Asigarh Fort

Asigarh Fort, also called Hansi Fort, is located on the eastern bank of Amti lake in Hansi town of Haryana, India, about 135 km from Delhi on NH9. Spread over 30 acres, in its prime days this fort used to be in control of 80 forts in the area around it. The fort is said to be one of the most impregnable forts of ancient India and has been declared a centrally protected monument by ASI in 1937.

Quotes

• The Sultan takes the Fort of Hansi
  On Saturday, the 14th, of Safar, the Amir had recovered, and held a darbar, and on Tuesday the 17th, he left the Jailam, and arrived at the fort of Hansi on Wednesday, the 9th of Rabi’u-l awwal, and pitched his camp under the fort, which he invested. Fights were constantly taking place in a manner that could not be exceeded for their severity. The garrison made desperate attempts at defence, and relaxed no effort. In the victorious army the slaves of the household behaved very gallantly, and such a virgin fort was worthy of their valour. At last, mines were sprung in five places, and the wall was brought down, and the fort was stormed by the sword on Monday, ten days before the close of Rabi’u-l awwal. The Brahmans and other higher men were slain, and their women and children were carried away captive and all the treasure which was found was divided amongst the army. The fort was known in Hindustan as “The Virgin,” as no one yet had been able to take it.
  • Tarikhu-s Subuktigin of Abu-l Fazl al Baihaki (b. 388 H., 995 CE; d. 470 H., 1077 CE). A history of Ghaznivites up to 451 H. (1059 CE). In The History of India as Told by its own Historians. The Posthumous Papers of the Late Sir H. M. Elliot. John Dowson, ed. 1st ed. 1867. 2nd ed., Calcutta: Susil Gupta, 1956, vol. 1, pp. 48-144.

• “In the year AH 427 (AD 1036)… he himself marched with an army to India, to reduce the fort of Hansy… Herein he found immense treasure, and having put the fort under the charge of a trusty officer, he marched towards the fort of Sonput. Depal Hurry, the governor of Sonput, abandoned the place, and fled into the woods; but having no time to carry off his treasure, it fell into the conqueror’s hands. Musaood having ordered all the temples to be razed to the ground, and the idols to be broken proceeded in pursuit of Depal Hurry…”
  • About Sultãn Mas‘ûd I of Ghazni (1030~1042) Sonipat (Haryana) Tãrîkh-i-Firishta, translated by John Briggs under the title History of the Rise of the Mahomedan Power in India, first published in 1829, New Delhi Reprint 1981, Vol. I, p. 63. , in Hindu Temples, what Happened to Them, Volume 2