Kumbhalgarh Fort

A 36 km wall was built to protect a complex which includes a palace, temples, stepwells and farms. The fort is at an elevation of 1100m in the Aravalli mountains. The highest peak within the enclosure is occupied by the castle-palace. As with castle gardens in Europe, its small courtyards and gardens were designed as outdoor living space for mothers and children. Male pastimes included hunting and fighting. Some courtyards may have been paved and others planted. See note on Hindu gardens. The courts are unlikely to have had water features in such a dry place but coolness and shade were always appreciated in Indian gardens (see garden quotations from the Ramayana and Mahabharata .