Nagaur

Nagaur lies between the arid Marwar country and the more fertile plains of northern Rajasthan. At its heart stands Ahhichatragarh, a great fort whose successive walls, palaces and gardens record centuries of changing rule. The town also grew around markets and shrines, including the tomb of the Sufi saint Hamid al-Din Nagauri, whose memory drew visitors to the city.

The Delhi sultans held Nagaur as an important stronghold, and in the fifteenth century it became a centre of conflict among the rulers of Marwar and Mewar. The Mughals later made it an administrative centre of their Gujarat and Rajasthan campaigns. In the seventeenth century Amar Singh Rathore held Nagaur under Shah Jahan, and his family’s patronage added to the fort’s palaces and painted interiors. The town passed again into Rathore hands as Mughal power weakened. Its buildings preserve layers of sultanate, Mughal and Rajput patronage in a place long prized for its position on the routes across Rajasthan.