Narnala Fort

Narnala Fort, also called Narnala Qila Sarkar, crowns a hill in the Satpura Range of Vidarbha. The site goes back to about the 10th century, when Gavli kings are said to have founded it, while local legend credits the first walls to Raja Narnal Singh Swami, after whom it is named. Its exact date is unknown, but the Persian historian Firishta records that the Bahmani king Ahmad Shah I repaired it between 1425 and 1428.

Over the following centuries it passed to the Imad Shahis, the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, the Mughals, who renamed it Shanoor, and the Marathas under the Bhonsles of Nagpur, before the British took it in 1803. In 1572 the Imad Shahi ruler Burhan Imad Shah was held captive here by his own minister. Several major works, including the Mahakali Gate, the Rani Mahal and the Elephant Stable, are traditionally credited to Rana Narnal Singh Solanki around the turn of the 16th century. In the end the fort was abandoned.