Derawar Fort

Derawar Fort is a fortress located in the Cholistan Desert of Punjab, Pakistan, specifically within the Yazman Tehsil of the Bahawalpur District. Approximately 20 km south of the city of Ahmedpur East, the forty bastions of Derawar are visible from many miles in the Cholistan. The walls have a perimeter of 1500 metres and stand up to thirty metres high.

The Cholistan Desert comprises the western region of the Thar Desert in modern Pakistan, where archaeological evidence is present that the area was once inhabited by an Indus Valley culture. This culture once used the Hakra River to support their agricultural lifestyle. In around 600 BC, the river had changed course which caused it to essentially disappear into the ground. Due to this shift in the river, the area became an arid desert no longer suitable for human habitation. There are still evidence of ruins of up to a dozen fort structures in the region. Derawar Fort is the best surviving structure of the remaining ruins.

Even though the land could no longer support a settlement, it still was able to become an important part of the trade route that had connected Central Asia to the Indian subcontinent. It also became a pilgrimage route for those traveling to Mecca, the holy Islamic city from India or vice versa.

Derawar fort was built in 858 under the rule of Rai Jajja Bhati, a Hindu Rajput ruler of the Bhati clan, as a tribute to Rawal Deoraj Bhati, ruler of the Kingdom of Jaisalmer who had his capital at Lodhruva. The fort was initially known as Dera Rawal, and later referred to as Dera Rawar, which with the passage of time came to be pronounced Derawar, its present name. Meergarh, Jaangarh, Marotgarh, Maujgarh, Dingarh, Khangarh, Khairgarh, Bijnotgarh and Islamgarh are all forts that spanned across the desert creating a chain of forts that were all meant to provide shelter for travelers. Out of all of these forts, Derawar is considered the best surviving example.

In the 18th century, the fort was taken over by Muslim Nawabs of Bahawalpur from the Shahotra tribe. It was later renovated in its current form in 1732 by the Abbasi ruler Nawab Sadeq Muhammad, but in 1747 the fort slipped from their hands owing to Bahawal Khan's preoccupations at Shikarpur. Nawab Mubarak Khan took the stronghold back in 1804. 1,000 year-old catapult shells were found in the debris near a decaying wall in the fort.

Text adapted from “Derawar Fort” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Derawar Fort ranks #823 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #4 of the 22 mapped in Pakistan. Founded c. 850, it is older than 95% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 61 atlas entries founded in the 9th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 4,248 times in the last 60 days, more than 82% of the atlas. See how Pakistan compares in the castle statistics.

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