The Historical Fort of Idar in the Gujarat State in India

The State of Gujarat has many small hills and hill stations in the various corners of the State. A visit to each of these hills is enjoyable in many ways as each hill has a specialty of its own. Idar is one such hill, situated in the Northern part of the Gujarat State near Ahmedabad. Many tourists visit this historical town of Idar to view the ancient, historical fort of Idar.

The visitors can reach Idar by road from Ahmedabad and other major cities of the Gujarat State. It is better to cover the visit to Idar by staying at Ahmedabad only as there are no good hotels or restaurants available here at Idar for stay of visitors. Idar is located in the district of Sabarkantha and is around 78 miles away from the city of Ahmedabad. Idar is situated at the height of around 900 feet from the mean sea level. There are many site seeing spots here at Idar. The most vital of them all is the fort of Idar. The original name of Idar was Ilvadurga. There is a small mountain of around 1000 feet height on the outside skirt of the Idar town. The fort constructed on this mountain is really worth visiting in view of its unique circular construction. The original town of Idar was situated within this fort in the ancient time. The climb on this Idar fort is slightly difficult and rough as there are no solid and built in steps to go up. It may take around 30 minutes to reach up the mountain. The fort is in very bad shape at present. But in spite of the same, it still shows the glory of its royal past and history.

There are many historical places to be seen here at Idar. The Ranmal Choki comes first on the way up to the fort of Idar. The King Ranmal died here at this post while defending the fort of Idar against the Muslim attack. The palace of Rudhi Rani comes next. The queen of the king of Idar was staying here. The palace has a large swimming pool, the beautifully decorated bed rooms, the large dining room, and the big storage of the food items. The palace is also in a very bad shape now. However, its architectural design is unique and that design can still be visualized even after 600 years. The person entering in to this queen's palace can be seen by the queen from her bed room due to special mirrors arrangement, in spite of many turns and complicated layout of the palace. There are also Jain temples here and many Jains visit them as the place of pilgrimage. The Ranmaleshwar pond at this fort is also very famous and ancient. The octagonal shape of this pond was considered unique in the past. There are Lord Shiva temples like Koteshwar, and Champeshwar Mahadev in the town of Idar. There is a very famous stepped well in the fort of Idar. This stepped well was used for the storage of drinking water during the time of war, when going out of the town/fort is not possible due to enemy attack. This well is still containing sweet drinking water. Most of the tourists visit this historical town of Idar from Ahmedabad as one day outing only. It may take around 4 to 5 hours in all to see all the site seeing spots at Idar. Make sure to carry your packed lunch and the mineral drinking water bottles as there are no good restaurants available here at Idar. If you start at around 8 am in the morning from the city of Ahmedabad, you will reach at 11 am at Idar. You may start your return journey by around 4 pm so as to reach Ahmedabad safely by around 7 pm in the evening.

Though, Idar may not be very popular as a tourist's center in India, the lovers of Indian history would certainly like to visit it to freshen up the old memories of the glorious past of this small town.