We reached Junagarh Fort after midday in a white hire car still labelled for Kanhaiya Lal Teli of Gandhi Nagar, Udaipur, yellow-and-black plate reading RJ27 TB 1420. Raja Rai Singh had raised this citadel on the open Thar plain between 1589 and 1594; unlike most Rajput forts it needed no hill, and it was never taken. Inside, a many-rayed star in maroon and cream hung on white plaster, a crown over HEAVEN'S LIGHT OUR…
