Raigad Fort - Maratha Kingdom's Capital

  

Raigad, the capital of Shivaji's kingdom, the place where he was crowned and where he died.

ENROUTE TO PACHAD

A friend told me that they are going on a road trip during the weekend to Raigad Fort and without a second thought I said that I am joining. And that is how eight of us started our journey in two cars from Mumbai on 11th October night to explore Raigad Fort. We reached early morning at Pachad - the base village of Raigad , where we took rest for sometime in a village house. They prepared poha and tea for breakfast. After breakfast, we started our trek.

Map of Raigad Fort in Marathi

Ropeway is available to reach top but we decided to trek. It's a nice experience of trekking with seven passionate trekkers at Raigad Fort.

Raigad Rope Way

There are around 1450 steps leading to the fort. Our local guide explained the history of Fort and the great days of the Maratha empire in Marathi. Thanks to Manasi for translating those wonderful stories to me in English.

We all were awestruck to see the glorious sight of clouds at the backdrop of the fort.

Once on the main path, one will come across multiple vendors selling all sorts of refreshments.

Soon we came across the Maha Darwaja,  which is the main entrance of the fort.  The main entrance is concealed in such a way that no one can pinpoint it from outside. Built over 350 years ago, this main entrance to the Fort stands majestically.

Maha Darvaja

You can also see two canons on the way.

Top View - Maha Darvaja

Steps begin towards Raigad Fort

There was a large size Lake on the way. It is known as Hatti Talaw (Elephant Lake). It was used for bathing the elephants from the fort.

Hatti Talav (Elephant Lake)

Soon we reached near Ganga Sagar Tank. It was named Gangasagar because the waters from seven rivers of India which were brought for the coronation ceremony of Shivaji Maharaj were poured into this pond. This is the main source of drinking water today on the fort.

Ganga Sagar Lake in front of Bale Killa

Ruins of three watch towers can be seen overlooking to Ganga Sagar Lake.

Ganga Sagar Tank

Soon we reached Balekilla.  Balekilla is the top most point on fort.

We spent next couple of hours exploring the fort; where-in we visited the Palakhi Darwaja, Mena Darwaja, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Statue, Hanuman Taake, Nagarkhana, Market Place and so on.

Soon we reached queen's quarters where we can see ruins of the royal palaces (there were 6 separate palaces for 6 queens) for the queens of Shivaji Maharaj .

Ruins of King Shivaji's Palace & Queens Palace

Entrance to Queen's palaces (Bed Room)

The rooms, walls and even bathrooms are so beautifully planned. Courts of various ministers are exactly opposite to these palaces

Granary

Ruins of King Shivaji's Palace

To the right of the granaries is the palace of Shivaji Maharaj (Secretriate).

 Secretriate

 Secretriate area

To the east of  Secretriate  is in an open space, there is an underground cellar. It was used for secret dialogues.

Chamber for Secret Discussion

After exploring Secretriate for some time, we went in the Royal Court (Durbar) where he became the official King and that historical function of his coronation was said to be happened here. Construction is such that if you speak from Simhasan, voice can be heard at the entry of the durbar which is almost 80 m away from there.

Nagarkhana - Entrance to Rajdarbar

 Throne of Chhatrapati Shri.Shivaji Maharaj

We continued our walk and reached at the market place . Market place is huge well designed single storey complex of shops. This was the trade center having shops on both sides separated by a 40 ft. road. It has such structure that one can shop even while riding on a horse.

Market Place

The head of the Bazaar owned the shop with this carving

From market we walked towards Jagdishwar temple (This is lord Siva temple). This is still in very good shape.

Jagdishwar Temple

Next to this Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaja’s samdhi take your all attention.

Samadhi of Chhatrapati Shri.Shivaji Maharaj

Tomb of Shivaji’s Pet Dog 'Waghya' - It is said that when he saw Shivaji Maharaja’s body being cremated, he jumped into the burning chitaah of Shivaji Maharaj and end up his journey of life.

Tomb of Shivaji’s Pet Dog 'Waghya'

Then we walked back to other part of fort called Takmak Tok. Takmak Tok- some say this was Enemy's execution point and and some say this was the point where Shivaji Maharaj would come to get a view of his mother Jija Mata, who was stationed in a village below the Fort.

Takmak Tok

Soon we started our descending and reached the base village Pachad.

View of Raigad fort from bottom 

Then we visited Tomb of Jijabai, Shivaji's mother.

Jija Mata's Samadhi

As the evening descended upon us, we decided to leave and back to Mumbai.

A must visit place for everybody at least once in a lifetime.

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Scuba Diving Trip to Malvan

Malvan is one of the popular destinations for Scuba Diving and other water sports in India. With beautiful and clean beaches, boat ride through the sea, Scuba Diving and  Snorkeling, awesome food,  gorgeous sunrises and sunsets, Malvan offers a great weekend destination.

2nd October:
Started off at around  9.30 PM from Mumbai by a private bus towards Malvan.

Day 1: 3rd October:

Reached Malvan at around 11.00 AM. Our  stay was arranged in a resort which was situated in a good location with mountain on one side and a river flowing at the back side of the resort.  When we arrived at the resort, we received the warmest welcome from the resort management as we walked up to the resort.  After a welcome tea, I felt at home.  Soon we were allotted rooms.  

The property has a five appointed villas with 2 bath attached rooms each, a guest house with kitchen and dining hall with breath taking view of garden all around. They have a beautifully paved path for you to walk around the property and flowers on both the side of the path.

By afternoon, we decided to visit Kunkeshwar Temple and Beach. Kunkeshwar Temple is an ancient Shiva Temple  located in Kunkeshwar village. This beautiful temple near the beach has South Indian style of temple architecture.

A clean beach with a very long stretch of seashore adds to the beauty of temple surroundings. The view of Kunkeshwar Beach from Temple was amazing. I could see a fisherman casts his net for an evening catch as the sun sets at Kunkeshwar Beach. 

After a good round of photography and fun filled activities, we  headed back to our resort.  After having a yummy Konkani food, we had some fun filled activities before going to a well deserved sleep.

Day 2: 4th October:

We woke up early and moved to the days first activity ie Scuba diving. The actual diving takes place near the Sindhudurg Fort, located in the middle of the Arabian Sea. A 15 minute boat ride takes you near the fort.

SNORKELING

The preparation for the Scuba Diving begins with instructions from dive instructors. First they will take you for Snorkeling.

SCUBA DIVING

Next activity is much awaited Scuba Diving. The instructors teach you how to breathe through your mouth to take in the oxygen through the oxygen pipe and hand signals  to communicate underwater, simple “up” and “ok” signals. Then I slowly scuba dive onto a splendid underwater scenery. The instructor holds your hand and down, down you go. It was a great experience to dive deep to see the corals and the fishes.  Then I slowly emerge at the surface of the water where our dive master and others took me to the boat. This was my first underwater experience.

EXPLORING SINDHUDURG FORT

After that we headed back for lunch. Our next destination was Sindhudurg fort. This fort is situated inside the sea. We took a ferry boat to reach there.

Sindhudurg fort

Built over a period of three years, the sea fort is spread over 48 acres with a two-mile rampart, and walls that are 30 feet high and 12 feet thick.  The main entrance is concealed in such a way that no one can pinpoint it from outside.

Main entrance to Sindhudurg fort

Shivaji’s temple is the main temple in the fort. It is only one of its type in the country.

Shivaji’s temple

This building has a tunnel which was used by Shivaji Maharaj to escape in case of an enemy attack

There are sweet water wells even though the fort is in mid sea. This shows that rain water harvesting system was implemented even decades ago. The rocks inside the fort are of a different type with a shining yellow color to it.  The view is absolutely breathtaking and the fort takes you back to the days of history.

Sindhudurg fort

BEAUTIFUL CHIVLA BEACH

Evening was to Chivla Beach. It is a ‘C’ shaped small beach with clean waters.  This beach is awesome for people wanting to play in the ocean. Although it was a hot day,  we had several “wow” moments. We further walked around the beach until the sun melted into the horizon. The beach was remarkably clean, safe to walk around and had some spectacular viewpoints to sit. The end of the beach is rocky stretches.

Chivla Beach

Day 03: 5th October:

Our actual plan plan was Dolphin safari. But due to problem with the vehicle , we gave up our plan and decided to take rest at Resort till our evening bus to Mumbai. Had nothing to do, no specific plan, just roam around the resort and clicked some photos.


HEADING HOME

By evening we started our return journey to Mumbai with unforgettable experiences.

  

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