Sindhudurg
v.1.0 February 22, 2006 Ravi
Rikhye
Perhaps the most famous of Shivaji’s forts. It is built
offshore, near Malvan in District Sindhudurg near Goa and is protected by
chains of forts which are described below.
The sole approach lay through a narrow channel, which ran between two
small islands, on which the forts of Padmadurg and Dhontara were built.
Otherwise the area consists of rock reefs. The location makes a stealthy approach impossible. It is
one of three large coastal forts intended to protect the Maharashtra coast.
http://www.maharashtratourism.gov.in/Forts.aspx?strpage=Fort_of_Maharashtra.html At this point in our research, we are not aware of why
sea approaches had to be covered: as far as we know, the Moguls and their
tributary kingdoms were without navies. Nonetheless, the coastal and Arabian
Sea trade was vigorous, and the Europeans had begun taking territory in
India. It appears likely, however, that the sea forts must have
provided anchorages for Shivaji’s navy. We know that the fort of Vijaydurg,
off Bombay, was used in this manner, and capable of taking in vessels of up
to 500-ton within its walls. We will see below that Sindhudurg was also
capable of protecting inland anchorages.
Photocredit: Sanju and Ankur’s Blog
http://muuah.blogspot.com/2005_03_01_muuah_archive.html This wonderful photograph clearly shows the reefs and the gun
embrasures. Except for some temples, all the buildings inside the fort have
fallen down and disappeared though barely 350 years have passed. The
traditional Indian indifference to history is very much to blame. The availability of three natural streams of water was
probably a key factor in the choice of the site. The fort was put under construction on November 25th,
1664, and finished three years later by a workforce of about 6000. Shivaji was a master builder of forts, and each is laid
out with minute attention to detail. For example, Sindhudurg features 52
embrasures for artillery. It features Shivaji’s signature hidden entrance: to
find the entrance an invader had to reconnoiter the folds of the wall from
close, where he was vulnerable to fire from the walls.
Photocredit: Sanju and Ankur’s Blog
http://muuah.blogspot.com/2005_03_01_muuah_archive.html
The author reports the trip takes 15 minutes. Sindhudurg’s walls are about 3.2 kilometers in length.
The foundation walls are 4 meters thick and laid in lead; the rampart walls
rise to 10 meters. The enclosed area is about 15 hectares. Sindhudurg As Part Of a Coastal Fort System A fascinating aspect of Sindhudurg’s location is that it
lies at the center of a fort system. Immediately protecting the fort from the landward side
was the fort of Padmadurg, now almost disappeared into the sea. Padmadurg lay
between the Sindhudurg and the coast, and featured a dry dock – a narrow
tongue of water between two rock walls. It was Shivaji’s main ship
construction yard as well as being part of Sindhudurg’s defenses. North of Malwan were two additional forts, Rajkot and
Sarjekot. Rajkot was northwest of the town, and stood on a promontory, and
three of its four faces was protected by the sea. Sarjekot was also on a hilly headland, and it lay 2-km north of
Rajkot. Its north face looked seawards; a ditch protected the other three
sides. Sarjekot was constructed in 1668 at the mouth of
Kalavali Creek. The creek was navigable inland for 11+ kilometers, and it
runs in zig-zags, thus producing natural safe inland anchorages. Presumably
many of Shivaji’s ships could shelter in the creek during storm season. But even these three forts were not enough for Shivaji.
The two forts to the north of Malwan had two counterparts to the south of the
town, Nivti and Yashavantgad. The latter was at the mouth of a creek like
Sarjekot. There were two more forts, Bhagavantagad to the north and
Bharatgad to the south of the creek near Masure. Details of the fort locations are from http://www.konkandarshan.com/tourist/f_sindhudurg.htm Indian Navy The Indian Navy named its 3 Nanuchka II missile
corvettes after Shivaji’s coastal forts. INS Sindhudurg (K 72) was the second
of the class. She was commissioned in 1977 and decommissioned in 2004.
http://www.astro.caltech.edu/~aam/gifs/sindhudurg.gif Sindhudurg District lies to the extreme south of Mahrashtra
State. Goa is further south, and Mumbai (Bombay) is to the north. The fort is
situation off Malvan. |
