Naldurg Fort
Naldurg is the biggest land fort in Maharashtra. It has 3 km long fortification wall and 114 bastions. ‘PaniMahal’ is the most attractive monument on this fort. It gives amazing view from inside of this ‘PaniMahal’, when water from ‘Bori’ river flows down from the top of this ‘PaniMahal’. This view can be enjoyed at the end of the monsoons.
Type : Land Forts.
District : Usmanabad.
Fascinating Spots :
The fort of Naldurg has 114 bastions and a long fortification wall of 3 km length. The bastions of Naldurg are special in shape; we can see variety of shapes such as Hexagonal, Pentagonal, Quadrilateral, and Semicircular or even in shape of petals of a flower. Another fort named as ‘RanMandal’ was constructed at the back side of the moat, to safeguard Naldurg. The course of river Bori was diverted around the fort to create a moat for protection.
After crossing the Naldurg village, continue walking towards the fort till we come across a bridge on the moat. It takes to the first entrance of the fort which is guarded by two huge bastions at both the sides. The second entrance of the fort also lies in between these bastions. There are vestibules on the left. Since one way has been blocked recently, we need to take a U-turn to enter the fort. The third and the main entrance of the fort lie in between the bastion on the left side. The steps at the right hand side take us to ‘Sherhaji’; from this location we can see beautiful view of dual fortification of the fort. The main entrance still has the wooden frames of the door. Currently the fort is being taken care of by Archeological department; hence the entrance door is opened as closed as per schedule i.e. 9:00 am to 5.00 PM. There are few rooms/compartments within the bastion at the external side of this entrance. We can reach the top of the bastion by the way going through these rooms/compartments. There are three cannons inside. One of them is around 27 feet long. There is a building behind that, named as ‘HattiKhana’. There is big sculpture kept in front of Hattikhana. There is a palace of Fort-In-Charge at a few distances from this building. It has few sculptures in it. The college of Naldurg was being conducted here. There is building of ‘Munsif court’ beside this palace.
The one side of palace has ‘Jama’ mosque with a water reservoir in front of it. Few houses of people staying inside the fort can also be seen. There is a special attractive bastion at the right side of this palace. It must be seen from outside to admire the beauty of the construction of this bastion. The shape of bastion is like lotus petals. It can be clearly noticed if seen from Naldurg-Hyderabad highway at around 5 km away from Naldurg fort. This bastion is named as ‘NavBuruj’ for the similarity in appearance of nine petals of a lotus. The bastion has two floors at inner side. This is one of the rare constructions we can see on Naldurg.
A dilapidated building named as ‘Bardari’ can be seen between the mosque and the fortification. A British officer Colonel Meadows used to stay in this building. A beautiful view of ‘Bori’ river and the bridge over it can be seen from this building. Another dilapidated building named as ‘RangMahal’ can be seen besides the ‘Bardari’ building. Similarly, many other such dilapidated structures can be seen on the fort.
The most attractive structure on this for t is the ‘PaniMahal’. The moat around this fort is nothing but the water of Bori River. It’s filled by changing the direction of the flow of the river. In era of second Adilshaha, a weir was constructed on this river. The Naldurg fort and the ‘RanMandal’ fort are at the two ends of this weir. This weir is 174 Meter long, 2.5 to 14 meter wide and 19 meters in height. It has a small palace inside with steps to descend. When the river gets overflow, the water flows from the top of this weir. The strange part is that, none of the structure inside gets wet. ‘Meer Emadin’ is the architect of this beautiful construction.
Another attractive thing of this fort is, bastion of “Upalya” which is also named as ‘Upali Buruj’ or ‘Tehlani Buruj’ i.e. bastion made for keeping watch. This bastion is at the center of the fortification of the fort. It’s around 15 feet in height and has two cannons on it. Cannons are 18 feet and 21 feet long. The entire fort and the surrounding area can be seen from this bastion. There is a warehouse to keep explosive material near this bastion. Also, there is a water reservoir near this bastion, as the one who has to fire the cannon shot, has to jump into the water immediately. It takes a day to see Naldurg and Ranmandal.
Ways To Reach :
1. From Solapur :
Naldurg is situated at 50 KMs from Solapur. The fort is in Naldurg village, which is on Solapur-Hyderabad highway. There are state transport busses from Solapur to Naldurg every half an hour.
2. From Tuljapur :
Naldurg is 35 KM away from Tuljapur and 50 KM away from Usmanabad.
