Built by a ghost, 1,000-yr-old Gujarat fort disappearing

The way things are, soon the fort 8211; a nationally protected monument on paper 8211; might remain only in history books, or perhaps in the SurendranagarGazetteer8217;. And the story with the Archaeology Department is as old as the fort 8211; inadequate staff, funds, infrastructure. The staff shortage has, apparently, become so acute that an official of the state archaeology department, on condition of anonymity, says that they often have to return the funds sanctioned by the government as there is no one to oversee its utilisation!

Says B S Makwana, Superintending Archaeologist in the state archaeology department: quot;There is only one conservation assistant for six circles and he is currently based in Junagadh. How can one man look after the nearly 300 monuments that are protected by the government?quot;

Built in 1114 AD by Siddharaj Jayasinh of Anhilwad Patan, the fort at Zinzuwada, a small railway station on the Viramgam-Khargoda broad gauge line of Western Railways, displays an astonishingly developed architecture. While spiralling cascades of intricately carved rock lines the fort gates, its pillars are replete with carvings of Goddess Bhattarika and otherfigures.

The fort, built with 20-30 ft stone slabs, also bears inscriptions at many places of Mahanshri Uddal, a minister of King Siddharaj Jayasinh. And though many of the small, cylindrical carved stone slabs that support the fort are either missing or precariously bent, it is obvious that in its time the fort was a formidable structure.

Villagers say that the past five years have been the worst for the fort, which stands broken and ruined at most places. Shops have come up around it and those places that have been spared have become dumping grounds for the village waste.

And while villagers get angry at the sight of tourists clicking photographs of the fort, no one does anything about it. quot;What can we do?quot; asks Vishnu Rawal incredulously, quot;We are not entitled to do any repair work. Someone from the ASI comes here in a while, collects his salary and goes away. No one else ever comes here.quot;

But while Rawal is worried about the structure. Dhansukhbhai Gababhai is happy no one is fussing about thefort. quot;Let it be. It is nice for us. The last thing we need is publicity,quot; says the illegal salt merchant, already harassed by government strictures to close down all such units and stop new leases for salt plans around the Little Rann of Kutch.

But not all echo Gababhai8217;s sentiments. Tarkubha Kalyansinh Jhala, salt merchant and environmentalists, says, quot;Something should be done about the fort. It is our heritage, but we don8217;t know who exactly is responsible for it. We don8217;t see anyone coming here and finding out about it.quot;

A myth which the locals, swear by has it that quot;Bhabra Bhooth,quot; a pet ghost of the king, after losing a bet with him, built the fort in one night. A thousand years later, the only thing concerned history lovers can hope for is that Mr Bhooth repeats his performance.