One of the oldest forts in this part of the former British India Empire, the Derawar Fort history goes back to almost 800 years (this age is disputed though).
Derawar Fort is a large square fortress in Pakistan near Bahawalpur. The forty bastions of Delawar are visible for many miles in Cholistan Desert. The walls have a circumference of 1500 meters and stand up to thirty meters high.
The first fort on the site was built by Rai Jajja Bhutta, whose sister was married to Deoraj, a prince of Jaisalmer. It remained in the hands of the royal family of Jaisalmer until captured and completely rebuilt by the nawabs of Bahawalpur in 1733. In 1747, the fort slipped from the hands of the Abbasis owing to Bahawal Khan's preoccupations at Shikarpur. Nawab Mubarak Khan took the stronghold back in 1804.
The nearby marble mosque was modeled after that in the Red Fort of Delhi. There
is also a royal necropolis of the Abbasi family, which still owns the
stronghold. The area is rich in archaeological artifacts associated with
Ganweriwala, a vast but as-yet-unexcavated city of the Indus Valley
Civilization.
Untitled Document
The imposing structure is situated
on the edge Cholistan desert on the top of the ruins of ancient Harappan
civilization. It has been the ancestral seat of the rulers of Bahawalpur for
decades. The present building was built by Abbasi family or the Nawabs in 1733.
Its walls are 30m high and there are 40 bastions, 10 on each side. The front
area is guarded by a huge defensive tower at the main entrance. The boundaries
were constructed from gypsum blocks transported from Uch some 65 kilometers
away. The walls are built in mud tiles plastered and fresco painted.
The lofty and rolling battlements made of thin red bricks, ten on each side of
the fort are visible from miles around. There are two old vintage guns mounted
on pedestals in the dusty courtyard of the Fort.
The buildings inside include the Harem, Subedar's quarters, arsenal and a
mosque. There is also a multi-roomed subterranean summer rest house of Nawabs
called Sard Khana. The remains of a watchtower, a prison, the granary, a guard
house and some 100 inaccessible tunnels and the rumored subterranean chambers
with buried treasures of the former rulers.
The once gaily painted rest house or baradari on top of the north-eastern
bastion still flies high the flag of the former ruling family of the former
Bahawalpur State as a symbol of their authority over the area.
Untitled Document
However the fort nowadays is in very perilous condition mainly due to ravages of
time and partially due to the negligence of authorities. There are huge ditches
in and around the main boundary wall and the gates. Most of buildings have
developed huge cracks. The underground cells and wooden structure is now
infested with bats and being destroyed by termites. The day doesn’t seem to far
away when the whole structure may crumble in one giant sand dune.
