Forts in Maharashtra: 2011

Harishchandragad is situated on Mumbai - Ahmednagar road near Malshej Ghat. We left Pune from Shivajinagar and reached Otur at about 12:00 in night, the nearby town. On the next dawn we got lift in a truck and reached Khubi Phata at about 6:30 AM. The Pimpalgaon - Joga dam welcomed us. We had to walk about 5 Km along the dam wall to Khireshwar, one of the base camps of Harishchandragad.

While walking to Khireshwar I could see the fort, its height and the cliffs. I understood that the trek is going to test my patience. We reached to Khireshwar and had some breakfast.and started the trek to Harishandragad. We were traversing the path to Tolar Khind (Tolar Pass). The route takes you through jungle and has some hard patches for novice trekkers. I would not recommend this route during rainy season, as there are some patches where you have to go upwards from water streams, and during rain this becomes very difficult. Also make sure that you have enough drinking water with you, as there is no or very little water available in the route. Once you are on the top, there is much potable water available. Pleas keep a medichlor bottle with you, which will help to sterilize the water available there. This is to avoid any health problems due to water.

When you reach to Tolar Khind, you have completed about 60% of the trek.After this some vertical part begins. There are couple of caves in thee route. You can have some rest there, and start again. Once you reach the top, you will see the Balekilla of the fort( See below pic).

Balekilla of Harishchandragad

When we reached the top I gave a sigh of relief, that I have completed the trek. After I saw the map, I came to know that I have still to walk and have to cross couple of hills to reach the Harishchandreshwar Temple. When reached there, saw the Pushkarini (water tank) (see below) and the thousand years old Harishchandreshwar Temple opposite to it.

The temple has very beautiful with design inscribed on its walls. It has a Shivling in it. It has a Ganesh idol in left side. There are many caves around the temple. You can see some of these in below pics.

Harishchandreshwar Temple

Harishchandreshwar Shivling

Design inscribed on the temple walls

Vitthal - Rukmini idols

Ganesh idol near Harishchandreshwar temple

Kedareshwar

Konkankada is the other attraction of the fort. This is a huge concave cliff. One can observer the gorge right under his foot. A very exciting and beautiful look of the valley can be observed from here. Below are some of the pics of Kokankada.

Kokankada

We spent the night in the caves near Ganesh Mandir on the fort. While coming down we choose other way. We trek down to Pachnai village to the north of the fort on next day. This is the more simple route to trek the fort than that of from Tolar Khind.

The ST bus is available from Pachnai at 11 AM, the only bus from here. If you are planning to bepart to your home from here, make sure that you are down the fort in Pachnai before 11 AM. The bus takes you to Rajur, from where you can get bus to Pune.

Sindhudurg is one of the few forts which were constructed by Shivaji Maharaj. This was constructed by him in 1664. Shivaji Maharaj had looted Surat and that money was used to build this fort. The island on which the fort stands was known as "Kurte". It was rocky island in Arabian sea off the Malvan shore. Sindhudurg was built to keep the British, Siddhis and the Portuguese in check by Maratha navy.

The foundation of the fort has been laid in molten lead this has provided the robustness to the fortification of the fort. The main entrance is concealed in such a way that it is difficult to point at from outside sea shore. The fort has fortification of about 3 km length with many bastions on it. There are drinking water reservoirs on the fort.

There is footprint and hand impression of Shivaji Maharaj on the fort. These impressions were taken in lime at the time of construction of the fort Sindhudurg. Below are the pics of the fort Sindhudurg.

Sindhudurg

Way to Main Entrance of Sindhudurg

Way to Main Entrance

Main Entrance

Inside view of main entrance

Jarimari Temple

There is a coconut tree with branch on the Sindhudurg. Generally coconut trees don't have branches. Below is the pic of the tree. This was hit by lightning a couple of years ago.