This is the largest fort in Maharastra-as per my knowledge-and it was the capital of the Great Maratha warrior Shivaji Maharaj. This place is located in the heart of Shahyadri mountains-nearly 100 miles from Pune. We set out on our couple of bikes for the hunt and it is a beautiful ride all the way to the place.
We reached around sunset-left the bikes there and we started trekking to the top after having a light dinner. It was dark around but with full moon day around it was beautiful. The main fort is at the top-at the height of around 2850 meters from the sea level. The fort is surrounded from all sides by high rising mountains but this particular mountain is naturally cut-off from the rest of the giants-and thats probably the reason this place got the nod for the impregnable fort.
It was tougher to trek here-which we didn't expect and we ran out of "gas" every now and then-so we had to take plenty of stoppages. A steep climb of nearly 1450 steps and three and a half hours of extreme demands on your physical stamina, leaves you too exhausted. The cool winter night breeze proved to be a real boon for us as it negated all the sweating and it kept us fresh. Finally we reached the top and the feeling was worth all the stamina and effort spent.
We "slept" there in the fort-and those inverts over that word is because although my other two pals slept pretty well(i think you can snore only when you're having a pretty good sleep :D ) i barely managed to doze at all. Nevertheless we got up at the sunrise and saw the entire fort and its landscape-spread in over one acre of mountain top.
Views are breath taking and the design is amazing-considering that the fort was built over 350 years ago. Caught the glimpse of old-age "cubicles"(Image below: Left) built for the ministers and viewing one of the oldest attached restroom in india's history(Image below: Right)-the one that was almost talking to the clouds from where it stood was astounding! 
There's a lot that can be described(but i think this much is enough as of now~isn't it!) about this place and its brave warrior who captured it at the tender age of 14! There's only one word to say about all this: "Fascinating"!
Hats off to the knight!
1 comment:
Good post.
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