View source for Bawana Fortress of Jat Zail

{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2018}}
{{Use Indian English|date=September 2018}}
{{Infobox historic site
| name             = Bawana Fortress <br> Bawana Tehsil
| native_name      =   
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| native_name2     = 
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| other_name       = Bawana Zail<br> Bawana Jail
| image            = 
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| locmapin         = India Delhi#India#Asia#Earth
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| map_caption      = Bawana Fortress in [[Delhi]]  
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| coordinates      = {{coord|28.8|N|77.03|E|display=inline,title}}
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| type = 
| etymology        = From Hindi word "bawan" (52) 
| location         = [[Bawana]] 
| nearest_city     = [[Sonepat]]
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| built              =  1860s CE
| built_for          = Jat chaudharies 
| original_use       = Fortress and jail
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| restored           = 2017
| restored_by        = Delhi state Archaeology dept
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| architecture       = [[Lakhouri bricks]]  
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| owner                      = [[Government of Delhi]]   
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'''Bawana Fortress''' or '''Bawana Zail''', also '''Bawana Jail''' and '''Bawana tehsil''' is a historic fortress at [[Bawana]] in [[Delhi]] in [[India]], it was built in 1860s by [[Jat people|Jat]] [[chaudhary]] (chiefs) of the area who became [[zaildar]] of Bawana zail during the [[British raj]].<ref name=JatZail1>[http://www.hindustantimes.com/delhi-news/bawana-s-19th-century-fortress-gets-a-makeover/story-wYj33O1MZVUs9kDyEawKIN.html Bawana’s 19th-century fortress gets a makeover ] [[Hindustan Times]], 20 Feb 2017.</ref><ref name=JatZail2>[http://www.hindustantimes.com/photos/india-news/a-jail-a-school-and-an-orphanage-bawana-s-fortress-gets-another-makeover/photo-MnALg5tq9GtOs1MadSf5aM.html Bawana jail being restored], [[Hindustan Times]], 2017.</ref>

==History==
Bawana (बवाना), established in 1168,<ref name=JatZail1/> was previously called Bawani (बावनी).<ref name=JatZail7/> It received this name from the [[Hindi]] language word "bawan" (52) since this area was a grouping of 52 villages, 17 in Narela, 17 in Karala, 6 in Palam and 12 directly under Bawana, with 5,200 [[bigha]]s of agricultural land.<ref name=JatZail7>[https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/delhi/Delhi-traces-its-lost-rural-roots/articleshow/7250645.cms Delhi traces its lost rural roots], [[Times of India]], 9 Jan 2011.</ref><ref name=JatZail1/> Revenue department records mention two people connected with its origins, "Kala" and "Thakur" who came from Bengal.<ref name=JatZail7/> The [[Jat people]] of [[Taoru]], who initially migrated to [[Mehrauli]], settled at Bawana after spending significant time there. In due time they became influential enough to become [[chaudhary]] (chief) of the area. In the 1860s, Bawana became a [[Zail, British Indian|Zail]] (revenue unit) with 3 other villages, Bawana, Alipur and Kanjhawala, under its authority when the British introduced the colonial [[zaildar]]i revenue collection system in 1860s. Jat [[chaudhary|chief]], who was the [[Zaildar]] of Bawana Zail, built the Bawana Fortress in the 1860s as the headquarters of Bawana Zail. Along with Zails of Mehrauli, Dilli, and Najafgarh, Bawana was one of the four Zails within the colonial era Delhi district.<ref name=JatZail1/><ref name=JatZail2/><ref name=JatZail3> Rajesh K. Agarwal, 1974, [https://books.google.com/books?id=dTIIAQAAIAAJ Economic and Employment Potential of Archaeological Monuments in India], Sudesh Nangia, Birla Institute of Scientific Research, Economic Research Division.</ref><ref name=JatZail4>1954, [https://books.google.com/books?id=JBkPAQAAIAAJ Gazette of India], Page 320.</ref><ref name=JatZail5>1921, [https://books.google.com/books?id=kRA5AQAAMAAJ Annual Progress Report of the Superintendent, Muhammadan and British Monuments, Northern Circle], [[Archaeological Survey of India]], Northern Circle.</ref><ref name=JatZail6>1937, [https://books.google.com/books?id=DW0jAQAAIAAJ Administration Report], Page 21.</ref> Additional zails of Badarpur, Badli, Nangloi, Palam Zail and Shahdara Zail might have come up later.<ref name=JatZail8>Susan Sinclair, 2012, [https://books.google.com/books?id=0SgzAQAAQBAJ&dq=bawana+zail&pg=RA1-PA85 Bibliography of Art and Architecture in the Islamic World (2 vol. set)], p85.</ref>

In the 1930s-40s, authorities started to use Bawana Zail Fortress as a school. Later it, also served as a veterinary hospital for a short time before being used as an orphanage. During the 1996-98 rule of [[Jat]] Chief Minister of Delhi [[Sahib Singh Verma]], it was turned into an office of [[Patwari]], hence the zail fortress also came to be known as "Bawana Tehsil". Eventually, this run-down building was abandoned.<ref name=JatZail1/><ref name=JatZail2/> 

{{Quote
|text   = ''"From the zails of Bawana, Kanjhaola, and Alipur, 1,231 men went to the great war ([[World War I |first World War]], 1914-1919). Of these, 81 gave up their lives."''
|author  = Archaeology department
|title   = 
|source  = marble plaque on the entrance of Bawana Zail Fortress<ref name=JatZail1/><ref name=JatZail2/>  
}}

==Architecture==
It is a 200 square yard single story structure of [[Rampart (fortification)|rampart]]s and [[parapet]]s built with [[lakhori bricks]] and [[lime mortar]]. It has a grand arched gateway that opens into an inner courtyard surrounded by corridors. In the courtyard, the extreme corner on the left has two rooms that were used as jail by the Jat zaildar to imprison those [[zamidar]]s who defaulted on their [[zamindar|zamindari]] land tax. Next to the jail rooms, a small staircase leads to the terrace. The terrace has one bastion on each of its four corners. These bastions served as guard posts. The courtyard had a water well to serve the occupants.<ref name=JatZail1/><ref name=JatZail2/>   

==Conservation==
After the Bawana fortress was abandoned around late 1990s or so, large portions of its walls, built from [[lakhori bricks]], were ruined from both the out- and inside. The [[parapet]] collapsed. The old [[water well]] dried up and its water also turned [[Saline water|saline]]. It saw minor restorations in 2004 and again in 2010 for the [[2010 Commonwealth Games]] in [[Delhi]], though the earlier 2004 plan to convert it into a monument for the [[List of Indian independence activists|Indian independence freedom fighters]] did not materialise. In February 2017 major restoration by the State Archeology department of the [[Government of Delhi]] eventually commenced, using original construction material of that era, including a concrete preparation with 23 ingredients including [[Lime (material)|lime]], [[trass|surki]] (trass), [[jaggery]], [[Aegle_marmelos#CITEREF2009|bael fruit]] (wood apple) pulp and [[Vigna mungo|urad ki daal]] (paste of vigna mungo pulse).<ref name=JatZail1/><ref name=JatZail2/>

== See also ==
* [[Qila Rai Pithora]]
* [[Shahpur Jat]]
* [[Ahmad_Shah_Bahadur#Imad-ul-Mulk|1754 capture of Delhi by Jats]]

== References ==
{{reflist|30em}}

==External links==
* [http://www.hindustantimes.com/photos/india-news/a-jail-a-school-and-an-orphanage-bawana-s-fortress-gets-another-makeover/photo-MnALg5tq9GtOs1MadSf5aM.html Hindustan Times Photo feature on Bawana fortress]

{{Forts in India}}
{{Delhi landmarks}}

[[Category:Forts in Delhi]]
[[Category:Archaeological monuments in Delhi]]
[[Category:Buildings and structures completed in the 19th century]]
[[Category:Archaeological sites in Delhi]]