Rangana Fort (Prasidhdhagad)

                                                 Rangana Fort (Prasidhdhagad) 

ON DATE 20/05/2014

Our Inspector Shri Bhagwat sir decided to visit the fort , for the central location and height in Sindhudurg  district.On the google map it showed that visit to the fort is easy , a simple 24 km drive and a short trekking  to the fort. There are two routes  to reach one from Patgaon and another form Narur .The route from Narur is more accessable and easy.

            We started at 0615 and reached a remote village Narur .After reaching there we were informed that it takes around 2 hrs to reach the fort which was quite exaggerated  we thought.

            After parking we stared our trekking which was quite smooth because 1km route was constructed  for walking towards the fort. Afterwards the route through the rough path was very difficult . The route  is through a dense forest  As said before it took almost 2 hours to reach the peak ie the fort.

 Path to the fort

        The fort was in shattered condition , only the entrance and some wall adjacent to it remained . Inside the fort there are some underground escape routes On the fort we checked mobile and WT communication and visited a few shattered temples . It is said, that Shivaji Maharaj used to stay on this fort while traveling from Raigad to Konkan and Karnataka. It has remained unknown to common man even today. On weekends few people and students visit this fort.

  

                                                    

                                                  20 MIN MORE TO CONQUER 

         We had carried ample water ,umbrella , raincoat, biscuits etc. After  some site seeing we had some snacks and fruits . I and with my friend Shri Kokane were both very tired and our legs had no sensation while walking . Here we realized that age has catched us very soon and we are not physically fit , where as our officer Shri Bhagwat although at 52 was moving like a young man of 25  .

 Very tired ofcourse

    On the fort there is a huge water tank which is the main discovery for any fort like a sweet water tank on Singhgard in Pune. But here the water tank is polluted with the regular water sports by cows and buffalos which are freely left alone for feeding on the new plantation done by some FORTLOVERS from Kholapur . Near to this lake there is old temple of Ranganai. There is a high “DeepMal” of black stones which was restored to its original form

Deepmal and temple mandap

            Any way we all started descending after spending sometime at the main burj on which the saffron flag is flying high. With heavy heart (not for leaving the fort , but for the physical effort   for descending ).It took almost 1.5 hrs to reach the foot of the hill . We both were quite exhausted and we went straight to have some cool drinks .

mountain view from the fort

development activities at the Base camp 

            After some rest we went to he Mahalakshmi temple at Narur and left the village .

                                                   MAHALAXMI TEMPLE AT NARUR

SINDHUDURG FORT

SINDHUDURG district is a beautiful place in MAHARASHTRA state.


It is full of lush greenery and a variety of flaura and fauna . The Arabian Sea is on the west side and this district has a long sea shore , where there are a no of beaches . One of them is the Tarkarli and other one is Chivla which is at Malvan , a small fishing taluka 

                              Tarkarli and  Chivla beach at  Malvan



At Malvan there is the Beautiful fort enclosed by sea called SINDHUDURG FORT 

                     Aerial view of Sindhudurg fort 

          It was the first tour in Sindhudurg district . So we all started for Sindhudurg fort . Sindhudurg fort is situated at fishing town of Malvan . The fort is built on rock island surrounded by Arabian Sea .

          After reaching Malvan we have to take a ferry towards the fort. It is a 10-15 mins ferry ride .
The fort is approachable from the Malavan pier by a boat through a narrow navigable channel between two smaller islands of Dhontara and Padmagad.

shreya 

       The boat ride is quite smooth and once we reach the island the ferry staff informs us that only one hour is allotted and we have to report within time or we will be left behind , which is not at all sufficient for site seeing.Any way we all got down and entered the fort.

       The entrance gate cannot be located from anywhere due to is unique built.The main gate, flanked by massive bastions, faces the city.The design of main door is an enigma. It has been a hallmark of Maratha Architecture of fort building. It defies detection of its location to the attacker. The technique was so deceptive for the enemy that they could not even realize where the entrance was due to blind curves

The gate is not as massive as of Devgiri Fort ,but cannot be seen from the sea . On the parapet, close to the entrance, under two small domes Shivaji’s palm and footprint in dry lime are preserved

 

Once we enter the fort we went to Shivrajeshwar Temple Chatrapati Shivaji’s younger son Rajaram in his remembrance built this temple. Shivaji’s idol stands in a boatman’s attire inside the temple and probably only one of its’ kind in the country – where the image of Shivaji is without a beard

shivaji idol without beard

After the darshan we all went to the flag post from where we have a 360 degree view.

 

Inside the fort there are some house which are not kept in good condition , some 15 families live some of which run cool drink stalls . After wards we all started walking on the zig zag stonewalls which are 9 meters high.
           At first it was very difficult to walk with Sredha running around and the strong winds .              


While walking we have to be perfectly balanced , because if we loose our balance the the fall can be quite dangerous for there are no safety net , landing on rocks can be quite fatal.
           we can see far away fishing trawlers and some scuba diving boats .  


At the end we reach near the entrance gate , and to get down there are many small and large staircase .
We then went outside the fort and our allocated one hour was over . Every body got inside the boat and within moments the boat sailed to our jetty.
         At the jetty there are some souvenir shops and horse riding

 at jetty with fort in the backdrop


From Jetty we went to RockGarden where sredha and shreya played in the garden .At the garden Sredha found a friend and she played with her on the slide. Meanwhile Sreya checked her strength on the muscle climber.

   The garden is neatly kept with a lot of Greenery and  water fountains , but the worst part is that i did not find any ladies washroom which very difficult for our female members .

        The adjacent sea shore is full of rocks hence the name RockGarden . As the sun was setting we headed to the shore . Many people were enjoying and we stayed for half hour and latter we all left for dinner at a friends restaurant and had a hearty kokani meal                    

 





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