Ginnorgarh (or Ginnaurgarh, Hindi गिन्नोर्गढ़) is a fort in Raisen District,Madhya Pradesh. Located in theRatapani Tiger Reserve on a rocky summit rising to 700m, Ginnorgarh has two natural water bodies and a fortified enclosure with the remains of several palaces, gatehouses and cisterns.
Ginnorgarh was occupied late in theParamara period, as testified by architectural fragments incorporated into the current structures, but the location first rose to prominence under theGond rulers. The palace may have been constructed byNizam Shah, a powerful Gond warlord. The building is one of the gems of Indian palace architecture, close in style to the Kharbuja Mahal atDhar fort. After Nizam Shah was poisoned by his nephew, the chief of Chainpur Bari, his widowRani Kamlapati and her son took refuge in the fort. The queen sought protection fromDost Muhammad Khan who became the de facto ruler of the state. With Kamalapati's death in 1723, her son Nawal Shah took charge of the fort.Dost Muhammad Khan then organised an expedition to Ginnorgarh fromBhopal and was able to take the fort by stealth.
The presence of the rulers ofBhopal at Ginnorgarh is testified by later buildings and an inscription inPersian on one of the gatehouses dated 1725–26. By the early twentieth century, C. E. Luard recorded that the buildings were falling into ruin.[1] Despite being a protected monument under the Department of Archaeology and Museums, Madhya Pradesh, the structures continue to decline and have been vandalised.
22°50′28″N77°32′02″E / 22.8410°N 77.5338°E /22.8410; 77.5338
