Bajwara Fort, Hoshiarpur

Bajwara Fort, also called Qila Bajwara, stands on six to seven acres at Bajwara in Hoshiarpur, Punjab. Its builder is unknown: theories name Sher Shah Suri, Afghans from Ghazni, or Pashtun settlers of the late 15th century. According to the district gazetteer, three immigrants from Ghazni founded the settlement, and the name is believed to come from one of them, the dhrupad performer Baiju Bawra. The Ain-i-Akbari mentions it, Maharaja Ranjit Singh captured it in 1825, and the British held mutineers here during the 1857 rebellion.

The design mixed Mughal and local Islamic styles, with two multi-tiered bastions and towering arched portals joined by strong walls. Little of this remains. Neglect and peepal growth have brought down the roofs and much of the structure, and a 2025 visit by members of INTACH found a single wall still standing. Nobody has ever carried out conservation here, though a boundary wall and a heritage park have been proposed.