Chittorgarh

Chittor is less a fort than a walled plateau: a fish-shaped hill rising sharply out of the plain, its walls running more than ten kilometres round, with palaces, temples, tanks and a living village inside. For eight centuries it was the capital of Mewar, and it fell three times — to Alauddin Khalji in 1303, to Bahadur Shah of Gujarat in 1535, and to Akbar in 1568. Each time, by the accounts that Rajasthan still tells, the women of the fort chose fire over capture and the men rode out to die.

After 1568 the Sisodias never ruled from here again. They moved to Udaipur, the lake city Udai Singh II had founded a few years earlier, and left Chittor as a memorial, which is how it still feels — enormous, quiet, half-empty, and in 2013 listed by UNESCO among the hill forts of Rajasthan.

The Vijay Stambha, nine storeys of carved sandstone, was raised by Rana Kumbha in the 1440s to mark a victory over the Sultan of Malwa; its every surface is a sculpture gallery of Hindu gods. The older, slimmer Kirti Stambha nearby is Jain, dedicated to Adinath. Meera Bai, who married into this house in the early sixteenth century and gave up a queen's life to sing for Krishna, is remembered in a temple beside Kumbha Shyam's, and her bhajans are still sung in Mewar homes.

Rani Padmini's story — the queen whose beauty drew Khalji's siege — comes to us largely from Malik Muhammad Jayasi's Padmavat, a Sufi poem written in 1540. Historians argue about how much is history; Chittor does not, and a Saint will tell you both versions. The food is Mewari: dal baati churma, ker sangri, gatte, and a bowl of rabri to finish.

Hire an autorickshaw for the circuit — the fort road loops for kilometres and walking it in sun wastes the day. Go clockwise and early, and save Gaumukh, the spring-fed tank under the cliff, for the hottest hour; it stays cool. The stair inside the Vijay Stambha is periodically closed for repairs, so ask before you plan around climbing it. And walk through the village inside the walls: people have lived on this hill continuously, and the fort makes more sense with washing on the lines.

The jauhar sites are places of grief for many Rajput families, not backdrops; behave as you would at a memorial. Do not scratch names into the soft stone — the towers are covered in them already. Buy water and snacks from the stalls inside the fort, which keep village households going, and carry your bottles back down.

The Mewar story continues where its rulers went next: Udaipur, which became the capital of Mewar after the fall of 1568, two hours west. Chittor explains why that city of lakes and palaces looks so determined to be beautiful.