Motorcycling to Jat Forts of Bhitarwar and Matsura.

      Hi there
          Happy Makar Sankranti .Apart from festival, on this day the mighty Maratha's took on Abdali forces in Battle of Panipat in 1761.Even though the battle was lost ,however the sacrifice of Maratha's,ensured that Ahmed Shah Abdali never returned to India.

          Today's ride was to lesser known Jat forts of Bhitarwar and Matsura,

          Route                         Jhansi-Karera-Bhitarwar-Matsura-Karera-Jhansi.

          Roadside assistance  Limited.
       

Bhitarwar Fort

          As you drive from Jhansi to Karera you drive on the Mumbai-Agra Road.The road is fantastic and fit for all types of bikes.For moving  to  Bhitarwar ,one has to pass through the Karera town.A 3.5 Km road stretch on  Karera - Bhitarwar road, is made to actually test your driving skills.Only the centre portion of the road is derivable,and as you avoid opposite direction motorcycle you enter a pothole,and one can actually see the travel of front forks to the max. 

       

              After about 3.5km , the road improves,and opens up a bit,for next 20 odd kms.
As I settle down in the rhythm of thump and twisted the throttle, all of a sudden the road vanished,behold I came up on a long 7km patch of well compacted dirt road.

         

        One can actually twist the throttle to max on this stretch,which is  a wide section with very low traffic and absolutely no potholes . After crossing Sehore village,the good road again starts .

View from Eastern Side

      The Bhitarwar Fort was build by Jat King Laxman .It is one of the finest example of architecture,were in, there are about 5 bastions constructed one after the other.The outer walls of the fort remains intact,however inside is all ruins.

This small door is now gateway to the fort,the main entry has been closed and area encroached

Past citadels

     The 5 layered Bastion

       To settle the internal rifts ,the Jats invited Scindias,who  helped in capture of the fort.The fort came into permanent possession of Scindias after sometime and remained a Gwalior territory till independence. 

Beautiful Arch of Rani Mahal 

Mastura Fort

         It is located about 10km from Bhitarwar on Bhitarwar-Narwar road.The fort is located on the north side of the small vill of Mastura.The beauty of the fort is, it has got double moat,around the fort.Surprisingly at least 70% of both the moats still survive.

Entry to the fort,one can easily ride inside the main fort complex

Water of next moat can be seen through the door 

          Surprisingly the buildings inside are 60% intact which shows that till few years back this was used for living,another facet of this fort is ,the pillars of building are all made up of local rocks and have beautiful carvings on it.

          Much more work needs to be done to dig out the glorious history of both these forts,however they are worth a visit for sheer pleasure of riding to an off beat destination.