It is 17 km east of Rawalpindi on Grand
Trunk Road. The 2nd century Mankiala stupa can be seen from the roof
of the fort's mosque. The fort is located approximately 50 miles from the
vast Rohtas Fort, which had been built by Sher Shah Suri to establish
control of the Gakhar region.
The fort was founded as a caravanserai in
the 15th century by Salteen-e-Dehli, though the caravan itself may have
been built atop a Ghaznavid-era fort that was established in 1036 CE.
The caravanserai was then later fortified in the
16th century by the local Gakhar warrior clan loyal to the Mughal emperor Humayun in
order to defend the Pothohar plateau from Sher Shah Suri's forces.
The fort is almost in square form and has two gates.
There is also a quadrangular building with a dome in the fort's inner area an
area which also contains many graves. Along the perimeter are several small
cells, which may have originally been small rooms rented out to itinerant
merchants.
The fort also contains a mosque with three domes.
The grave of the Gakkar chief, Sultan Sarang Khan is present within the fort. His
16 sons, who died there fighting, are also buried inside the fort.
The fort is federally protected as a Cultural
Heritage Site of Punjab, and is managed by the Ministry of Information,
Broadcasting and National Heritage. In November 2016, a conservation plan was
commissioned for preservation of the fort. 50 million rupees were allocated in
March 2017 towards the first of two phases of conservation of the Rawat Fort.
