Word: chittorgarh
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Asia's largest fortress was built to last. Rising out of a rocky plateau, the ramparts of Chittorgarh encircle a 240-hectare hilltop. They have withstood centuries of war and outlived dynasties, the many layers of outer fortifications snaking around crumbling palaces, small shrines, a few holy-water pools, and a forlorn marble victory tower, erected to commemorate a 15th century battle. My tour guide, an affable man born in the shadow of Chittorgarh's ruins, smiles broadly, gestures between imposing battlements and delicate temple carvings and asks, "Isn't this Rajasthan at its best...
...hard to say. Unlike similar sites elsewhere in this fortress-strewn western Indian state, Chittorgarh offers few popular tourist diversions. There are no elephant rides through its stone portals, no village girls dancing in traditional garb, no French bistros or souvenir shops beckoning from refurbished seraglios. Nor does Chittorgarh boast the renovated opulence of Rajasthan's other great forts. Abandoned over 400 years ago, parts of it lie overgrown and in disrepair-quite the exception in a state chockablock with glitzy heritage hotels...
...Instead, the great hulk of Chittorgarh offers less tangible pleasures. Stoically enduring above arid plains, it embodies Rajasthan's tragic mystique better than any other monument. Facing certain defeat on three separate occasions, Chittorgarh's fierce Rajput occupants donned saffron robes and rode out from its iron-spiked gates to their deaths. Not to be outdone by the sacrificial heroics of their menfolk, the women chose jauhar, or self-immolation in a fiery pit, over captivity. Such tales have cloaked Chittorgarh in an aura that it retains to this day. My guide waxes romantic over the spot where the beautiful...
...Confident that Rajasthan can win back the travelers lured away by modish yoga retreats and full-moon beach parties, my tour guide reveals his dream for Chittorgarh. He wants to repaint its faded walls, he explains, and install a sound-and-light show by the victory tower-in the manner of tourist-friendly restorations that have taken place at sites elsewhere in the state. I try not to be too encouraging. This is one place where the clamor of imaginary armies, and the bright flash of chimerical steel, is the only spectacle required...
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