Palamu fort a glorious past turned into ruin
About
the journey:
Once I was assigned to do some photo story on Betla Tiger Reserve (BTR)
or say Betla National Park and I along with my colleague Shyam went over there
by train to Daltonganj from Ranchi. I intimated one of my old and very close contact
like my younger brother Saikat Chatterjee a versatile person and also an avid
photographer regarding my sojourn over there. He arranged a tree house
accommodation at Betla which was very cozy as well as attractive too and diverting
the attention of the tourists who came over there to enjoy the serenity and
meadow of the park.
Next day I
hired a taxi and moved around deep into the jungle, as the driver was a locale
person so he was well aware of the roots and he showed me lot of spots into the
jungle and I got the shots of deers, monkeys, Baison, peacocks, the spot where
tigers use to come and quench their thirst. But I didn’t find any tiger on my
first day. Next day again I set out for the same but after loitering whole day
and in the evening I again no tiger was sighted. As I was assigned to take
pictures of tigers but not even a cub sighted and that sent me into deep
anguish and frustration. I was feeling very much disheartened and dejected.
I expressed
my woes to my colleague and he talked to the locale people and came to know
that tigers might had gone towards Chhatisgarh side that’s why they were not
sighted. And also came to know that there are ruins of Medini Nagar or (Palamu)
fort, so I reluctantly decided to take a chance to get some good shots of that
ruins, accordingly on third day we set out for the same and became enchanted to
see the beautiful and calm serenity of the ruins of that fort. It was showing
the rich glorious past of Rakeshal Rajput dynasty, which was badly turned into
ruins. Being a frustrated person and starving of good frames at that time, the
ruins of the Medini Nagar injected a fresh lease of life into me, as if I hit a
gold mine and I turned my camera into clicking mode and made some very good
frames of that ruined fort.
A
brief history:-
There
are two ruined forts located around 20 kms south east of Daltonganj situated in
Jharkhand state. Before Chero dynasty the fort was built is in the plains by
the king of Raksel Rajput Dynasty. Another fort was constructed by Raja Medini
Ray who ruled from 1662 to 1674 in the Palamu region of Bihar, that is why it
is also called Medini Nagar Quila. The fort in the plains has defenses on three
sides and has three main gates. The architecture is in Islamic style, which reflects
Daud Khan’s conquest. These two large forts are located deep into the forest of
Aurangabad on Sher Sah Suri Path is also called GT road.
How
to reach Palamu fort:-
The
nearest airport is Ranchi about 190 Kms from Daltonganj.
The nearest railway station
Daltonganj is about 186 Kms from Ranchi.
The Palamu quila is about 20
Kms from Daltonganj.
From Ranchi bus and train
services are available frequently.
Lot of rest houses and hotel
accommodation are available in Daltonganj.
The tree house accommodation
at Betla National Park is available on booking only through Palamu Tiger Reserve Site..
Places to see:-
1. Historical
land mark Sahpur fort.
2. Palamu
Tiger Reserve park and office,
3. Confluence
of Kechki Sangam,
4. Latehar
Sangam.
5. Lodh
waterfalls.
Text and Photo by- Ashok
Karan,
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