BANASAR-a-BASTION OF LOHGARH KHALSA RAJDHANI ||SIKH HISTORY||FORGOTTEN KHALSA HERITAGE||

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Location:-
Banasar fort is situated into the forest area of Banasar Village, on Bhojnagar -Parmanoo road, in District Solan, Himachal Pardesh. This place is just 30 k.m from Pinjore and 50 km from Chandigarh. It is a defense fort strategically built to keep an eye on the movement of the enemy army on the road leading from Shimla to Pinjore.
History:-
The attack of Baba Banda Singh Bahadur was from Jalandhar Doab to Bareilly, covering a length of 550 kms. The location of Banasar fort very much lies in the zone of attack of Banda Singh Bahadur. Akhbarat-i-Darbare-Mualla states that in 1714 Baba Banda Singh Bahadur was present in this area along with Sikh forces. Fortifications patterns made by the Sikh forces reveal that number of forts at Bhawana, Morni, Raipur Rani, Gorakhnath, etc were established near Banasar Fort and all these fortifications were made to support Lohgarh. Guru Nanak Sahib himself established Manji/Dharamsal at Pinjore, so that in this area the Sikh ideology can flourish and which further helped the Sikh forces to fight against the Mughal forces.Baba Banda Singh Bahadur made no. of movements from Lohgarh to Bilaspur, Chamba, Kangra , Jammu and further making attack on Lahore and this bastion acted as a guide for the movement of Sikh forces. It provided security clearance, food, and ammunition in the time of need. There are many villages in the name of Bhoj, near this fort. Bhoj Nagar clearly depicts that a big city used to exists in this place. Bhoj villages are connected with Raja Bhoj and Bhai Mani Singh is one of the descendants of Raja Bhoj. It is very much clear that at one stage of time the ownership of this fort’s lands belonged to Vanjara Sikhs. Akhbarat-i-Darbare-Mualla also makes references that Vanjara Sikhs in these hills are helping the Sikh forces.
Design of Fort:-
The architectural design of Banasar fort resembles the 52 advance forts of Lohgarh. This fort is rectangular in shape having a length of 70 feet and width of 50 feet, measuring area 400 sq.yds. The height of the walls is above 40 feet and the thickness of the wall is about 5 feet. There are four Burj in the fort, mainly used to check the advancement of enemy force near the fort walls. This fort is mainly constructed by stone masonry -lime and in some portion Nanak Sahi bricks have also being used. The fort walls have been plastered with lime. There are 250 firing musket holes in all the four walls of the fort. There are double storied buildings in the fort which is having 12 rooms and was capable of residing in a company of 250 Sikh soldiers. Fort has a low surfaced step well (Bholi) for water which had the capacity to provide to soldiers throughout the year. Special arrangements have been made inside the fort to drain out the excess water.
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