travel: 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 .