Gwalior Fort

Every year, Sikhs celebrate Bandi Chhor Divas — the day a Guru walked free from prison, and brought 52 captive kings out with him. That prison was Gwalior Fort.

Timeline

• Legendary origin: King Suraj Sen, cured of leprosy by sage Gwalipa, builds a fort atop Gopachal Hill and names it in the sage’s honour.
• 1486-1516 CE: Tomar ruler Man Singh Tomar builds the Man Mandir Palace and Gujari Mahal, during the fort’s golden age.
• 1527 CE: Mughal emperor Babur captures the fort, calling it the “pearl amongst the fortresses of Hind.”
• 1609 CE: Emperor Jahangir imprisons the young Sikh Guru, Guru Hargobind, at Gwalior. His eventual release later inspires the festival Bandi Chhor Divas.
• 3 August 1780: A small British East India Company force, under Captains Popham and Bruce, scales the fort’s walls at night and captures it.
• 18 June 1858: Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi dies fighting British forces at Kotah-ki-Serai, just outside Gwalior, during the final weeks of the 1857 revolt.

A Fort of Many MastersNeed to Know

• Gwalior Fort stands atop Gopachal Hill, in Gwalior, Madhya Pradesh. Local legend traces its name to sage Gwalipa, who is said to have cured King Suraj Sen of leprosy.
• The fort’s golden age came under Tomar ruler Man Singh Tomar (1486-1516 CE). He built the Man Mandir Palace, famous for its turquoise, green, and yellow ceramic tilework, and the Gujari Mahal, for his queen Mrignayani.
• Delhi Sultan Sikandar Lodi besieged Gwalior in 1505 but failed to take it. His son Ibrahim Lodi succeeded in 1516, after a year-long siege that killed Man Singh Tomar.
• Mughal emperor Babur captured the fort in 1527, praising it as the “pearl amongst the fortresses of Hind.”
• Under later Mughal rule, Gwalior Fort became a state prison for political enemies. Aurangzeb’s brother, Murad Bakhsh, and nephew, Sulaiman Shikoh, were both executed there, after their defeat in the succession wars that followed Shah Jahan’s illness.

Tiled Walls, a Prison, and a Musical LegacyGood to Know

• The Man Mandir Palace’s facade runs about 90 metres, decorated in a coloured tile frieze of ducks, elephants, tigers, and peacocks, in glazed turquoise, yellow, and green.
• The palace also holds underground chambers, said to be built with acoustics fine enough to carry a whisper from one corner to another.
• Man Singh Tomar’s court hosted the young musician who grew into Tansen, one of Akbar’s most celebrated court musicians. That court is credited as a root of the Gwalior gharana. It is one of the oldest schools of Hindustani classical vocal music, still taught today.
• In 1609, Emperor Jahangir imprisoned the young sixth Sikh Guru, Guru Hargobind, at Gwalior Fort. Tradition holds he was released wearing a cloak with 52 hems, so that 52 captive Hindu rajas could hold on and leave alongside him. This event is remembered today as Bandi Chhor Divas.
• Control of the fort passed through many hands after the Mughals. Sher Shah Suri and the Hindu general Hemu both held it, before it returned to the Mughals under Akbar in 1558. The Maratha Scindia family took it in 1755-56.
• On 3 August 1780, a British East India Company force scaled the fort’s walls at night. Just 12 grenadiers and 30 sepoys took it in a surprise raid, with fewer than 20 casualties.
• The fort complex also holds the Teli ka Mandir, a Pratihara-era temple from the 8th-9th century. It predates the Tomar palaces by several centuries.
• During the Revolt of 1857, sepoys stationed at Gwalior rebelled against Company rule, even as the Scindia ruler stayed loyal to the British. Rani Lakshmibai of Jhansi joined the rebels holding Gwalior. She died fighting British forces just outside the city, on 18 June 1858. The British regained full control soon after.

Test Yourself

Please wait…

1. Which Sikh Guru was imprisoned at Gwalior Fort by Emperor Jahangir in 1609?

Guru Hargobind

Guru Arjan Dev

Guru Tegh Bahadur

Guru Har Rai

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A Fort That Outlived Every EmpireGreat to Know

• Gwalior Fort’s control changed hands across at least eight distinct powers over 1,500 years. These include the Hunas, Pratiharas, Kachchhapaghatas, the Delhi Sultanate, Tomars, Mughals, Marathas, and finally the British. Its central location made it strategically indispensable to whoever ruled north-central India.
• The fort’s dual identity, a palace complex and a state prison at the same time, reflects how Mughal-era forts served two purposes at once. They projected a ruler’s cultural power, while also physically controlling rivals and dissidents.
• Guru Hargobind’s imprisonment, and the festival it produced, shows how a single event inside one fort can outlive the empire that built the prison. Bandi Chhor Divas remains meaningful to a community with no connection to the Mughals who once held Gwalior.
• A court known for music under one ruler, and a prison under his successors, shows how the same walls carried very different legacies. Gwalior’s modern reputation as a centre of Hindustani classical music traces directly back to Man Singh Tomar’s court.