Rajgad राजगड (Feb- 2017)
We visit Raigad almost every year especially in rainy season but Rajgad was long pending. I was in touch with our Kailash Trek senior member, Shri. Birje kaka who is a frequent visitor to Rajgad and is one of the founder members of YZ trek group, Mumbai (Young Zingaro). We had heard a lot about the fort and the cleanliness drive undertaken by YZ with local villagers. They have done a wonderful job to clean Padmavati lake and surrounding areas.
We visit Raigad almost every year especially in rainy season but Rajgad was long pending. I was in touch with our Kailash Trek senior member, Shri. Birje kaka who is a frequent visitor to Rajgad and is one of the founder members of YZ trek group, Mumbai (Young Zingaro). We had heard a lot about the fort and the cleanliness drive undertaken by YZ with local villagers. They have done a wonderful job to clean Padmavati lake and surrounding areas.
After hearing so much about this fort, we were looking for right people to go with and suitable time to visit Rajgad. One of Pune based groups, had a scheduled trip on the day of Shiv Jayanti (19th Feb) and we had a tentative plan to join them. But we dropped it on eleventh hour as Birjekaka called us one fine day morning asking us to participate in YZ group’s schedule to climb fort on the eve of Shivjayanti and to spend night on the Fort itself. We immediately jumped at the chance as no other group or the day or the occasion would have been better than this. They had a plan to celebrate Shiv jayanti on fort.
As the main group was to travel from Mumbai, we planned our own schedule
to reach base village, Gunjavane one day in advance. Traveled by Ratnagiri-Pune
ST bus and got down at Chelati fata on highway at @ 3 pm. Had a cutting tea and
further traveled 3 kms in a share auto to reach Nasarapur village to get next bus
to Gunjavane. Boarded ST bus after three hours wait time and finally we
reached Gunjavane at 7.30 pm. It was already dark outside and the village was
muted & silent. We straight away headed to our home stay arrangement,
Aranydham which is hardly 100 mtrs away from ST stand and is very famous among
trekkers. We freshened up, had a simple, vegetarian, delicious dinner and hit
the bed after an informal chat with Aranydham owner, Mr Purohit in his specious veranda. We were
impressed by his hospitality, modesty & the quality food his family served
us. Sincere thanks to Purohit family for their generosity & friendliness.
We were very tired as we had traveled for more than 12 hrs and soon we were in our
beds in a dormitory located on first floor. One more family travelling from Kolhapur
with their eight years old daughter joined us in dormitory late night. Remaining
group members coming from Mumbai were to join us next day early morning
Dormitory
Aranydham
Got up at 5 in the morning & startled to notice that Mr. Purohit was already at the job, almost ready with breakfast for our group. He offered us tea with smiling face and we too got ready to welcome people
coming from Mumbai. They all arrived at six in the morning. Entire group had a
breakfast/tea and we began our trek sharp at 7.30. There are various routes to
reach the top of the fort. The one which we followed is the most popular via Gunjavane leading to
Chor darawaja. The other route is via Pali village which takes us to Pali
darawaja. Very few of us were the first time visitors to Rajgad as most of the
other members were seasoned trekkers who had traveled throughout Sahyadri and parts of
Himalayas. It took us approximate two and half hrs to reach Chor darawaja. Initial
piece was of minor slope and at farther end it was a steep rocky patch once we
approached Chor darawaja. At some places, one has to literally crawl on the
rock steps. Fortunately there were railings which helped us a lot. Sept-Oct are supposed to be best months to visit here as monsoon recedes and its green everywhere. Climate would be the best in December I feel.
Chor darawaja
Padmavati Lake
Padmavati lake greeted us when we entered the fort from Chor darawaja.
Everyone rested for a while on banks of lake & had refreshments. There
were other groups as well, few roaming around and few more climbing the fort. Our
seasoned and experience leaders asked us to reach Padmavati temple as soon as
possible and to occupy the place for night stay. It’s an old styled temple built in blackstone, keeping it cool inside. The temple has a
spacious mandap which can easily accommodate fifty persons at a time. We put down
our sacks & bedding adjacent to walls and had darshan of Padmavati devi. Later the
whole group had a small introduction session in an open space in front of
temple. Though we would have loved to lie down in temple & rest for some
time, we had to follow our leader to explore the fort.
Shri Padmavati devi
Shivaji maharaj spent 26 odd years on this fort before shifting his
headquarters to Raigad. Rajgad’s location has strategic importance and one can
keep a watch on Sinhgad, Torna & Raigad. We found the fort area much cleaner and
many monuments were intact. Its a result of many Durgpremi visiting and performing cleanliness drives. The fort is a witness to a lot of important events like
birth of Sambhaji maharaj, death of queen Saibai and burial of Afzal khan's
head in Balekilla walls. Structure of this fort is similar to that of inverted
ceiling fan. The three machees on the fort resemble to three blades of a
ceiling fan. These machees are known as Padmavati, Suvela & Sanjeevani.
Baalekilla i.e. ‘fort in the fort’ is at the center
Sadar (सदर).
Balekilla (बालेकिल्ला) view
Birje kaka and other senior veterans were busy in other arrangements. We
observed them talking with local families for lunch provision. Local villagers
climb the fort on weekends/holidays and set up temporary food stalls serving
basic items like Pithale-Bhakri, Dal-Rice etc. We started moving towards Baalekilla
at 12 in the noon. Enroute visited ‘Sadar’ which is under renovation now. Sadar
is the place from where Maharaj used to address his sardars and ministers. Ascend to
Balekilla is amid big sized rocky patches with railings at some locations. I
would call it as the toughest climb of Rajgad visit. Conditions also were
unfavorable- scorching noon heat, already exhausted after 3 hrs climb, steep
ascend and over crowd. We took almost 45 minutes to reach Balekilla top. I would
recommend covering this part either in the early evening or in the early
morning if you are camping on the fort. It was just marvelous once we reached
the top. There is a small Shiv temple, Brahmeshwar, two small lakes, a big cave
and few remains of old palace structures. We explored the area and got back to
Padmavati temple. It was more tricky while descending Balekilla.
Then we had our most delicious lunch ever inside the temple. Pithale-Bhakri & Dal-Rice. Wow, it tasted so delicious. Afterwards
we rested for a while on cold, stony floor.
Visit to Sanjeevani maachee was scheduled with Birjekaka in the evening.
We all had a Tea and started our evening trail to Sanjeevani maachee. It was a
relatively plain walk and Birjekaka explained us almost everything about maachee
and its tactical significance. He is real Rajgad bhakt & knows every nook
& corner here. This maachee has two outer walls which are five feet apart
from each other. The height of the walls is not less than twenty feet. A
warrior on a horse can move through this tunnel like gap from one to another
end. It is said to be the second best protection wall (तटबंदी) in the world from fort architectural
point of view. After relaxing for a while & enjoying a magnificent sunset
view from end point of maachee, we returned to our base station. This was a two
and half hours trail. While it was already dark, we skipped visit to Suvela maachee.
दुहेरी तटबंदी
Once back, we noticed arrival of a number of groups including trekkers,
school kids, campers etc etc. Temple was already houseful, thank god, we
had reserved our place in the morning itself. We were so tired and exhausted
that we skipped the dinner and tried to sleep early. Meantime it was a fun and
pleasure to interact with co members about their excursions in Sahyadri and Himalayas.
A lot to learn & understand from them. In fact few seniors including ladies
were ex leaders of youth hostel camps in Himalayas.
We tried to sleep but as the next day was Shiv Jayanti, various
groups one after another coming from various other forts started reaching temple with saffron colored flags and
Mashaals in their hands. Each group would visit the temple, chant aartis, and
then we all would join them in Shiv gajar- Har Har Mahadev. The atmosphere was just
mesmerizing and exciting.
We got up early in the morning and noticed our fellow members had already started Shiv Jayanti preparations. Men in saffron coloured kurtas and
ladies in Sarees. Saffron colored flags were fluttering everywhere on the fort.
Since we had to travel to Ratnagiri, we started early (as usual) after bidding
goodbye to everyone at @ 7.30 am
As
it was a descend, we kept a slow pace while climbing down. Came across many
small trek groups climbing the fort in a hurry to reach the top as it was
auspicious day of Shiv Jayanti. Had a small break en route and reached Aranydham
at 10 am. Had breakfast and started return journey after a memorable Rajgad
trek on the occasion of Shivjayanti.
"हर हर महादेव"
"हर हर महादेव"
rahul
