Exploring Chaundkot Fort in Garhwal, central Himalaya, India

Abstract

Abstract

Networked medieval strongholds in Garhwal Himalaya, India

“…The case for the exceptional role of Chaundkot Fort is particularly striking given its visual prominence as revealed through archaeological exploration and via our computational analyses (Rawat 2017). Three arguments support our theory that Chaundkot Fort was one of the most important political medieval centres of the region (after Chandpur Fort; Figure 1a): 1) Spread over more than 45ha, the architectural features of Chaundkot Fort suggest that it must have been built and occupied by the nobility who ruled this region.…”

“…The new survey data, the computational visibility and network analyses, combined with the examination of the regions' archaeological record (Rawat 2017), allow us to propose a new theory for the socio-political structure of medieval Garhwal Himalaya (summarised in Figure 10). Up to the fifteenth century AD, the fortification phenomenon was structured as local clusters (representing either mandalas or later competing chiefdoms) that were intervisible at short distances, with one or a few major forts in each cluster.…”

“…This article presents newly collected survey data and the distribution pattern of 193 strongholds (Rawat 2017), more than tripling the previously documented and published number (Raturi 1928;Bhatt 1951;Negi 1988;Kathoch 1996). Using all available sources, we interpret 36 of these strongholds as major forts.…”

“…In the nineteenth century, the British also captured this region (Khanduri 1997: 28;Handa 2002: 167). As well as or instead of defensive functions, it could also be argued that the strongholds played a role in the region's socio-religious tradition as many were located along pilgrimage routes (Rawat 2017).…”

“…A new catalogue of 193 strongholds in Garhwal Himalaya (see Table S1 in the online supplementary material (OSM)) has been compiled by Rawat (2017). These sites were identified through a combination of methods (Figure 3d):…”