Bijai Garh, Bayana

Bijai Garh, also called Vijayamandirgarh, crowns Damdama Hill, an extension of the Aravallis overlooking Bayana in Bharatpur district, about 25 km from Hindaun. According to an inscription of 1043, the Jadaun Rajput king Vijaypala (Bijai Pal) built it around 1040–41. It later passed to Ghaznavid and Ghurid forces, the Delhi Sultanate, the Lodis and the Mughals; Babur counted it among India's most famous forts, and under Akbar Bayana was a military station and prison before its decline.

Continuous walls of reddish local stone ring the summit, and a long flight of stairs climbs through a series of gateways on the south. Inside the rugged enclosure are two small red-sandstone halls with traces of painting, a ruined pillared pavilion, an octagonal tower with a Quranic inscription, cisterns and a stepwell. The Bhimlat pillar on the cliff edge bears a 4th-century Gupta Brahmi inscription of Vishnuvardhana. The ASI protects the fort as a Monument of National Importance, and it is open to visitors.