Monday, January 9, 2017
Solapur Fort also known as Bhuikot Fort
(Land Fort) is located very near to the Shri Siddheshwar Temple in Solapur.
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| Wrestling arena near the Solapur Fort aka Bhuikot Fort walls |
After visiting Machnur Fort and SiddheshwarTemple in Machnur we traveled on the Sangola - Mangalwedha - Solapur Road to reach Solapur. It took us around an hour's time to reach. Distance is 45 KM away. The directions are tagged on Google maps.
Manohar parked the car outside the fort
premises and then we walked to get the entry ticket to visit the fort. The fort
is open all 7 days a week. Timings are 9 AM to 5 PM. Entry fee is Rs.5.
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| Fortification of Solapur Fort aka Bhuikot Fort |
Near the fort walls is a small ground. In
its glory days wrestling matches were conducted there. Wrestling was a form of
entertainment then. The wrestlers were called Pehelwans. When I had been to Kolhapur,
I had visited a Talim. It was built by Shahu Maharaj to promote wrestling as
sport.
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| History of Solapur Fort aka Bhuikot Fort |
The fort walls were built of stone. The
fort walls were not very tall and they reminded me of fort walls of AhmednagarFort in Ahmednagar.
The fort was built by Adil Shah, it was
conquered by many rulers post then.
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| Bastion at Solapur Fort aka Bhuikot Fort |
There are two ways of exploring a fort, one
is walking on the walls and the other is walking within the fort premises.
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| Bastions at Solapur Fort aka Bhuikot Fort |
We decided to explore by walking on the
walls. The walls of the fort were very broad. Four people could walk hand in
hand atop it. The second and the third walls have bastions on them. Though
certain portions of the walls are not in good condition. They have developed
cracks in them. I guess it might have happened during the earthquakes. But one
can still walk atop it.
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| Fortification of Solapur Fort aka Bhuikot Fort |
The fort has three levels of fortification.
Something similar to what I had seen at Vijaydurg near Malvan and Naldurg in
Osmanabad.
The walls on all three levels were on
different heights.
From the fort premises one can see the Shri
Siddheshwar Temple in the middle of the algae infested Siddheshwar Lake.
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| Fortification of Solapur Fort aka Bhuikot Fort |
After exploring the surroundings of the fort,
by walking on the main wall we then decided to explore the fort from within.
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| Fortification of Solapur Fort aka Bhuikot Fort |
On the inside, there are gardens all over
the place. There is a beautiful mosque in the fort premises. The mosque though
short in height, it had beautiful pillars carved within in. The design on all
the pillars was uniform. Something similar to the Qutub Minar Complex in Delhi
and the Daulatabad Fort near Aurangabad.
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Fortification of Solapur Fort aka Bhuikot Fort
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There is another structure in the fort
premises, not sure if it is a temple. It is in broken state, but it was surrounded
by water. The remains of it were beautiful.
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| Structures on Solapur Fort aka Bhuikot Fort |
There were two huge cannons in the fort
premises. The cannons had the seal of the maker, year of production and the batch
too.
Something similar to the ones I saw at St. Jerome Fort in Daman, DaulatabadFort, Diu Fort and Naldurg Fort in Osmanabad.
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| Siddheshwar Temple and Lake from Solapur Fort aka Bhuikot Fort |
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Mosque within Solapur Fort aka Bhuikot Fort
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There are a couple of other structures on
the fort but not sure what they are as there are no signboards near them.
As the fort is located in the city of
Solapur and very near to Shri Siddheshwar Temple, boarding and lodging is
easily available.
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| Another Darwaza to enter Solapur Fort aka Bhuikot Fort |
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| Cannon within Solapur Fort aka Bhuikot Fort |
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