Amber Fort

The story of Amber Fort

Amber Fort is the palace-fortress that rises above Amer, and the first thing to notice is how its large ramparts, gates, and cobbled paths turn the hill itself into part of the defence. It stands in Amer, Rajasthan, India, about 11 kilometres from Jaipur, and it overlooks Maota Lake, which served as the main source of water for the palace.

The place belongs to the Hill Forts of Rajasthan, and its present status reflects that larger group: it was made part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2013 and is also a State Protected Monument. That means you are looking at a historic royal complex that is now conserved as heritage, not just visited as a monument.

Amber Fort was built in 1592, and later additions were made over the next 150 years. The history given for the fort says it was originally built by Raja Man Singh, with Jai Singh I expanding it in the early 1600's. The Kachwahas shifted their capital to Jaipur during the time of Sawai Jai Singh II, in 1727, so the fort’s life as a royal centre belongs to the period before that move.

Architecturally, this is a Rajput palace with some Mughal influence. It is constructed of red sandstone and marble, and the layout is spread across four levels, each with a courtyard. The palace is divided into six separate main sections, each with its own entry gate and courtyard. That is why it feels less like a single building than a sequence of courts and gates linked together.

If you walk the approach, the main entry is through the Suraj Pol, or Sun Gate, which leads to the first courtyard. This is where armies held victory parades with their war bounty on return from battles, while the royal family’s womenfolk watched from latticed windows. From there, Jaleb Chowk, a term meaning a place for soldiers to assemble, served as the first courtyard during Sawai Jai Singh's reign (1693–1743 AD), and Maharaja’s personal bodyguards held parades there.

The second courtyard contains the Diwan-i-Aam, the Public Audience Hall. It is a raised platform with 27 colonnades, each mounted with an elephant-shaped capital, and galleries above it. This was where the Raja held audience to hear and receive petitions from the public. The third courtyard held the private quarters of the Maharaja, his family, and attendants, entered through the Ganesh Pol, or Ganesh Gate. That gate is a three-level structure with many frescoes, and above it is the Suhag Mandir, where ladies of the royal family used to watch functions held in the Diwan-i-Aam through latticed marble windows called jâlîs.

One of the most important living parts of the complex is the Sila Devi temple near the entrance to the right of the stairway from Jalebi Chowk. The Rajput Maharajas worshipped there, starting with Maharaja Mansingh in the 16th century until the 1980s, when the animal sacrifice ritual was stopped. At the palace entrance near Ganesh Gate there is also a temple dedicated to Shila Devi, linked in the description to a goddess of the Chaitanya cult.

The complex is still under pressure from tourism. Amer town is described as a heritage town whose economy depends on the large influx of visitors, and the fort itself has been the subject of concern over elephant rides to the palace complex. If you want the clearest sense of the whole site, pause at the main approach and read the fort as a chain of public court, private court, temples, and gateways climbing the hill in sequence.