Devidas Deshpande from Pune
The Shivaji-era forts, the pride of the Maharashtra, are going to get a facelift, thanks to the generous and proactive initiative taken by the Central and State Governments. The hopes of rejuvenating these immense sources of inspiration are suddenly high because of the recent steps taken by the government. This promises to bring back the glory of the history that was overshadowed by their relics.
In the last week of February this year, Union Ministry of Tourism and Culture in-principle gave its approval to the Rs 600 crore Raigad Fort conservation and beautification project. The government of Maharashtra had forwarded the project. Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis had a meeting with the Union Tourism and Culture Minister Mahesh Sharma after which he made the announcement. One of the highlights of the conservation project is a sound-and-light show on Chhatrapati Shivaji’s life. A road leading to the fort from Mahad will be widened at a cost of Rs 200 crores. The pathways inside the fort and its gigantic gates including Chitta Darwaza and Nala Darwaza will also be restored.
| The Fort Raigad Raigad, meaning the King of Fort was originally called Rayari. A European writer refers to it as Gibraltar of the East. It stands on the western shore of Bharat, overlooking the Arabian Sea. It was the second and last capital of Chhatrapati Shivaji after he moved his first capital from Rajgad in Pune district. He chose for his capital the hill of Rayri after a diligent search. The fort stands tall, although in ruins, in the line of great edifices of Devagiri, Warangal, Dwarsamudra, Karnavati, Vijaynagar and Indraprasth. In June 1674, Shivaji was crowned at this fort with much splendour at Raigad and later assumed the title of Chhatrapati. Every year, thousand of Shivaji-adorers gather at the fort on June 12, his coronation day, to bow and offer their tributes to him. The ruins today mainly include the Rani Mahal (queen”s quarters), main palace and three bastions. It also has a view of the execution point called Takmak Tok, a cliff from which the sentenced prisoners were thrown to their death. The main attraction of th fort is the marketplace designed in such a way that one could shop even while riding on a horse. It has a number of buildings still intact that point to the richness it once had. Prime Minister Narendra Modi has visited the fort a number of times and promised its uplift. |
Now anybody having even a brief knowledge of the history of Maharashtra would know the significance of Raigad. The grand fort has a special place in the imagination of the Maharashtrian people as it was the place where Chhatrapati Shivaji was coronated and had proclaimed his position as the head of the Hindu
kingdom. In addition, forts are the prestigious symbols of the rich historical wealth of the state. However, hardly does any of the forts that saw the bravery of King Shivaji or his associates stand today in a presentable state.
This was but only a step towards conserving the history and culture of the valiant exploits of Maratha
warriors. The people here used these forts in 17th and 18th century to oppose the mighty Mughal invaders for decades only to control Bharat before British arrived here. The demand for better upkeep of the forts was a long-standing demand pending with the government. With many of the forts under Archaeological Survey of India’s (ASI)s control, State Government always expressed its helplessness over their state, allowing the one edifice after another crumbling under the onslaught of time, nature and miscreants. For example, someone stole the sword from the Chhatrapati Shivaji’s statue on fort Raigad.
The frustration over the governments’ inaction was accumulated so much that five years ago, the fort lovers and history enthusiasts took the repair of the Sinhgad Fort near Pune themselves. They claimed that parts of the fort’s Kalyan Gate were collapsing continuously putting a question mark on the stability of the fort. That was why a group of the volunteers went up the fort and carried out the repairs of about
2 feet of the wall. Even the conservationists had backed them then.
The recent announcement of the cooperation between Central and State Governments is yet another sequel in the series of the measures, the current State Government started efforts in this direction much before this move. Last year, the state government had approved a Rs 520 crore package for the conservation of the Raigad fort. The package included preserving the old building, constructing passages, amenities for the tourists as also the security arrangements. It also included repairs of the wada and memorial of Jijau, King Shivaji’s mother. The work is already underway through this
package. And Raigad is not the first fort slated for regaining the lost glory. “The issue of King Shivaji’s forts is attached to sentiments of the people of Maharashtra. These historic forts are important also from the tourism point of view. We presented to the ministry a detailed project report on conserving Raigad Fort and it has been approved. This clears the way for the speedy implementation of the project,” Fadnavis informed then. And it paves the way for the renovation of other forts scattered all over the rocky terrain of Maharashtra which played a major role in shaping Chhatrapati Shivaji’s dream of Hindavi Swarajya.
Maharashtra has 336 forts in all. Of these, 40 fall under the purview of the Archaeological Survey of India and the State Government has decided to conserve 18 important forts. The State Archaeology Department controls more than 40 forts. There are several other forts that are not being conserved by any agency. One of the first decisions of the State Government was to form the state committee for restoration and conservation of forts. When the committee started its work, it found that the government records had only 96 forts. All other forts simply did not exist. Therefore, the first task was to carry out a survey of the forts that saw more than 150 forts finding their place on the files.
Pune-based historian Pandurang Balkawade is the convener of the committee. He says that for the first time, the State Government would spend Rs 100 crore in two years on conservation of forts. The committee was formed on April 10, 2015, months after the Chief Minister Fadnavis-led BJP Government came to power. Maharashtra’s Minister for Education and Culture Vinod Tawde is the Chairman of the committee. The issue of the conservation of forts was a crying need of the hour and some of them are more than 350 years old. They are an intrinsic part of the rich history of Maharashtra.
According to Balkawade,
consecutive governments failed to take up this issue ever since the Independence. The years of neglect and apathy slowly ruined these forts. The ASI was formed during the British rule. As of now, forts like Raigad, Shivneri and almost all sea forts are under ASI. Owing to the neglect and obscurity, the general public is hardly aware of their existence and the history associated with them.
Balkawade says that committee aims to conserve 88 forts in the first phase. They are from the districts like Pune, Ahmednagar, Nashik, Thane, Ratnagiri, Raigad, Satara, Sangli and Kolhapur.
A process is on to bring these forts under the government’s control. The focus is on providing employment opportunities to the locals while
carrying out restoration. Many of these forts are situated near dams or river banks. Hence, attempts are being made to promote water tourism along them. In addition, caves like Ajanta, Ellora, Karla-Bhaje, Bhedse and Kondana are also being given a facelift.
It will take a few years to complete the repair work of
old buildings, repairing the bastions, creating foot trails to important locations and removing the growth of trees in bastions
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