The Forgotten Fort in Nurpur | Guestpost

Driving back to Jammu from Dharamshala, we sighted the ruins of a fort on a hillock and stopped to enquire about it.  A passer-by informed us that this was the Nurpur fort and though is in ruins, it’s got a temple and a school functioning inside it.

Intrigued, we decided to take a detour and headed for a viewing of this fort. Nurpur fort lies just 25 kms before Pathankot and was about 65 kms from Dharmshala.

We could drive right up to the fort entry which had a huge open ground all around it for us to trek over. The entrance didn’t make us feel as if this was a ruin as it looked solid and intact.

Only once we entered it, did we realize how barren and ruined it was. Remnants of the fort wall were scattered far and few while most of the inner area consisted of huge stretches of land over which grass was trying to grow feebly. Huge trees dotted the open area here and there and for most part it looked desolate and lonely.

On closer inspection of the base of the walls, I was stunned to see the exquisite carvings making me exclaim why this is so abandoned and not put up in a museum somewhere. This is indeed the sad state of affairs in India; if it was up to me, I would have carted them to my home and put them up in the garden.

A local told us some bits of its history though I not sure of its veracity. According to legend, this place was renamed in the honour of the Mughal Queen Noorjehan as it’s said she fell in love with its beauty.

I so wish that our government would fall in love with it too and take some measures to protect it. We left with a very heavy heart to see the neglect of such a gorgeous piece of history and hope someday it will earn the distinction of being protected by ASI.

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About Shalzmojo

An interior designer by profession, writing is a passion which coupled with travel love blossomed into this blog where I love to just “do my thing”! Be it recipes, food events, travel jaunts, fiction dreaming or even meditative musings; all of it’s taken up quite passionately on my blog. I am a serious wine guzzler and love to chase butterflies in my free time.

Read about a gorgeous palace where time stands still to allow you to meander in its memories here

This post is written for the December bloghop #mymojo with Shalzmojo

Linking up for #wordsante with Namysaysso for every post deserves some love 

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