Gondhla Fort — Attraction in Himachal Pradesh

House of the Thakur of Gondhla, called the Gondhla castle or fort attracts a large number of tourists. The present Thakur, Fateh Chand would like the tourists to believe that the Fort is about 20 generations old, but according to the District Gazetteer of Lahaul and Spiti, the fort was built in 1700 AD by Raja Man Singh of Kullu whose influence stretched till the Lingti plains beyond the Baralacha-la. This Raja also married a daughter of the Gondhla family to cement his ties with the Thakur. The castle is an example of the indigenous timber bonded stone-style of the western Himalayas, consisting of alternate courses of stone and wooden beams cemented together with wet clay. This seven-storey high edifice is topped by a wooden verandah which runs round the upper storey. It looks like a Swiss Chalet. Staircases in the building are partially notched wooden logs and the building has many apartments, which can comfortably accommodate more than 100 people. Its fifth storey, meant exclusively for the Thakur, consisted of personal prayer chamber and a verandah from where he used to listen to the public and later pronounce his judgements. Ganesha is the main deity carved on the facade of the prayer chamber. In one of the prayer chambers the window connecting the outer room is an exquisite work of wood carving. Several weapons including bows, arrows, quivers, catapults, guns and canons besides other articles of antique value can be seen resting in the apartments. Another interesting article to be seen in possession of the Thakur is Sharab Raldi, i.e. 'the sword of wisdom' as Sharab means wisdom and Raldi means a sword. Sword of wisdom (sanskrit Pragya Kharga) has great importance among the Tibetans.

Gondhla, 14km west of Sissu, this eight-storey, stone-and-timber tower fort was built by Raja of Kullu is entirely built of wood ,there is a really cool heritage home stay right near the fort. Fort is about 300 years ago and used to be a local thakur’s (lord’s) residence. Gondhla castle on the right bank of River Chandra. The massive fort houses the residence of the royalty in the village. It is one of the most magnificent monuments in the entire Lahaul valley and is definitely worth visiting.

It’s now unoccupied and locked up, but it’s still an impressive sight, briefly visible from the left-side bus window below road level as you drive towards Keylong. The present Thakur, Fateh Chand would like the tourists to believe that the Fort is about 20 generations old, but according to the District Gazetteer of Lahaul and Spiti, the fort was built in 1700 AD by Raja Man Singh of Kullu whose influence stretched till the Lingti plains beyond the...

Gondhla fort is an historical fort and is on way to Leh from Manali. After a drive of 500 metres from Khangsar on the Highway there is a diversion through a link road approximately 300 meters before Sheltu (local name for Gondhla bazar) which leads through the fort.There is no need to go back to join the Highway as the same link road joins it after a short distance .This way one can easily see the fort closely without spending extra money and requires hardly five minutes extra.Keylong the district headquarter of Lahaul Spiti district is 18...

5 stars 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 🌟 For the fort and the architect and the owner (Raja of Kullu)

Negative Stars ✖️✖️✖️✖️✖️ For the locals and the local governing body for the dilapidated state of the fort and the surrounding parapet. How can local people ignore the state in which the fort is in. Atleast get the permises de-weeded. There should be a placard with the name of the fort and a tableau depicting the history of the fort.

Requesting travellers and tourists to give this fort a bad review in hopes of getting our voice...