Kelva Fort (Madhla Buruj)

Sunday, January 18, 2015

I have been planning to visit the remaining forts of Palghar since a couple of months now. But none of my plans were getting actioned. 

The forts I have visited in Palghar so far are Kelva Fort,  Shirgaon Fort,  Tarapur Fort,  Kaldurg Fort, Kohoj

Train to board at Andheri Station, platform no.4

Finally Mike and I decided to visit Palghar to do the remaining forts.

Fisher folk with their fish

As decided we met at Andheri Railway Station at 5:50 AM to board the 5:55 AM fast local to Dahanu. The train was packed at that time. The train was filled with a mixed lot of people. Some sleeping and snooring, others chit chatting. We also had a few fisherfolk who were there with their fish, they were heading to Bhayandar to sell their fish.  

Kelve Rd station

Though the glass windows were shut and the fans switched off we were still feeling cold. I was wearing a camera vest which obstructed the cold to some extent, pity Mike.

Misal Pav and Tea

Finally at 7:05 the train was at Kelve Road Station, the train had arrived before schedule.  Now the weather was really cold here, everyone around was dressed in woolen, and the two of us in Tees and Shorts and Sandals. We were definitely the odd one's out there.

An old bell located on the way to Kelva Fort

Just outside the station we found a small store serving snacks and tea. We rushed to have breakfast in the form of spicy Misal Pav and hot Tea to gulp it down.  Hoping that it would relieve us from the cold. 

Mike and Me

The moment the breakfast was over, we started feeling the cold again. As SitlaDevi Temple was around 8 KM away and no ST bus in sight, we decided to walk it out. There are sharing Rickshaw's here. Rs. 15 for a seat. 

Road to Kelve Fort

We asked a couple of locals for direction, the only thing they told us that we need to go walking straight on the road, no left turns and no right turns, and that is what we did.

Sunrise at Kelve Rd Station

As the sun had now risen, it was getting warmer. We did notice that when we opened our mouths to talk we could see the smoke coming out of it. Now you can imagine how cold it was.

Salt pans on the way to Kelve Fort

Barren lands, salt pans, thick greenery, we saw it all on our way to SitlaDevi Temple. 

Tiny roads

Now why were we going to the SitlaDevi Temple, because we had Kelva Fort (Madhla Buruj), Mahim Fort, Danda Fort and Bhawangad Fort which were easily accessible from there. 

Kelve Beach

By the time we reached SitlaDevi Temple we were all charged up.  Asked a couple of locals in regards to the direction to visit the hidden Kelva Fort (Madhla Buruj). As I had done the Kelva fort, the one in the middle of the water in my passed trip here. 

Uprooted Cassurina Trees

From the SitlaDevi Temple located on the shore of the beach, start walking towards the north, at the end of the tree cover is located the fort. Due to the thick forestation the fort cannot be located even from a distance. 

Another view of Kelve Beach

The fort is small in size and had five bastions on it. The doors of the fort have been buried in the sand over the years. A small three foot entrance leads to the inside of the fort. The windows of the fort offer a very good view of the sea and the vessels in it.  Due to the thick forestation, this fort was camouflaged in the woods. Maybe it was used as a watchtower. 

Bastion of Kelve Fort (Madla Buruj)

What left me fuming here was the advertisement painted on the walls of the fort, the graffiti on it's inside walls and the plastic wrappers of food items. 

Fortification of  Kelva Fort (Madhla Buruj)

Not sure about the history of this place, but what we noticed is that different types of stone was used in the construction of this fort.

Fortification of  Kelva Fort (Madhla Buruj)

The fort hardly took us 20 minutes to explore, we then headed back to Sitla Devi Temple to board a tum tum to Mahim Fort. 

Me

We noticed the roots of most of the cassurina trees that are on the shore. Maybe soil erosion had taken place here. 

Bastion

After having refreshing lemon water we headed off to sea Mahim Fort.  

That's me

Kelva Fort

Saturday, September 24, 2011

I decided to visit the forts of Palghar on a Saturday as Palghar is very close to Mumbai. Palghar district houses more than eight forts.

Palghar is located at a distance of 112 km from Mumbai. It is located near the Maharashtra–Gujarat border and can be approached by rail and road. Palghar is a quiet place with plenty of greenery. The roads are very narrow yet very scenic. Small and lovely houses dot both sides of the road.

I visited this sea fort along with my friend Nimish, who had earlier accompanied me to Kanheri Caves. We took the Virar Dahanu shuttle from Virar station. It took us approximately 45 minutes to reach Virar from Andheri. The shuttles are never on time. Ours was delayed by 15 minutes. In the end, it took us 40 minutes to reach Palghar station from Virar.

Kelva Fort

From Palghar, you can take ST (Stat Transport) buses and tum tum's to go to Kelva beach. We boarded the ST bus so that we could have a chat with locals regarding what we could look forward to seeing in Kelva as we were quite new to the place and there was not much information available online.

The driver of our bus turned out to be a very environmentally conscious guy. At one of the stops on the way, there were many people who wanted to alight. The driver actually shut down the engine. I was duly impressed. There aren’t many people who would remember to do that.

It took us around 30 minutes to reach Kelva beach. The beach houses a Sitladevi temple. This temple is a must-see on the itinerary of Hindus.

Fishing boats at Kelva Fort

To reach the fort we need to walk across the beach for at least an hour. The beach is covered by sur trees. We started walking towards the fort. However, as the sea was rough, it being the time of the high tide, we could not get close to the fort but were forced to see it from a distance. The fort was well fortified with the walls intact. This was indeed surprising, considering that it was built in the 16th century.

Disappointed at not being able to explore the interiors of the fort, we walked back to Kelva beach. On the way back, we saw that the fisherfolk had laid out their dried fish on thin bamboo sticks. The dry fish business in Kelva is a very lucrative one.

We had some snacks at a dhaba on Kelva beach. We asked the locals about the history of the fort. They told us that it was built by the Portuguese in the 16th century and that it was later conquered by Shivaji. The fort is rectangular in shape and it can be visited only by climbing the walls. They also informed us that there is nothing much to see in the fort.

Kelva Fort

Maybe they had read our disappointment on our faces and were trying to console us.

After having our snacks we decided to head for Shirgaon Fort located in Palghar.