Virat Nagar - The Ancient Land of many Wonders

Virat Nagar - The Ancient Land of many Wonders

1.Virat Nagar is a budding tourist destination, located at a distance of 53 km from the 'Pink City' of Jaipur in Rajasthan. This place is also popularly known as ‘Bairat’ and is located in the vicinity of popular tourist destinations like Sariska, Siliserh, Ajabgarh-Bhangarh and Alwar.

2.The name ‘Virat Nagar’ can be traced back to the age of the great epic the Mahabharata. According to mythology, this place was founded by the King, Virat, in whose kingdom, the Pandavas spent their banishment period of one year ('Agyatwas').

3.Viratnagar was the capital of the ancient Mahajanapada (kingdom) of Machcha or Matsya. The kingdom came under the control of the neighboring Chedi Kingdom in the 5th century and was later part of the Mauryan Empire. The ruins of the Bijak-ki-pahadi, a Buddhist Chaitya (chapel) from the 3rd century BCE located in Bairat, are the oldest free-standing Buddhist structures in India.The town is also home to ruins of a Buddhist monastery,a wood and timber shrine, and rock-cut edict from Emperor Ashoka; these date from the Mauryan period.

4.The town has a number of Mughal structures, including a Chhatri (cenotaph) with some of the earliest surviving murals in Rajasthan, and a lodge where the Mughal emperor Akbar hunted and stayed overnight on his yearly pilgrimage to Ajmer.The town's Viratnagar Museum houses artifacts from Bairat's long history, including sculptures, coins, pottery, seals and metal objects.

5.Strange Stone formations

Bairat has some very strange and naturally formed rocks and boulders which resemble animals or human skulls. More research may be needed to determine if there is no human intervention in creating the same.