Chithorgarh
There is a sacred pond used by the royal family near the Vijayasthambha. As the name Gowmukh reservoir indicates the water from some hidden spring comes through a carved mouth of a cow. The water supply never dries up, even during the hot summers!
Then we saw queen Padmini's palace. It is surrounded by water. Once Allaudinkhilji who had heard about Rani Padmini's beauty very much wanted to see her. He forced inside Chithorgarh and demanded to see her. But Rajput ladies are seldom allowed before other men. So it was arranged that he could see her mirror image. The mirror was kept in a room in such a way opposite a window, that he could see the reflection of her palace very clearly in it. But if he turned around to look through the window the palace was not visible unless he moved the place for a more comfortable view. Even today we can see the mirror placed in the same place and the reflection of the palace in it.
It was after seeing her reflection that he got attracted to her beauty and attacked Chithorgarh. It was to escape from him that she conducted Jauhar.
Originally there were numerous temple in the fort. But most of them are destructed by muslim attacks. We can see some Jain temples also inside the fort. The locals make their living from selling tie and die fabrics, carpets, precious and semi precious jewellery, enamelled jewellery, furniture, paintings, etc. Here the government offers 40% reduction in sales tax. The govt. showroom has a wide collection of Rajasthan specialities. By evening we had finished seeing around Chithorgarh and so started back to Udaipur. Radhekrishna! Radhekrishna!
