Ita Fort

Ita Fort in Itanagar town, is one of the most important historical sites in the state of Arunachal Pradesh, India. The name literally means "Fort of bricks" (brick being called "Ita" in the Assamese language). It also lends its name to the city Itanagar, the capital of Arunachal Pradesh. The Ita Fort at Arunachal Pradesh was built as early as the 14th or the 15th century by kings of the Chutia dynasty.[1] The fort has an irregular shape, built mainly with bricks dating back to the 14th-15th Century. The total brickwork is of 16,200 cubic metre lengths which was probably built by kings of the Chutiya kingdom which ruled the region during that time. The fort has three different entrances at three different sides, which are western, the eastern and the southern sides.[2]

Ita Fort
Part of Arunachal Pradesh
Itanagar, Arunachal Pradesh, India
Ita Fort, southern gate
Type	Fort
Site information
Controlled by	Government of Arunachal Pradesh
Condition	Ruins
Site history
Built	11th-14th century
Built by	Chutiya kingdom
Materials	Bricks, Granite, and Lime mortar

Archaeological finds from the site are on displayed at the Jawaharlal Nehru Museum, Itanagar.

History

The Ita Fort is thought to be one of the early forts which the great Chutia king Ratnadhwajpal initially built all around his kingdom from Biswanath till Disang.[3] The bricks used in the fort hint to later repairs in the 14th-15th century. The ruins of a hill fort on the banks of the Buroi river bear the same builder's marks as the ones found in the ruins of the Tamreswari temple (Mukta-Dharmanarayan, 1442 A.D.) which indicate that the Chutia fortifications were spread till Biswanath.[4] The location of Ita fort well to the east of Buroi shows that the Ita fort was also one of the Chutia hill forts.

In the year 1941, the political officer of former Balipara frontier tract, Mr. D.N. Das, in an article published in the Journal of Assam Research Society, falsely claimed the fort to be the capital of Ramachandra/Mayamatta Mayapur.[5] But, from the assamese chronicle Adi Charita[6](which is itself dubious [7]), we get to know that Ramachandra had his capital in Pratappura, due to which, he was also known as Pratappuriya. Pratappura has been identified to be located near Biswanath.[8] The Pratapgarh ruins may have formed the eastern borders of the kingdom as evident from the Uma-tumani island(near Biswanath) stone inscription which mentions the ruler as Pratapuradhikari.[9] Moreover, it is also known that Ramachandra/Pratapuriya's son Arimatta had his kingdom in present day Kamrup, Darrang and Sonitpur districts with capital at Baidargarh(Betna) and annexed the Kamata kingdom by killing the Kamateswar Phengua.[10] These facts prove that Ita fort had nothing to do with Arimatta line of kings.

Gallery

• 
  A brick wall at the southern gate.
• 
  A granite stone carvings found in Ita fort depicting a lion, the symbol of the Chutia kingdom.
• 
  Lion artwork from Ita fort. Lion was the emblem of the Chutia kingdom as found in Rukmini Nagar and Bhismaknagar.

References

1. "Tourism in Arunachal Pradesh". Arunachalpradesh.nic.in. Archived from the original on 20 March 2012. Retrieved 27 March 2012.
2. Itanagar Official website
3. Mignonette Momin, Society and Economy in North-East India,p. 48
4. Barua, K.L An Early History of Kamrupa 1933, p. 271.
5. [https://archive.org/details/in.ernet.dli.2015.451495/page/n56/mode/1up Maheswar Neog, Pavitra Assam, p. 57
6. Neog, Maheswar, Early History of the Vaishnavite Faith and Movement in Assam, p. 29. It is supposed to have been written in 1586 saka (1664 AD)
7. Maheswar Neog states that the Adi-cwita, ascribed to Madhavadeva, has created much ill feeling among the Vaisnavas of Assam, and has been denounced by the more considerate section of sattra pontiffs and literary men alike.
8. Journal of Asiatic Society of Bengal, p.190-191, Pratappura, capital city of Ramachandra was located near Biswanath, in the vicinity of Agnigarh.
9. The Uma-tumani Rock inscription has the word Pratapapuradhikari indicating Pratappura to be located nearby.
10. Gait, Edward, A History of Assam, p.18