A Brief Stop at Kishangarh in Ajmer, Rajasthan || An Inaccessible Fort on the Shore of a Beautiful Lake

A visit to Kishangarh wasn't on our itinerary when we planned our trip to Bikaner->Jaisalmer->Rajasthan in October 2022. However, when we were in Jodhpur, planning our return journey from there to Noida, we wanted to delay getting back home for as long as possible. So we planned 3 stops en route.

Several websites and blogs suggested that a short detour to Kishangarh would be good. We did some research and decided to add it to our itinerary because it seemed to have a good fort and a palace. And the detour from NH448 was just 6 kilometers.

However, what we did not realize then was that the day was being celebrated as Prophet Mohammad's birthday. And even if we had known that, we would probably not have correlated it to our experience, or the lack of it, at Kishangarh.

While the drive from the National Highway to Kishangarh fort is short, the drive to the fort itself is a little tricky with Google Maps often giving out confusing input. Once you reach the fort though, you will find a lot of space to park the car. And that is for a good reason.

The fact is that the Kishangarh fort is now closed and is a private property. Part of it has been converted into a hotel and tourists are not allowed in the remaining part. This is something that we missed noticing while searching Google. There are some quora questions around this and the answers indicate this. The wikipedia and travel portals do not make this clear.

We realized this as soon as we reached there, but still decided to try our luck. The person guarding the gate at the hotel was quite straightforward in telling us that tourists aren't allowed inside. When we asked him whether we can visit the rest of the fort, he told us that we can see it from the outside but won't be allowed inside.

So we clicked whatever photos we could from the gate of "Phool Mahal Palace", the hotel the fort has been converted into and then headed out. The Fort is built on the banks of a huge lake. After spending some time gazing at the still water of the lake, we got into the car and started on our way back to the highway.

This was the second misfire on the last day of the trip. The first one was A Drive to the Ruins of the Taragarh Fort. Though in both cases, the destination itself did not disappoint us. The lake was quite beautiful, as was the drive up the hill when we went to see the Taragarh Fort.

This also led us to think of the mirages of Rajasthan. So far we had gone on desperate search for four places that had evaded us. We never could catch up to them. It started from the Sun Temple at Osian, to Balasamand Lake near Mandore, to the Tarragarh Fort in Ajmer and now the Kishangarh fort.

Even though the Fort is now not open to public, Kishangarh has a very illustrious history. The Kishangarh State was founded in the year 1609 by the Prince of Jodhpur, Kishan Singh. The state had an estimated revenue of GBP 34,000/- and paid no tribute to the British Raj.

In the year 1900, King Madan Singh ascended the throne. And at this time, the state was reeling under the impact of a devastating drought. However, the administration under the King brought about several reforms during this time.

Irrigation from tanks and wells was extended and factories for ginning and pressing cotton were started. There was also a social reform movement to reduce the expenditure during weddings. Considering the times, this was indeed a very progressive thought. In fact we could do with some of such thinking today.

While we were merging from Kishangarh, back onto NH-448, Google took us on another route through Kishangarh and here we found ourselves surrounded by a procession to celebrate the Prophet's birthday.

It did seem like we could be stuck here for hours. Narrow, market streets full of people, it seemed like it would take forever. However, we asked some of the people who seemed to be important ones in the procession to help us out.

And they very kindly helped make way for our vehicle to take a turn toward the highway. We couldn't believe our luck and the kindness of those people. What could have taken forever was over within minutes. It was a fantastic experience.

Overall, even though we were not allowed inside the fort, the visit to Kishangarh was a very good stop. There is a lot of potential here, but it was also good to see that the place was clean despite it not being a tourist spot.

As far as recommending a stop here goes, I would not really do so. The fort is not open, and there is pretty much nothing else to see here. But if you chance upon this place, do stop at the lake for a bit. It is a nice place.

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