KGF, Indira and the treasure of Jaigarh Fort

 

While watching the newly out trailer of KGF 02, you might have wondered whether the character played by Raveena Tandon was an allusion to the iron lady Indira Gandhi. While Raveena's character and her desire to invade into Rocky's gold mines would be evident only when the film comes out, there is a similar story linked to Indira Gandhi - Indira's quest for the treasure of Jaigarh fort. The story is set in the backdrop of the emergency period, the time when the iron lady ruled with an iron fist. 

Jaigarh is an ancient fort of more than 300 years of antiquity located in the state of a thousand palaces, Rajasthan. Situated at a distance of 15 kms from Jaipur, Jaigarh Fort was built by Raja Sawai Jai Singh in 1726, the same man who founded the city of Jaipur and built Jantar Mantar. It was originally built as a check fort for the Amer and Nhargarh forts. 

One of the main attractions of the fort, present to this day is the Jaivana Cannon, which is claimed to be the biggest movable cannon of the world. There is a myth that the nearby pond was formed when the canon was test fired, and since then it was never used. The pond is still known as the Jaivana cannon pond. 

The story of a treasure buried deep within the boundaries of the fort was quite famous in the region. The story goes that Mansingh the first brought his loot back from Afghanistan and hid it in Amer fort. Mansingh was one of the navaratnas of Akbar, a decorated military general and more importantly the brother of Akbar's love for life 'Jodha Bai' (the same one from "Jodha Akbar"). 

Mansingh led several military campaigns under the command of Akbar and ultimately Afghanistan too came under his radar. It is rumored that he brought back tons of gold from there and secretly hid it somewhere in Amber fort, even without informing Akbar himself. A book named 'Haft Tilismat-e-Amberi' mentions that the treasures were hidden in seven water tanks in Jaipur. Everyone from later Mughal emperors to the Britishers tried to unearth the long lost treasure, but without any success. 

After independence, Mansingh the second was the titular ruler of Jaipur and his wife was Gayatri Devi. Gayatri Devi was born to Maharaja Jitendra Narayan and Indira Devi of Cooch Behar Kingdom of West Bengal. Both Gayatri and Indira Gandhi were students at Shanti Niketan, under the guidance of Rabindranath Tagore, but the relation between them was never healthy. 

In 1962, Gayatri got elected to Lok Sabha in a  landslide victory, as a candidate of C. Rajagopalachari's Swatantra Party, against Congress. Her mass appeal and royal status made her crown of thorns for Indira Gandhi, who already had expressed her disdain for royal sway over the public by abolishing the Privy Purses through the 26th Constitution Amendment Act. 

The emergency granted unchecked and unlimited powers to Indira Gandhi, who decided to take the opportunity to hunt for the lost treasure of Jaigarh. One among the many political leaders sent to jail at the time was Gayatri Devi, who dispatched to Tihar jail for 6 months. It was the best opportunity for Mrs. Gandhi to unearth the treasure. On 10 June 1976, a raid by Income Tax department, police and army was conducted in the fort premises. 

Jaigarh fort, supposedly linked to the Amer fort by an underground tunnel, was destroyed during the raid and a curfew was imposed nearby the fort premises. Because of the curfew, the authorities were able to confine the news of the expedition for a few weeks. But soon, the news started to spread like wildfire not just in India but also the entire world. Infact on 11 Aug 1976, Pakistan PM Zulfikar Ali Bhutto wrote a letter to Mrs. 

Gandhi demanding half of the treasure, if found, based on an Independence era pact between the two countries that if something big unknown till then was found, then it must be equally divided between the two nations. In Nov 1976, Mrs. Gandhi ordered the parties to put an end to the search for the treasure. She declared that the team found nothing but 230 kg of silver and some silverware from the fort premises. But neither the Pakistanis nor many of the Indian were ready to believe this as on the very next day the search operations were called off, the Jaipur - Delhi highway was closed down and many military trucks were seen frequenting between the sites. 

People started spreading stories that Indira did find the treasure and from Delhi it was transported via two planes to the Swiss bank. What really happened to the treasure? No one really knows, but this is surely a forgotten 'golden' chapter in the history of post independent India.