A Desert Fortress that lasted for Eight Hundred Years

Surrounded by the Thar Desert, in the lonely western corner of the Indian state of Rajasthan, a magnificent fort, shining in gold, rises to a height of 20 stories on a triangular mountain. This medieval fort, built by Rajput Raja Raisa Jaisal at the beginning of 1156, is now widely known as the Jaisalmer Fort.


The Jaisalmer Fort is a magnificent structure consisting of 3 walls, four gateways, and 99 guard posts. The Rajasthani fortress is the only one recruited from the golden sand and is still called the 'gold fort'.

Why is Jaisalmer special? This is the oldest surviving fortress in India.

More than 800 years after its formation

Homes and plots were given in the fort to the kings who built the fort, the gurus and the ancients who consulted the king during his reign. More than 800 years after the castle was built, some 2,000 to 4,000 descendants of the ancestors and gurus who served the kings still live inside the bund and still pay no rent. That is because the land they live in was legally vested in their ancestors as payment for their services.

The same families

In the castle, people of the same lineage are often considered to be descendants of the same ancestors, not of different families of the same name. Most of the inhabitants of the fort are either Brahmins (the caste of the clergy) or the Rajputs (clans of the ancient Indian Hindu warriors).


Brahmins have surnames such as Vyas or Purohit and the majority of Rajputs have names such as Bhatti, Rathore or Chauhan. They use their surnames to this day, but do not engage in the work their ancestors did.

An interconnected society

The Jaisalmer strongholds see their society as one family. According to them, the boundary of this family lies at the point where they and the city are separated from the castle gate. It is not customary to send invitations to anyone, whether death or death. Whoever attends the celebration at the fort, they all support.

Rajput Fort on Silk Road

The twelfth-century Kingdom of Jaisalmer reached its golden age between the 16th and 18th centuries, when China, through India, Afghanistan, Turkey, and Egypt, became an important center of the Silk Road. A night filled with silk, precious gems, spices, and tea filled the room. From small lodges to havens for merchants, large temples (haveli) and Hindu temples were built inside and outside the fort.

Hundreds of years later, only the ruined villages on either side of the ancient silk road, the stone pillars that mark the special, and the scattered fortresses of the desert. But even today there are countless tourists looking for fun and relaxation at the ancient Jaisalmer Fort.

In the year 2013, six mountain Rajasthani forts, including Jaisalmer, were declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site. Nearly 600,000 tourists visit this fort every year between the months of November and February.


Jaisalmer Fortresses are ready to welcome them with royalty-style food, skin products, cheap jewelry, and handicrafts. While visiting the fort of Jaisalmer, the splendor and gemstone, however, can be bought from the magnificent handbags of the camel, the colorful tilapia, braided curtains, and even the 'magic Viagra bed' that is said to produce brilliance.

Although the kings who built Jaisalmer were not there today, they once reached the highest heights of progress and fell into the abyss of destruction.