Rajgad (the King of Forts), 1394 Mts. ASL, Torna (1405 Mts. ASL) & the Walk on the Ridge

This Trek had been haunting me for last 5 years. Somehow or the other reason I missed this Trek for quite a many years. In trekking fraternity especially in Maharashtra, visiting Rajgad is like visiting a pilgrimage spot or like having a dip in Holy Ganges. Rajgad had been the capital of Swarajya for 25 years. This was the fort on which Shivaji Maharaj spent major span of his life.

I and Mangesh Dhaimade alongwith our trekker friend Milind Thakur started to plan for Rajgad initially. But we altered the plan to include Torna also thanks to Mehboob. The days for the trek were fixed, 5-7th March, 2010.

But the information we had was too less compared to the glorious past of these forts, so we started our search for more information.

Torna as we all know was the first fort captured by Shivaji Maharaj. Immediately after capturing the fort he took over the hill besides Torna which was know as Murumbdevacha Dongar. The Murumbdevcha Dongar was used as check point or as check tower during the period from Bahamani Kings to Adilshah, who was the last King before Shivaji Maharaj took control over the area. Sometime during 1645, Shivaji Maharaj conquered this fort along with Torna. He undertook major reconstruction work of the fort. It included construction of curtain wall for the three machis and later named them as Suvela, Sanjivani and Padmavati; construction of a building on the main fort and later renaming it as Rajgad. Shivaji Maharaj stayed on this fort for 25 years and this fort witnessed many historical events.

After the demise of Shivaji Maharaj, Sambhaji Raje took over the reins of the Swarjaya. In the year 1689, he was captured and killed by Aurangzeb. Mughals captured many forts and Rajgad was one amongst them. But Marathas immediately snatched it back from the Mughals.

During the year 1703-04, Aurangzeb led the task of capturing Rajgad. After clearing the roads and paths he reached Rajgad. In the battle that fought for 2 months, Aurangzeb managed to capture the fort. But it was later recaptured by Marathas in 1707. Thereafter the fort was in the possession of Marathas till British took over.

Our Group

Coming back to our trek, on the day of the trek, we were 10 of us. On Friday night all the trekking enthusiasts headed to Velhe (the base village for Torna). Some of us were fast asleep immediately as the car took off, while some of us kept on chatting. We drove past Pune and then took a right turn to Velhe. Due to the night we first reached Gunjavane then Pali and atlast circled our way to Velhe. It was around 0545 hours on Saturday morning when we reached Velhe. After catching a few winks, our primary objective was to have breakfast. And to our luck a small road side hotel opened and we immediately filled in our stomachs with some delicious missal, pohe and tea.

Torna In the morning

From Velhe, Torna was clearly visible and we captured the fort in our cameras with the morning rays lighting up the fort. Around 0830 hours we began our trek to Torna. It was bit late, we should have started the trek around 0700 hours. The climb tested our stamina and with the summers nearing, the climb was becoming more and more exhausting.

Torna half way thru

At some point of time the climb had a gradient of 70 Degree. The railings on the climb helped to us in climbing such gradient. On our way to the Fort we passed through the Binni Darwaja and Kothidarwaja. (below is the picture of how the Darwajas are. They are called as Gomukhi Darwaja. Kothidarwaja is next pic.)We reached Torna around 1145 Hours. We rested for some time and after having our lunch we decided to explore the fort within the time left at our disposal. We were also lucky to capture some of the acrobatics of the monkeys on the fort. The fortifications were still intact compared to the other forts in Maharastra. The Zunjar Machi was simply fabulous to watch. I just wished we had some time to climb down to get a closer view of the Machi.

Torna

Rajgad and the Ridge

But Rajgad was more important for all of us and so we moved from the Balle-Killa towards the ridge which connects both these forts. As we walked towards the ridge, we passed by Darukhana and few other temples but we could hardly stop at any of these structures as we were already behind schedule.

Reaching the ridge was equally difficult. The route was narrow and facing the valley, the scree and rock patches making it difficult for us to climb down to the ridge. After taking pains to cross the rock Patch, we safely made our way to the ridge. It was 1600 hours when we decided to take last halt before we walk the ridge.

The ridge is a route over the hills. It is an up and down route over the number of hills and with no trees or shade, the walk on the ridge was even more tiresome than we thought. At that point we felt that it was a never ending trek. The distance between Rajgad and Torna never seemed to be reducing. Infact we lost our way and climbed down to the ridge towards the Pali Village however thanx to the villagers who helped us get back on the track. From the Ridge we could see both the forts but Rajgad being the destination seemed too far away for us to reach on Saturday. But After a walk of 2 ½ hours, we decided to take a halt in Dhangar wadi before the Khind (Pass). We all prepared some Khichdi and asked our host to prepare some bhakri and bhaji.

The meal was simple but delicious. After a days’ long walk anything would taste delicious. The sleep was just waiting for us to lie down and we were snoring the moment our backs touched the matt.

At night Mehboob repeatedly reminded us that we need to start the trek at 0700 hours, we manged to woke up at 0600 hours and then it was not possible for all of us to leave at 0700 hours. After getting ourselves refreshed next day we started around 0815 hours back on our quest to reach Rajgad.

Torna & the Ridge

We took our first halt at base of Rajgad in the open space below Sanjeevani Machi.

Rajgad

When we reached the open space below the fort, it was like a dream come true. The fort which eluded me for last so many years was about to be explored by me.

We all were astonished to see the fortifications and the quality of construction. On reaching the fort we could not believe what we saw. The Sanjeevani Machi had 2 walls and even a protective covers at some points. This Chilkati (armor) walls were simply fabulous. What was more surprising was that at the tender age of 16 years, how did Shivaji Maharaj plan the design of the Fort keeping in mind reactions/attacks of the enemies.

On our way to Rajgad, we drank the Tak which the locals carried for sale on the fort. Tak (Marathi name for Lassi/buttermilk) is the best drink this season.

We entered the fort through the Alu Darwaja. We spent nearly an hour exploring Sanjeevani Machi(though it was very less). The Dual walls, the chilkhati Buruj, doors to reach the Chilkhati Buruj and the view around Sanjeevani Machi all was mesmerizing. One thing we couldn’t miss was the Torna Fort and the ridge which could be easily seen from this Machi. From Sanjeevani Machi we managed to catch the glimpse of Raigad and Lingana on the west. We hoped that the sky would be more clear so as we would be able to see the other forts too. Rajgad is surrounded by lot of forts and was perfect capital for swarajya. On east we saw Sinhagad, further towards the north-east direction there are the ranges of forts Lohagad, Visapur, Tikona and Tung. Towards the south are the Pratapgad, Kamalgad. Apart from these forts the river beds of Velvandi, Kanandi and Gunjavane Rivers provided the perfect protection to this fort from the enemies. Besides the fort as such is difficult to capture as the circumference of the fort runs around 25-30 miles which is very difficult for any enemy to lay a siege.

Sanjeevani Machi

We could have lingered even more on Sanjeevani Machi but due to paucity of time we had to move on to Padmavati Machi. By now it was clear that we were to miss the Balle-killa. So we decided to explore all the Machis and come back for viewing the fort as a whole again.

The Padmavati Machi has few structures such as the temple of Padmavati Devi, Rameshwar Temple, Padmavati Talao, Sadar, Ambarkhana. On reaching Padmavati Machi we quenched our thirst with the sweet water from the tank. We then proceeded to Suvela Machi to check out the Hatti Dagad and the Needhe.

It took us nearly half an hour to reach Suvela Machi. On the way we passed by Balle-Killa. We could see the fortifications but didn’t had the time to visit it.

The fortifications around Suvela Machi were quiet intact and very less destroyed by the British. We climbed the Hatti Dagad and sat in the needhe for around 15 minutes. The view from the Needhe was simply superb. We could see Sinhagad at a distance, the Ghatghar Dam, the valleys of Nere, Velvandi, Kanandi and Gunjavane Rivers.

Pintya enjoying the view from needhe

By now it was clear that we had to move on back to Padmavati machi for our Lunch which was waiting for us. After the delicious Lunch of Zhunka Bhakar & Curds, we quickly collected our belongings to move towards Pali Village where our car was waiting for us.

This was the only trek during which I could not see the fort at leisure. I also missed the Balle Killa (where Shivaji Maharaj stayed). We all wished to stay for 2 more days to see the fort again but we all knew we had to go back to Mumbai. The trio, Milind, Mangesh and Me then immediately planned our second visit to Rajgad in winters of 2010.