We spent about 4 to 5 hours exploring parts of the fort. This fort has quite an intriguing history. No records remain to show when the fort was actually constructed. It is thought, however, to be some 2,000 years old and there are references to it in the ancient books. In the 13th century AD, the Baghels took over, ruling from the Bandhavgarh Fort until 1617, when Maharaja Vikramditya Singh moved his capital to Rewa. The last inhabitants deserted the fort in 1935.
At present the fort is the private property of The Maharaja of Rewa. It is a natural fort built on an outcrop rising 2500 ft. above the valley. The only walls are around the few yards of the part that are accessible. There is a working temple on the top, the priest is a full time employee of the Maharaja and has lived alone in the temple for the past 40 years. The villagers go up on special days and bring him food and other essentials and the forest guards do the same. The day we visited the forest guard was taking some vegetables up to him.
Vehicular traffic is allowed up to the base of the rocky outcrop, where we got dropped off. Our camp cook, carrying an enormous cardboard box full of our lunch was with us and needless to say, was more fit than us and preceded us all the way up. As we were beginning to feel guilty the cook informed us that during the off season he goes back home to Nepal and is a guide for Himalayan trekking. That us feel a little better and we accepted the fact that he was much better prepared for this climb.
At the base of fort where from we started climbing from there is an enormous statues of Vishnu, carved out of solid of rock.
