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The fort was built
in compliance with the orders of Sher Shah (actual name Farid
Khan) son of Hassan Khan, son of Ibrahim Khan, and Afghan of the
Sur section of the Lodhi tribe. The project was financially looked
after by Todar Mal, the finance minister of Sher Shah; it was
executed by Shahu Sultani who acted in the capacity of what may
presently be called a superintending engineer.
The project took
many years to complete (perhaps 10 years) and was finished during
the reign of Sher Shah’s son and successor Jalal Khan who assumed
the title of Islam Shah at the time of his accession to the
throne in AD 1545. The expenditure is variously recorded by the
Tahrik I Daudi as eight crores five lace five thousand and two and
half dams i.e. Bahluli’s and Tuzuk I Jehangiri as sixteen crores ,
ten lacs of dams and a little more. Both the source refer to
inscribed to a stone slabs fixed on gates as their source of
information, It is likely that the estimate if the Tahrik I Daudi
pertains merely to the Anderkot and that of Tuzuk I Jehangiri to
the outer fort.
Nasiruddin
Humayun (r.1530-1540, 1556-1556), son and successor of
Zahiruddin Babur (r.1526-1530), the Mughal emperor of India
had at the hands of Sher Khan (Sher Shah Suri, (r.1540-1545)
suffered devastating defeats in two pitched battles, the first at
Chaunsa on the Ganges below Benares, and the second near Qanaauj,
also on the Ganges, but much higher up the river. He had to retire
into the Punjab where he expected to reach some kind of an
accommodation with his younger brother Mirza Kamran who held Kabul
and Ghazni under his control. When Humayun reached the sarai (Inn)
of Daulat Khan near Lahore, Kamran came forward to receive him.
Humayun stayed in the garden of Khawaja Dost, but suspecting
deception on the part of his brother, he decided to fall back on
Sindh in search of a possible exit to Persia. Sher Khan who had
now assumed sovereignty and the tile of Sultan Sher Shah and had
reached Khushab on the river Jhelum. It was here that the Afghans
of Roh presented themselves and paid homage to him. Amongst those
who attended upon him were the Baluch chiefs Ismail Khan and Fateh
Khan of the Dudai clan of Hut, and Ghazi Khan the Marlani, the
founders of three Deras bearing their respective names. Sher Shah
expended a vast sum of money and presents upon the Afghans who
presented themselves before him, but, although all the zamindars
and nobles of the areas had done so, the Gakkar chief, the Rai
Sarang, who depended upon the strength of his country in the Koh e
Jud, did not think fit to do so, and, according to one source,
when Sher Shah summoned him, dispatched some lion and Tiger skins
in reply. This enraged Sher Shad so much that he decided to ravage
and lay desolate the Gakkar country. On this occasion he inspected
the Kohistan, visiting Nandana and Tilla Balnath the Jogi, for a
possible site to erect a fort, saying, that he would drive such a
spike into the breast of the Gakkhars as should remain there till
the end of time. How far the story is correct it is difficult to
say. The obvious reason that led him to take such a decision was
the Gakkar –Mughal alliance which could pave the way for the
Mughal reentry. His own analysis of the situation led ultimately
led him to believe that a strong frontier fort was urgently needed
for the dual purpose of suppressing the Gakkars and blocking the
successful Mughal advance from Kabul or Kashmir.
The new fortress was
placed under the charge of Haibat Khan Nayazi, Khawas Khan, Isa
Khan Nayazi and Habib Khan Kakar- his most trusted generals, along
with numerous armies. The posting of his great amirs in Rohtas
shows the kind of concern Sher Shah in his mind regarding the
sensitive nature of the frontier. In AD 1543-44, Sher Shah
recalled the other generals and left Haibat Khan in sole charge of
the Punjab. Haibat Khan held Rohtas with a force of 30,000 Afghan
horse; all in his own pay. After his services in Multan the same
Haibat Khan was raised to the highest rank, with the title of
Masnad- Ata Azam, Humayun (The Most August, The Occupant of the
Exalted Seat of Dignity). He was likewise assigned a scarlet tent,
which only the family of the sovereign was hitherto allowed to
use. The fortress was not finished, however till some years later.
The fortification
wall, comprising two to three terraces, varies in thickness
because of the natural strength of some points. Near the Mori gate
it measures 12.5m in thickness. Its height ranges from 10.05 to
18.28m. The terraces are not entirely solid. In their thickness
have been provided a number of rooms and galleries providing extra
built in space that could be used for living as well as storage
purposes, besides saving building materials. The rooms are either
square or octagonal and some of them have purposely been left
unroofed. The terraces facilitated the movement of soldiers and
are interconnected by an endless number of steps. The topmost
terrace, on its outer edge, has a regular line of merlon-shaped
battlements, about a meter in thickness. Each battlement, varying
in height from 2.45 to 3.35m, has one to three firing slits. Some
of them have machicolations at their bases for pouring molten
lead, etc on the enemy. The thickness of the middle terrace varies
between 1.37 to 2.13m and that of the highest between 1.98 to
2.51m. The wall shows coarse rubble masonry externally finished
off in regular courses of shaped stone blocks fixed in lime mortar
mixed with a quantity of granular brick grit. As befits a work of
military fortification, the walls are generally devoid of the kind
of embellishment to be seen in those of the residential forts. Yet
the external face of the fort shows at numerous point’s
pigeonholes, geometric designs and occasionally ducks in relief.
The wall in general
stands upon a rather weak variety of sandstone bedrock, which has
given way at several points causing dangerous cracks, or even
collapses of big chunks of the ramparts. It is here that one
marvels at the binding quality of the mortar as it holds together
like fallen rocks the masses that have toppled from the structure
and are now lying in the torrent beds.
The most elegant
feature of the entire project is its 68 bastions and 13 gateways.
The positioning of the bastions do not show any regular pattern.
They were provided where they were most needed. The bulk and the
size of these bastions are really awe-inspiring and greatly add to
the strength of this monument. Internally the bastions are hollow
and appear to have been used for different purposes..
The different gates
are named as; Langerkhana gate, Shishi gate, Kabuli gate,
Gaddaiwala gate, Chandwali gate, Sohail gate, Sar gate` Pipalwala
gate, Tulla Mori gate, Gatiali gate, Khawas Khani gate and
Kashmiri gate. |
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