SSC Stenographer 2026 – 15 September 2026 Shift 2 · Forts and palaces
Q1. What innovation did Rajput fort architecture introduce to withstand siege warfare?
- (a) Stepwells for sustained water supply
- (b) Glass domes
- (c) Mechanical drawbridges
- (d) Collapsible gates
Answer & solution
Answer: (a) Stepwells for sustained water supply
Answer: Option 1 — Stepwells for sustained water supply
A hill fort can hold out only as long as its water lasts, so Rajput builders carved stepwells (baoris), tanks and reservoirs inside the walls that could supply a garrison through a months-long siege.
Glass domes, mechanical drawbridges and collapsible gates are not features of Rajput fort building.
Revision note — Rajput forts and stepwells
• Chittorgarh Fort, the largest fort in India (about 700 acres), once had 84 water bodies, of which about 22 survive — the Gaumukh Kund is the best known.
• Six forts — Chittorgarh, Kumbhalgarh, Ranthambore, Gagron, Amber and Jaisalmer — are the UNESCO World Heritage Hill Forts of Rajasthan, inscribed in 2013.
• Kumbhalgarh, built by Rana Kumbha in the 15th century, has a wall about 36 km long, the second-longest continuous wall in the world after the Great Wall of China.
• Other Rajput defences: massive thick walls with bastions, gates set at right angles to slow a charge, and iron spikes on doors against elephants — as at Mehrangarh, Jodhpur.
• Famous stepwells: Chand Baori at Abhaneri, Rajasthan (about 3,500 steps, 13 storeys), and Rani-ki-Vav at Patan, Gujarat, built by Solanki queen Udayamati and a UNESCO site since 2014.
• Stepwells are called baori or bawdi in Rajasthan and vav in Gujarat.
Also asked from this topic: the water bodies once inside Chittorgarh Fort (84); the feature that defines Rajput forts (massive thick walls with bastions); the river beside Rani-ki-Vav (Saraswati).
A hill fort can hold out only as long as its water lasts, so Rajput builders carved stepwells (baoris), tanks and reservoirs inside the walls that could supply a garrison through a months-long siege.
Glass domes, mechanical drawbridges and collapsible gates are not features of Rajput fort building.
Revision note — Rajput forts and stepwells
• Chittorgarh Fort, the largest fort in India (about 700 acres), once had 84 water bodies, of which about 22 survive — the Gaumukh Kund is the best known.
• Six forts — Chittorgarh, Kumbhalgarh, Ranthambore, Gagron, Amber and Jaisalmer — are the UNESCO World Heritage Hill Forts of Rajasthan, inscribed in 2013.
• Kumbhalgarh, built by Rana Kumbha in the 15th century, has a wall about 36 km long, the second-longest continuous wall in the world after the Great Wall of China.
• Other Rajput defences: massive thick walls with bastions, gates set at right angles to slow a charge, and iron spikes on doors against elephants — as at Mehrangarh, Jodhpur.
• Famous stepwells: Chand Baori at Abhaneri, Rajasthan (about 3,500 steps, 13 storeys), and Rani-ki-Vav at Patan, Gujarat, built by Solanki queen Udayamati and a UNESCO site since 2014.
• Stepwells are called baori or bawdi in Rajasthan and vav in Gujarat.
Also asked from this topic: the water bodies once inside Chittorgarh Fort (84); the feature that defines Rajput forts (massive thick walls with bastions); the river beside Rani-ki-Vav (Saraswati).