About Raigad Fort: History: Shivaji Maharaj had Captured this fort, then the fortress of Rairi from the royal house of the Chandarrao Mores, from the ancient Maurya imperial dynasty. Shivaji renovated and expanded the Fortress of Rairi and renamed it Raigad (the King’s Fort), the name he gave it when he selected it for his capital when he was in the process of assuming the royal character. Raigad, a hill fortress situated in Raigad District of Maharashtra, India was capital of Shivaji’s kingdom.
The Maratha king Shivaji made the fort his capital in 1674 when he was crowned king of a Marathi kingdom which later developed into the Maratha Empire. The fort is 820 metres above the sea level and there are approximately 1, 400-1, 450 steps leading to the fort.
Britishers named it ’Gibralter of the East’ as the well-fortified structure atop a hill that had repeatedly defied attackers. Shivaji built the fort in the 14th century. Chit Darwaja, also known as Jit Darwaja is at the foothills near village Pachad.
Khoob Ladha Buruj is a strategically located tower, from where any attacker from both the side could be defended. Maha Darwaja is at a distance of nearly a mile ahead after a difficult climb. This 350 years-old main entrance to the fort stands so majestically. Mena Darwaja is a special entrance for the royal ladies and the queens.
Rani Vasa or Queens’ Chambers is to the left of Mena Darwaja. The royal ladies were using these six rooms. In front of the Rani Vasa is the Palkhi Darwaja, special entrance for the convoy of Shivaji Maharaj. There is a row of three dark chambers to the right of Palkhi Darwaja. There is the palace of Shivaji Maharaj to the right of the granaries.
The fort’s ruins today consists of the queen’s quarters, consisting of six chambers, with each chamber having its own private commode with plumbing. The main palace was constructed using wood, of which only the bases of pillars remain. Ruins of three watch towers can be seen directly in front of the palace grounds overlooking an artificial lake created next to the fort. It also has a view of the execution point called Takmak Tok, a cliff from which the sentenced prisoners were thrown off.
The king’s public durbar has a replica of the original throne that faces the main doorway called the Nagarkhana Darwaja. This enclosure had been acoustically designed to aid hearing from the doorway to the throne. A secondary entrance, called the Mena Darwaja, * was supposedly the private entrance of the royal ladies of the fort; it leads to the queen’s quarters. The erstwhile main entrance to the fort is the imposing *Maha Darwaja. The convoy of the king and the king himself used the Palkhi Darwaja. To the right of Palkhi Darwaja, is a row of three dark and deep chambers. Historians believe that these were the granaries for the fort.
A statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji is erected in front of the ruins of the main market avenue that eventually leads to the Jagdishwar Mandir and his own Samadhi (tomb) and that of his dog Waghya.
Other places of interest: Mahabaleshwar, Harihareshwar, Shrivardhan, Alibaug, Murud-Janjira.
About my trip:
I had ventured on this trip on 13th december, 2008 on my Honda Unicorn in morning at around 7 am starting from Ghatkopar (Mumbai). Biking experience enroute the Raigad fort is a cheer pleasure and bikers will just enjoy going on and on. The trip is in total close to 380 kms and can be easily done in a day.
Route: Take the Bombay- Goa highway--- Take the Sion-Panvel highway--- continue until panvel flyover, take a right to the old pune highway, go on the route and then take left to catch the Goa high way. Once you touch Goa highway, just cruise at your pace enjoying the wonderful road and landscape untill you reach Mahad. On reaching Mahad take a right to Raigad. This is a narrow road of about 22 kms and is in good shape except for a few patches. There is also a few sharp hair pin bends streches to cover in this phase.
Additional information/ Safety tips:
There are no fuel stations and mechanic shop in the last 22 kms. The only punture repair shop on this route is at a distance of 8 kms away from mahad i.e about 14 kms from raigad fort.
Mumbai-Goa highway is a well maintained highway but also claims many accident victims each year. Dont speed too much to these tempting roads. Keep a reasonable pace of 60 kms/ hr. I maintained 60 kms through except the last strech and managed to reach Raigad in about 4 hours: 15 minutes.
Take sufficient water and packaged eateries. One can halt at Mangoan for a quick brunch, since there are some decent hotels here.
Overall experience: Good.
Best time to visit: Dec-Feb ( pleasant climate). However this place is very beautiful in the monsoon with many people visiting it for just photography.