Vijaydurg

Wednesday, March 12, 2014

Finally at 11 am we reached Devgad ST bus stand. The bus to Vijaydurg was at 1130 am. So we decided to refresh ourselves with some sugarcane juice at the sugarcane juice centre located at the entrance of the bus depot. 

Vijaydurg Fort from VIjaydurg Village

We then headed to the bus, only to find that the bus that had dropped us here from Kunkeshwar was going to take us to Vijaydurg.

Got ourselves a ticket at Rs. 58 for the 1 ½ hour journey only to be dropped off at the entrance of the fort. 

We were told by the bus conductor that the last bus is at 1630 hours to Devgad ST bus stand. 

Temple in fort premises

History states that this fort was constructed by Raja Bhoj of Shilahar Dynasty between 1193 AD to 1205 AD. Its original name was Gheria Fort. It was situated near village Girye.

Shivaji Maharaj won this fort from Adilshah of Bijapur in 1653 and renamed it Vijaydurg.

The massive walls of the fort were impressive. This 17 acre fort is 2/3 in the water and 1/3 on land access via land and has 17 bastions on it. Each of the bastions named after a particular person or God I guess. 

Cannons placed at the entrance of the fort

At the entrance of the fort is a house and a temple, the temple is painted orange in color. A few cannons were located there; they were mounted on the mud bricks.

At the main entrance of the fort are placed cannon balls on either side of the passage. There are many houses in its premises, though most of them are unoccupied but they are in good condition.

We decided to survey the entire fort by walking on the walls of the fort.  The walls give an amazing view of the sea and the village based near the fort.  It also offers a view of the fortification, similar to the one I saw in Lohgad. located near Visapur and Bhaje Caves.  

Fortification reminded me of Lohgad Fort

The walls were so broad that they could accommodate house like structures, a few of them have shapes in them like doors and windows and a few have tiled roofs. There are many with broken roofs too which have fallen within the structures.

Couldn’t stop myself from taking at photo at this place. Photo courtesy Hithakshi. 

That's Me

This fort had two walls for protection, one on the outside and the other on the inside, the outer one being small in height compared to the one inside.

Some parts of the fort are being redone, a big thanks to the guys who are trying to conserve our history.

We saw that one of the bastions was broken down; I guess this was done when a cannon ball was fired onto it from a sea vessel. I could see the damage it created. The impact bought down the entire bastion. 

View from the Fort Walls

I noticed that there are small openings in the wall for guns to shoot at the sea vessel, but what caught my eye is this mother opening that housed six small openings. I have been too many forts but something like this I noticed for the first time.

There were rooms for ammunition on the fort as well.

There are many huge structures placed all over the fort, they have windows in them but no roofs. No wonder what these were used for?

How I wish I had a time machine that could transport me in time.

One of the many structures built on the Fort

There are guides here who give information on the fort, but each guide interprets the fort differently. There is no uniformity in the information provided.

It takes around 4 hours to view the fort in entirety.

Again there were many idiots here who have ruined the walls by writing their names all over it.

Few visitors, maybe it was afternoon so it didn’t attract many. But to see this fort it takes around four hours so you will be baked in the sun. 

I located many of these unique slots on the fort walls, Maybe they were used to shot at the enemy outside the fort

This journey of ours through this magnificent fort was truly amazing. But we had to leave at our bus was at 1630 hours and to top it, it was the last bus for the day.

This fort surely ranks in the class of Murud Janjira. A beautiful fort.

A must on your trip to Devgad. 

Kunkeshwar Temple

Monday, March 10, 2014

A day before we had inquired at the ST bus stand regarding the timings for the buses to Kunkeshwar Temple and Vijaydurg Fort and how to go about it. We were told to do Kunkeshwar Temple in the morning and later head out to see Vijaydurg. Though there is no direct mode of transport to Vijaydurg we had to come back to the depot to board a bus to Vijaydurg.

We then decided to do Kunkeshwar Temple first and later do Vijaydurg. We planned to board the 730 hours bus to the temple.

As decided the night earlier, we boarded the 730 hours bus at Devgad ST bus stand. Note that there are few direct buses to Kunkeshwar and many going via Kunkeshwar, the bus we boarded goes via Kunkeshwar.

Kunkeshwar Temple

The bus was comparatively empty though it was morning. The view is amazing as the road is a rollercoaster ride in the hills offering amazing view of the land. The roads were good for car drifters, it reminded me of the scene in the movie, Fast and Furious 3 where they had ad drifting race downhill.

Finally after 1 ½ hours at a cost of Rs. 28 one way we were at the footsteps of the temple.

There are many stalls selling offerings outside the temple.

Hithakshi offered prayers here while I started my photo shoot of the temple.

The Kunkeshwar Temple is located in Kunkeshwar Village which is situated around 14 km from Devgad and the temple is dedicated to Shiva. This temple was built in 100 AD by the Yadav Kings. Shivaji Maharaj too tied to keep this temple intact.

Beach outside the temple premises

The temple was newly constructed near the sea. The beach had beige sands and grey colored water lashing on the shore. The water was good for a swim, but I couldn’t locate any one swimming on the shore. Some stretch of the beach was rocky especially the one near the temple.

There were no waste or sea weeds on the shore.

After we were done with Hithakshi’s prayers and my photo shoot we headed back to Devgad ST bus depot as we planned to do Vijaydurg today.

The ride back was also a rollercoaster ride, but this time cost of the ticket is Rs. 24. How come the price reduced by Rs.4. So we asked the conductor on which he told us it is based on the no.  of stops it makes. Ooo iii cccc

At around 1100 hours we were at Devgad ST bus stand.

Devgad Beach

Thursday, March 6, 2014

After exploring a part of Devgad Port we headed off to see the beach. We reached the point from where three roads meet, one heading to Devgad Fort and port, other to the ST bus stand and the third to Devgad Beach.

From this junction it takes 10 minutes to walk to the beach.

In no time we were on the beach. The stretch of the beach is not to long but it was beautiful.

Devgad Beach sandwitched between the windmills located on a cliff on one end and another cliff on the other.

Clean white sands with grey waters lashing against them made it an amazing view. But this view short lived due to the short stretch of the sea.

The beach is sandwiched between the windmills located on a cliff on one end and another cliff on the other.

Now it was 1700 hours in the evening and there was no crowd on this beautiful beach. A few people, wait let me count them, 20 people were on the beach out of which 10 were in the water.

We headed off to see the Windmills located on the cliff.

Devgad Fort

Sunday, March 2, 2014

Hithakshi inquired at the ST bus stand regarding the whereabouts of the Devgad Fort.

At the inquiry counter we were advised that the Fort is at an hour’s distance from here. There are no buses plying there. But rickshaws would land us there in no time, but we would miss out on the beauty around us. We then decided to walk it out to the beach hoping to get some wonderful shots.

The road was narrow with houses located near it. These houses were quite old, I guess around 100 years and above. There was a masala making factory near the road so we decided to check it out. As we were tourists here, everyone around looked at us with a suspicious eye though they were very helpful in guiding us to the Fort. 

Entrance to Devgad Fort.Staircase is from Customs House  in near Devgad Port

It was around 1500 hours and there was not a soul on the road. Guess too many people don’t visit this place or maybe it’s the heat that’s keeping the people away.

This is a fishing village with fishing boats all over the place. Some were on their way back collecting the day’s catch of fish. The view of the boats in the water against the green hills was simply amazing.

The Devgad Fort was erected by Kanoji Angre in the year 1705. The Fort was built at the confluence of the Devgad creek and the Arabian Sea. The fort is accompanied by a Harbor at the base where once a upon a time big ships used to dock.

A staircase near the Customs House Devgad leads us to the entrance of the Fort. Drinking water is available from a tap near the Customs House. 

View of the green waters of the Arabian Sea from walls of Devgad Fort

In no time we were at the entrance of the fort. The walls of the fort were not very high. As the fort was on a cliff they didn’t require high walls I guess. The walls were made of black stone with bordering of white.  The stones were huge and were placed one above the other with no adhesive to lock them.

The fort offered a good view of the sea, that’s the reason a light house has been built here. It offers a good view of Devgad Beach and the Windmills in a distance.

Three bastions that are accessible to public offer a good view of the sea and the area around us.

I noticed that there is no thrash or graffiti on the walls of this fort. This is good. I guess too many people haven’t heard of this place.

In the premises of the fort are temples dedicated to Ganesh and Hanuman. 

View of the Fort from the inside, the light house in the corner and the remains of the houses with stone boundares and dried water cistern

There are stones which I guess were a part of the walls of the houses here which no longer exist.

There is also a well up here which is around 5 to 6 stories deep. And bathing ground which was dried up.

The entire fort can be done by walking on the walls of the fort.

I could not locate single cannon on the fort. Now this is strange as this is a sea fort and the danger of being attacked from the sea is always there and there are no cannons for security. What happened to the cannons, where did they go, where they stolen or did they never exist here were some of the questions running in my head.

One can view the lighthouse, daily between 1600 to 1750 hours. The entry fees are mentioned on a signboard and they are very economical. We were unlucky that day, as the person in charge had not reported and so we couldn’t see the light house.

The part of the fort in the premises of the lighthouse is in accessible to public for security reasons.

After enjoying the beautiful view around and the strong breeze on a sunny afternoon we headed off to see the Devgad Port.