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The Chunar Fort, on the banks of the Ganga, is located in:
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Answer: Option A — Uttar Pradesh
Detailed Solution
The Chunar Fort is located at Chunar, in the Mirzapur district of Uttar Pradesh, on a rocky hill on the banks of the Ganga river, about 35 km from Varanasi.
About the Chunar Fort:
- Its strategic position, overlooking the Ganga where the river makes a bend, made it important for controlling the routes between north India and Bengal and Bihar.
- According to legend, it is associated with King Vikramaditya of Ujjain, who is said to have built a residence here for his brother Bhartrihari, the poet-saint, who meditated here.
- In the medieval period, it changed hands many times.
- Sher Shah Suri (then Sher Khan) took control of it in about 1530 by marrying the widow of its previous governor.
- The Mughal Emperor Humayun captured it after a long siege in 1538, during his struggle with Sher Shah.
- Later, it came under Akbar, and then under the Nawabs of Awadh and the Rajas of Benares.
- In 1781, it was taken by the British East India Company under Warren Hastings, and it was used as a military base, prison and later a residence.
- The Sikh queen Rani Jind Kaur, the mother of Maharaja Duleep Singh, was imprisoned here by the British, but she escaped in 1849.
- The fort contains the "Sonwa Mandap" (a Hindu structure), a sundial, a large well and the tomb of a Sufi saint.
In literature:
Devaki Nandan Khatri's famous Hindi fantasy novel "Chandrakanta" (1888) is set partly in the region of Chunar, and it made the fort famous.
Chunar sandstone:
The area is famous for its fine-grained buff sandstone.
The polished monolithic pillars of the Mauryan Emperor Ashoka (3rd century BCE), such as those at Sarnath, were made from Chunar sandstone. Their high polish is called the "Mauryan polish".
Other forts on the Ganga:
- Allahabad Fort (Prayagraj): built by Akbar at the confluence of the Ganga and Yamuna.
- Ramnagar Fort (Varanasi): residence of the Maharaja of Benares.
Why not the other options?
- ✗Bihar has the Rohtasgarh and Munger forts.
- ✗Madhya Pradesh has the Gwalior and Mandu forts.
- ✗Uttarakhand is not where Chunar Fort is located.
Quick tip
Remember: Chunar Fort = Mirzapur, Uttar Pradesh, on the Ganga (Sher Shah; captured by Humayun 1538; "Chandrakanta"); Chunar sandstone was used for Ashoka's polished pillars.
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This topic covers India's important monuments, temples, mosques, churches, gurudwaras and pilgrimage sites, who built them and when, their architectural styles, and India's UNESCO World Heritage Sites. Questions ask who built a monument, where it is located, or which dynasty or style it belongs to. For example, the Qutub Minar was begun by Qutbuddin Aibak, and the Sun Temple at Konark was built by the Eastern Ganga king Narasimhadeva I. Revise the UNESCO World Heritage Sites as a list, noting the most recent additions. Practise the monuments and religious places questions below, written in the style of the general awareness sections of exams such as SSC, banking, railways, CUET GAT, MAH CET and CLAT. Each question comes with a detailed explanation that adds related facts, so every question helps you revise more than one point.