Narayangad is a fort in Pune district near to khodad-Gadachiwadi 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 ...

Location

About three miles east of the town Narayangoan on a detached hill which on the north, south, and west rises sharp from the plain is the dismantled fort of Narayangad. Narayangad is a hill

fort A fortification (also called a fort, fortress, fastness, or stronghold) is a military construction designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from La ...

near Pune, located 80 km from

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

, 8 km from

Narayangaon Narayangaon is a town in the Junnar taluka of the Pune district of Maharashtra state, India. Water is abundant because of its proximity to the major dams, the western ghats, and the Sahyadri mountain range. Geography Narayangaon is located 656 ...

and 5 km from Khodad village. Near Narayangad is a small village named Gadachiwadi. The name of the taluka-Junnar (Shivaneri fort) Narayagoan is derived from the fort. From the base of the fort to the top of the fort is an easy climbing of twenty minutes.

Places to see

Above the fort there are small waterponds named Narayantake, and Chambar Take. At the highest point of the fort there is a temple of the Goddess "Hastamata" and below it there is the temple of "Mukaai". The hill has some other ruins, especially a stone doorway bearing on its lintel a figure of Ganpati and two attendant tigers. The Giant Meterwave Radio Telescope GMRT project, that is located 10 km away has in the recent times popularised the fort amongst trekkers. Built in the North-South direction the fort has its main entrance on the western side.

History

The fort is from the

Satvahana The Satavahanas (; ''Sādavāhana'' or ''Sātavāhana'', IAST: ), also referred to as the Andhras (also ''Andhra-bhṛtyas'' or ''Andhra-jatiyas'') in the Puranas, were an ancient Indian dynasty. Most modern scholars believe that the Satavaha ...

era and was used as a watch point for the Junnar Paithan route. The fortress is said to have been rebuilt by the first Peshwa Balaji Vishvanath (1714-1720) and given in saranjam or service-grant to Sayaji Povar. In the last Maratha war of 1818 Narayangad is said to have surrendered to the British in 1818 .

Gallery

File:GMRT.jpg, Radio telescope File:Narayangad.jpg, The temple at the base of the fort File:steps of Narayangad.jpg, Steps to the fort File:Top of Narayangad.jpg, Top of the fort

References

{{Forts in Maharashtra Forts in Pune district