CASTLES: THE FORT THAT NEVER FELL

 Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about

MURUD-JANJIRA

Murud-Janjira  is the local name of a famous fort and tourist place situated on an island just off the coastal city of Murud, in the Raigad district of Maharashtra, India.

The word Janjira is not native to India, and may have originated after the Arabic word Jazeera, which means Island. Murud was once known in Marathi as Habsan ("of Habshi" or Abyssinian). The name of the fort is a concatenation of the Konkani and Arabic words for Island, "morod" and "jazeera". The word "morod" is peculiar to Konkani and is absent in Marathi.

Ramrao Patil of Janjira

Raja Ram Rao Patil was Patil of Janjira Island and a chief of Kolis who established and/or built this island in the 16th century for Kolis to live peacefully away from pirates. After gaining permission from the Sultan of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate, he built the island but later refused to obey the orders of the Sultan. So the Sultan sent his Admiral Piram Khan to capture the janjira. 

Due to the castle's fortifications, Piram Khan was unable to attack the island conventionally, so he disguised himself as a merchant and requested to stay a night at janjira and permission was granted. Piram Khan hosted a party under the guise of thanking the patil. When the Patil and kolis were intoxicated, Piram Khan attacked them with his men who had been hidden in barrels and captured the island.

Major features

Murud-Janjira Fort is situated on an oval-shaped rock off the Arabian Sea coast near the port city of Murud, 165 km (103 mi) south of Mumbai. Janjira is considered one of the strongest marine forts in India. The fort is approached by sailboats from Rajapuri jetty. The main gate of the fort faces Rajapuri on the shore and can be seen only when one is about 40 feet (12 m) away from it. It has a small postern gate towards the open sea for escape.

The fort has 26 rounded bastions, still intact. There are many cannons of native and European make rusting on the bastions. Now in ruins, the fort in its heyday was a full-fledged living fort with all the necessary facilities, e.g., palaces, quarters for officers, mosque, two small 60-foot-deep (18 m) natural fresh water lakes, etc. On the outer wall flanking the main gate, there is a sculpture depicting a tiger-like beast clasping elephants in its claws.

A special attraction of this fort are 3 gigantic cannons named Kalalbangdi, Chavri and Landa Kasam. These cannons were said to be feared for their shooting range.[9] Another gate to the west is sea-facing, called 'Darya Darwaza'.

There is also another fortress, named Ghosalgad, which is located on top of the hill around 32 km (20 mi) east of Murud-Janjira, that was used as outpost for the rulers of Janjira.

And as always have a chilled day from the Viking