India is a country with rich and varied heritage. Every state contributes in making India a country what it is. Maharashtra is one of the biggest states of India is rich in historical monuments. Vijjaydurg fort, one of the historical monuments in the state of Maharashtra, is the oldest among all forts situated at the Sindhudurg coast in Devgad taluka. It is said that the construction work of this fort started in the year 1193 and continued till 1205. During this period King Bhoj of Shilahar dynasty was the ruler. Initially the fort was called “Gheria” because it was located quite close to a village named “Girye”.The specialty of this fort is that it is surrounded by sea from three sides but when it was built it was standing in the sea that means it was surrounded by sea water from all the sides. Later on at the eastern channel side a road way was being constructed to approach the fort. When the fort was created it covered an area of five acres. During the mid seventeenth century this fort was under the ownership of Adil Shah Bijapur but during 1653 Shivaji took over the fort and gave it a new name “Vijaydurg” after the Hindu Solar year’s name at that time “Vijay”. It is also known as Victory Fort where victory means Vijay. Shivaji extended the area of fort and from five acres he turned it to seventeen acres by building three walls on eastern side and twenty bastions. These walls are heighted 36 meters. Inside the fort you can see around 27 towers, Kothi Pirachi Sadar, Kitta sadar, jails, Jakhinis cannons, etc. There are only two forts of Marathas where Shivaji hoisted the saffron flag. Among which Vijaydurg is one and the other is Torana fort. This fort was one of the favorites of Marathas due to its location as it was quite safe and almost unconquerable. Due to its location advantage it was compared to the Gibraltar and called the Eastern Gibraltar. It has a forty kilometer long creek which is called Waghotan creek. It is a shallow water creek and because of that big vessels cannot come in this creek. During the Maratha regime the war ships are anchored here and still they were not visible from sea.It is said that there is a tunnel going under the sea from the fort to a village house known as Palatial Dhulap House. This tunnel is approximately 200 meters long and manmade but it is blocked partially. If this tunnel is rediscovered and opened then it can be a major tourist attraction. the tunnel is said to be under the sea at a depth of 8 to 10 meters and the experts from oceanography found an undersea wall made of laterite with the dimensions 122 meters in length, 3 meters in height, and 7 meters in width. There is a naval dock just 1.5 kilometers from the fort made from the rock cut. It was the place used by Marathas for warships with a capacity of 400 to 500 tonnage construction and repair. The dimensions of this naval dock are 109 x 70 meters facing the north side. It was a major achievement for Marathas.Since the inception of the fort of Vijaydurg it has witnessed different rulers and they are as under:13th century Shilhar Bhojraja -> 1218 Yadavs ->1354 King of Vijay Nagar -> 1565 Mughal Rulers -> 1653 Shivaji Maharaj -> 1698 Kanhoji Angre -> 1757 Peshwas -> 1818 British Ruling -> Government of IndiaSAHEB’S KATTASA French scientist named Johnson is said to come here and on 18th August 1968 on the day of solar eclipse he took the readings using his spectrometer which helped him in detecting the presence of helium in the sun. While taking the readings he sat on stone benches here and these benches are called Saheb’s kattas which is local language words. Some restoration work will start soon to renovate and restore this historic heritage of India.You do not find any hotels in this area but here the home owners give their homes as guest house accommodation to tourists.Distance from major cities:
- 52 kilometres – Kasarde which is off Mumbai- Goa NH 17
- 180 kilometres – Panaji
- 525 kilometres – Mumbai
- 362 kilometres – Pune
- 80 kilometres – railway head at Kankavli on Konkan Railway route
Nearby places to explore are:1.Dhulap’s Palatial house in Vijaydurg village2.Windmills3.Devgad Fort (30 km)4.Kunkeshwar Temple (40 kilometres)5.Vuaghreshwar WaterfallRuchi Mahajanзайм на карту без отказов круглосуточновзять кредит онлайн