GWALIOR CITY 443
near the Urwahi Gate being 57 feet high. Babar notices this figure
and adds that he ordered all of them to be destroyed; but, as a matter
of fact, only some of those most easily reached were partially mutilated.
A large number of tanks have been made in the fort, some of which
are said never to fail in their supply-an important factor in the old
days of long sieges, which, as Tavernier remarks, gave Gwalior the first
place among the fortresses of India. The oldest tank is the Sūraj Kund,
or ' tank of the sun,' where a temple formerly stood. At the northern
end is the Johar tank, where the Rajputs sacrificed their women and
children to save them from capture when the fort was taken by Altamsh
in 1232.
[A. Cunningham, Archaeological Survey Reports, vol. ii, p. 330.]
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