Mangad Fort is a survey fort which is situated in Borwadi, an area near Mashidwadi in

Mangaon Mangaon is a Village and ''tehsil'' (council) in the Konkan Division, India. It is located in the Raigad district, from Alibaug headquarters, and from the capital city of Bombay (Mumbai). The area is located towards the Panjim side of Goa. ...

, a

taluka A tehsil (, also known as tahsil, taluk, or taluka () is a local unit of administrative division in India and Pakistan. It is a subdistrict of the area within a district including the designated populated place that serves as its administrative ...

Raigad district Raigad district (), previously Colaba fort, Colaba district, is a district in the Konkan division of Maharashtra, India. The headquarters of the district is Alibag. Other major cities in the district are Panvel, Karjat, Navi Mumbai, Khopoli, Sh ...

in the

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

n state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

. The fort is made sacred by the footsteps of the founder of Hindavi Swaraj, the famous

Maratha The Marathi people (; Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-A ...

king Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaja. Mangaon is situated about 150 km from

Mumbai Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial capital and the most populous city proper of India with an estimated population of 12 ...

Surrounding Area

To the south of this fort, there is Jore valley. To the east, there is

Konkan Diva Fort Konkandiva Fort (transliteration: ''Konkandiva Qilа̄'') is a fort located 70 km from Pune in Maharashtra. This fort is on the boundary of Raigad and Pune district. The fort was important as a surveillance fort to keep watch on the possible ...

. To the southwest, there is a village

Gangawali Gangawali is a village in Belgaum district in the southern state of Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on ...

, which is the birthplace of

Chhattrapati Shahu Shahu I (Shivaji Sambhaji Raje Bhonsale; ; 18 May 1682 – 15 December 1749) was the fifth Chhatrapati or head of state of the Maratha Empire founded by his grandfather, Shivaji I. He was born into the Bhonsle family and was the son of Samb ...

. The fort is 235 meters above sea level. At the base of the fort, there is an old layout temple of the goddess Vinzai" (विंझाई). From the east side, there is an entrance to the temple in the cow mouth type tradition. Near the entrance of the temple, there is a carved scripture of a fish and lotus. On the left side, there are four water tanks (wells) and a cave which can accommodate about 50 persons. During historical days this was used for storing food grains. On this fort, there are remnants of irregular's soldiery, a big house of "Killedars" (किल्लेदार - in charge of the fort) deputed by the king to rule and protect the whole area. To the south end fort, there is an open ground, where there has been military training.

History

In the Treaty of Purandar, Mangad Fort was surrendered to

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

. In 1818, when there was the end of

Peshwa The Peshwa was the second highest office in the Maratha Empire, next in rank and prestige only to that of the Chhatrapati. Initially serving as the appointed prime minister in the Maratha Kingdom, the office became hereditary when Shahu gave t ...

rule, this fort was won by "Col. Prother" - a British officer.

How to reach

To reach Mangad fort-From Mumbai- (112 km by road), regular State transport buses operate from Mumbai central/Dadar/ Thane to the Mangaon ( Taluka Place). one has to take other bus/rickshaw to reach Nizampur ( 12 km from Mangaon) from where again a rickshaw will reach you to Borwadi ( 4 km from Nizampur). From Borwadi it is a walk of 1 hr to reach the Mangad fort. From the village Borwadi, the fort is seen easily towards East. It is also approachable from Villages Mashidwadi and Chach. If the sky is clear, Sudhagad fort, Tala Fort, and the Arabian sea are clearly visible. The best time to visit is during the winter and rainy season. The water in the tanks is potable.

People Related

The bandmaster powers of this fort were with the "Thule" family and the subheads powers were with "Govindaji More". ‘Prabhu’ were the Karkhanis of this fort. Killedars were "Jayawantrao Mankar". We can read the "Sanad" (सनद) of that historical period with "Jadhav Family" who is Vatandar staying at the fort base in Mashidwadi Village. At the entrance of Mashidwadi Village, there is a temple of Kalbhairav (काळभैरव), which is now in almost good condition. Due to this "Mangad Fort," the taluka is also called as "

Taluka".

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mangad Fort Buildings and structures of the Maratha Empire Forts in Raigad district