Rajgad राजगड

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. 

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 (19^th 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" 

rahul