge of the audience, so you can leave easily.
- Home: the drive down to your hotel takes only a few minutes.
The stories the performers are standing on
Twice in the sixteenth century, the future of Mewar depended on these walls. Every evening of the festival, you sit a few steps from where it happened.
The child's nurse, Panna Dhai, is said to have put her own son in the prince's bed and smuggled Udai Singh out of Chittor in a basket of fruit. She carried him to safety, he was raised in hiding, and he was eventually crowned at Kumbhalgarh.
A dark beginning: in 1468 Kumbha was killed by his own son, Udai Singh I, while at prayer near the Mamadev temple on the lower slope of the fort.
Uda the murderer: Mewar remembers that son as Uda Hatiyaro, and he ruled for only a few years. Our guides tell the story plainly, at the temple and its stepped tank.
Facts to know
- 1468
- Kumbha killed near the Mamadev temple
- 1530s
- Panna Dhai saves the infant Udai Singh
- 1540
- Maharana Pratap born, usually dated 9 May
- 1559
- Udai Singh founds Udaipur
- 1578
- The only fall of the fort
- Early 1580s
- Pratap wins it back
- The usurper: in the 1530s, after the second siege of Chittorgarh, Banvir seized the throne and set out to kill the infant heir, another Udai Singh.
- The new capital: that rescued prince went on to found Udaipur in 1559.
- Pratap's birth: his eldest son, Maharana Pratap, was born at Kumbhalgarh, usually dated to 9 May 1540.
- Mewar's great hero: Pratap refused to submit to Akbar and fought the Mughal army at Haldighati in 1576.
- The only fall: after that battle Mughal forces besieged Kumbhalgarh, and in 1578, after a shortage of drinking water inside the walls, they took it.
- Won back: Pratap recovered it in the early 1580s.
- Respect: you will see Indian families touching the walls of the rooms associated with his birth, and during the festival the light and sound show tells the whole story under the stars.
The forest around the festival
Kumbhalgarh is not only a fort. It stands at the centre of a sanctuary of dry hills and forest where wolves and leopards still live.
In December: the forest is dry and open after the monsoon green has faded, and the mornings are cool, a good season for a short jeep drive or a walk with a naturalist.
What you may see: langurs, nilgai, peacocks, jungle fowl and many birds. Leopards and wolves live here too, but they are shy and seen only rarely.
Facts to know
- Sanctuary
- About 610 square kilometres
- Districts
- Rajsamand, Udaipur and Pali
- Often seen
- Langurs, nilgai, peacocks, jungle fowl
- Rarely seen
- Leopards and wolves
- Classic walk
- Fort down to Ranakpur
- The Ranakpur walk: it descends from the fort through the sanctuary to the western side of the hills, coming out close to the marble temple.
- Who it suits: fit walkers on the morning after the festival, with a local guide and a vehicle waiting at the end.
- For big cats: combine the festival with Jawai, where leopards are seen far more often.
- The Bhils: Bhil communities live in the valleys around the fort. Their ancestors fought beside the Mewar rulers, above all Maharana Pratap in his years in the hills, which is why a Bhil figure stands on the royal coat of arms.
- On the drive up: small fields of wheat and mustard green in December, women carrying water and firewood, children walking to school.
Eating well in the hills
December in Mewar is the season of maize, ghee and long dinners by a fire.
Country cooking of Mewar: the food of the Kumbhalgarh hills.
Makki ki roti: maize bread, with white butter and jaggery.
- Dal baati: baked wheat rolls broken into dal and drenched in ghee.
- Vegetables: seasonal ones cooked with buttermilk.
- Raab: in winter, a warming thin porridge of maize or millet with buttermilk and spices.
- At the resorts: they cook Mewari dishes well if you ask.
- Read more: our Rajasthani food guide and our page on food and royal kitchens describe the dishes.
Local tip
On festival nights, ask your resort for a dinner on the lawn around a fire after the performances. It is one of the pleasures of the stay.
Good manners at the fort
The festival is relaxed and friendly. The fort is also a working place of worship and a protected monument.
Working temples: shoes off, shoulders covered and no photographs of worshippers without asking.
Performers: ask before photographing them up close, and avoid flash during classical performances.
- After dark: keep to the paths on the walls. The ramparts have long drops and uneven stone.
- No climbing: don't climb on the monuments for a photograph. Kumbhalgarh is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
- Langurs: keep food out of sight. They are bold, and they know what a lunch bag looks like.
- Dress: warmly and modestly. Evenings in December are cold on the hill.
- Artisans: buy at fair prices, and bargain gently or not at all with makers selling their own work.
- Contests: enjoy them. Nobody minds a badly tied turban, and everybody minds a bad loser.
Where to stay for the festival
There is no palace hotel inside Kumbhalgarh, and that is part of its charm. The best plan for the festival is a hotel a few minutes below the walls.
Facts to know
- Stay
- At least two nights below the fort
- Book by
- Two to three months ahead
- Why early
- Festival, then Christmas holidays
- For character
- Rawla Narlai, about an hour away
- For leopards
- Jawai, about two and a half hours
- Close to the gate: you enjoy the evening performances and a sunrise walk on the wall without a late drive on a mountain road.
- Compare: our guide to luxury hotels near Kumbhalgarh covers them all.
The resorts below the walls
The Aodhi: one of the longest established, a quiet country lodge about a kilometre from the walls, with rooms spread over the hillside, a pool and a spa.
- Radisson Blu Resort Kumbhalgarh: larger, and run to international standards.
- Fateh Safari Lodge: a smaller boutique lodge with views towards the fort and the plains.
- All of them: minutes from the festival.
Rawla Narlai, for character
- What it is: Rawla Narlai, a seventeenth-century hunting lodge in a village beneath a granite hill, about an hour away on the western side.
- Who it suits: guests who would rather sleep in a noble family's old house than a resort, and are happy to drive back after the performances.
Deogarh and Devigarh
Deogarh: Deogarh Mahal, a seventeenth-century hill palace north of Kumbhalgarh, still run by its noble family.
- Devigarh: RAAS Devigarh at Delwara, between Udaipur and the fort, a hill palace reimagined as a calm modern marble hotel.
- When: both are lovely before or after the festival.
With the leopards at Jawai
- The camp: SUJAN JAWAI, a luxury tented camp among the granite hills and leopards of Jawai, about two and a half hours west.
- One journey: we often plan Kumbhalgarh, Ranakpur and Jawai together.
What to combine with the festival
Kumbhalgarh is a natural stop between Udaipur and Jodhpur, and early December is a fine time to travel the whole route.
Ranakpur
- The temple: the great marble Jain temple of Ranakpur, built with Kumbha's patronage, about an hour west down a winding road through the sanctuary.
- When: as it opens to visitors on the morning after the festival.
Udaipur and the Shilpgram fair
- The fair: Udaipur, about two and a half hours south, holds a large crafts fair each December at Shilpgram, the crafts village west of Fateh Sagar.
- A month for the arts: together with Kumbhalgarh, it makes December special in Mewar.
Mewar and Marwar
- Through the pass: our Mewar and Marwar journey links the two kingdoms at Kumbhalgarh, and fits the festival perfectly.
- Slower: for Mewar alone, see Mewar Lakes and Temples.
Jawai and its leopards
- Where: Jawai, two and a half hours west, where leopards live among granite hills and are seen far more often than around Kumbhalgarh.
- In December: cold, clear mornings.
Christmas in a palace
- The timing: the festival falls a few weeks before Christmas.
- Our favourite plan: begin at Kumbhalgarh and end in a palace for the holidays. See Christmas and New Year in Rajasthan.
Who will love the Kumbhalgarh Festival
This is a gentle festival, and that is its great virtue.
Music lovers: you will love it if you enjoy classical and folk music and dance, and would rather see them in a fifteenth-century fort than a modern auditorium.
Couples: they love the evenings.
- Families: children enjoy the puppets, the contests and the village games, and the crowds are cheerful rather than overwhelming.
- Photographers: they find the lit walls and the dancers against the stone irresistible.
- Day-trippers of the past: anyone once rushed through Kumbhalgarh from Udaipur will understand, at last, why we always suggest a night here.
- Less suited: those who want a big, loud festival on the scale of Pushkar or Kota, or dislike cold evenings outdoors.
- Mobility: the fort is hilly, with steep paths and many steps, so talk to us before planning to climb to Badal Mahal.
- Seating: simple, at the performances.
What we tell friends before the festival
Small things make the three days easy.
Two nights below the fort: a day trip from Udaipur misses both the evening and the dawn.
Pack for both: a warm coat, a hat and a shawl for the evenings, and layers for the warm days.
- A small torch: for the walk back from the performances.
- Good grip: the fort's paths and steps are steep and polished by centuries of feet.
- Keep the next morning free: for Ranakpur.
- Ask early about dates: the festival week moves a little from year to year.
Local tip
Ask your guide to tell you Panna Dhai's story on the spot where it is set. It is a different thing entirely, heard inside the walls that saved the boy.