Monument Name Junagarh Fort Location Bikaner State Rajasthan Timings Coordinates 28.0222, 73.3181 Wikipedia Links http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Junagarh_Fort Entrance Fee Other Details

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Encircled by a high wall and a moat, the Junagarh fort of Bikaner is an unassailable fortress. Till date, the fort has never been conquered. Raja Rai Singh, a general of the Mughal emperor Akbar, got the Junagarh fort constructed. The fort has only two gates. The main gate of the fort is east facing Karan Pol (gate). Next to it is the Suraj Pol (sun gate). The Junagarh fort is a huge complex housing a number of fascinating palaces. The main palaces are:

Moon Palace

The palace has mirrors, paintings and carved marble panels

Phool Mahal

It is adorned with glasses and mirrors.

Karan Mahal

It was built to commemorate the victory over Aurangzeb.

Anup Mahal

A multi storied palace used as the governance chambers.

All the palaces are built of red sandstone and have a range of intricately carved courtyards, balconies, kiosks, windows and towers. There is also a chapel inside the fort, Har Mandir, built for the purpose of worshipping by the royal families. Not to be missed is a museum inside the fort, displaying a rich collection of illuminated manuscripts, jewelry, jars and carpets, arms and weapons, treaties, decorations and the royal farmans (messages). Other attractions of the Junagarh fort of Bikaner, Rajasthan include Ganga Niwas, Dungar Niwas, Vijay Mahal, and Rang Mahal.

These cave groups situated at Lat. 210 31 N; Long. 700 28 E, are located in district Junagadh. They comprise of several caves worked out in different groups with the construction period ranging from 1st -4th century A.D.

Baba Pyare Caves

This group of caves lies close to the Modhimath known as Baba Pyaras. The northern group of it has four caves. The next set of caves lies little to the south of the eastern end of the first group and has a unified plan with a spacious court and a chaitya hall, apsidal in shape. The cave pillars and door jambs of the caves suggest a clear impact of art traditions of Satavahanas period and are datable to 1st 2nd century A.D. on the basis of architecture.

Khapra Kodiya Caves

This is the plainest of all cave groups. The chambers are cut into an east-west longitudinal ridge. The central part is somewhat narrow. The two important components of the caves are (a) the oblong western wing provided with a grid pattern of water tanks and (b) roughly a ‘L’ shape wing essentially fashioned to serve as an habitational apartments. On the basis of many scribbling and short cursive letters on the wall as recorded by Burgess the caves are datable to circa 3rd 4th century A.D.

Buddhist Caves

Among all the Buddhist caves these caves at Uperkot is most important caves situated north west of Jami Masjid. The cave group is in three tiers, with all members of each galleries shown in semi-relief, but only two storeys having regular floors. The upper floor has a deep tank, covered on three sides with verandahs and Kakshasana on west and north- west side. Lower floor has with corridor and pillars. The lower floor has exquisitely carved pillars whose base, shaft and capital carry unique decorative design, which may have had the Satvahana art inspiration on one hand and exotic Graeco- Scythian trends on the others. These groups of caves are assignable to 2nd 3rd century A.D.

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