Dream Came True……Visit to Padmadurga – 26th April 2009

Ever since I started serious trekking, I have heard stories of how difficult it was to visit Padmadurga. Reasons being local fishermen flatly refuse to sail till Padmadurga, being inside the deep sea, Custom Dept.’s & BPT’s permission is required to see the fort etc. etc. So it remained a dream all these years. In 2008 January, I visited, with Mangesh & Ameya, Khanderi – Underi forts which share similar stories & inaccessibility as Padmadurga. The experience of Khanderi – Underi was encouraging & our next target was Padmadurga. 21st December 2008 – Mangesh & Ameya could visit Padmadurga through a fisherman in Rajpuri Koliwada. I missed this chance since I was skeptical whether they will make it to Padmadurga. This fisherman, Messiah to me from Rajpuri is Gopal Kunbi. Immediately, after this successful attempt by Mangesh & Ameya, we (Vinay & I) decided to visit Padmadurga as soon as possible with the help of Gopal. We checked with Aptekaka who immediately agreed to accompany us as even he wanted to desperately visit Padmadurga.

Vinay gathered a group of 14 interested friends to visit Padmadurga so that few more get to visit Padmadurga and the trip works out economical for us. An overnight journey and we reached Rajpuri Koliwada early morning at 4.30 am on 26th April. The group had brief rest in Bhairoba Temple till 6.30 am. I could not sleep properly, thanks to loudspeaker at Bal-Ganesh Mandir which was blaring with Ganesh Aartis & Spiritual Songs. We had tea and our packed breakfast of Bread-butter-chutney-cheese-biscuits at Gopal’s place. Tea took very long to come. It was so much delayed that we were restless & requested Gopal to forget tea and start immediately for Padmadurga . But he was firm in hospitality and did not allow us to leave till we had tea. He also wanted to cook some snacks & feed us. It’s a rare scene in cities. His father expressed his feelings by saying “Tumhi sagale aala, Sant Maybaap” All this Gopal & his family was doing, after partying whole night for a wedding in the village.

We got into Gopal’s Boat at Rajpuri Jetty and started sailing to Padmadurga at 8.00 am. Gopal’s 3 sons & their 2 friends were along to help Gopal. We passed by Janjira, a strong fort of Siddis which remained unconquered till 1947. Shivaji Maharaj and after him Sambhaji Maharaj attempted to capture Janjira by all means like battle, bribe, bridge etc. but did not succeed. To keep a check on Siddis, Shivaji Maharaj ordered constructing a fort, Padmadurga, on an island of Kasa, off the coast of Murud. Padmadurg was built around 1675 by Daulatkhan (an architect) and was controlled by Marathas until 1698 when Siddis captured it and ruled it until the end.


At Padmadurga there is no jetty or a good place to park a boat. To add to our tension, the boat was rocking too much. But Gopal & his team managed to park the boat amidst rocks. We managed to get off a rocking boat onto slippery rocks without anyone getting injured.


We got off near Darya Darwaza which faces east (Murud Coast). This fort is roughly divided in three parts from East to West viz main fort, Padkot and Retaining Wall. Traversing main fort, we entered Padkot first. We prominently noticed many rusted cannons lying all around. Jayaram & Purvesh counted them, the tally was roughly 50. The fortification and few bastions are still standing strong defying the sea waves for almost 335 years. Here Aptekaka read out a warning letter from Shivaji Maharaj to Jivaji Vinayak who was responsible for providing logistical support for building Padmadurga. Padkot has a loo in its fortification, a rare sight on the forts. Arnala fort has one. The main fort has 3 water tanks, some latest construction by customs dept. and some store rooms. It is possible to take a walk on the rampart.


The cementing material used for construction of the fort walls is so strong that the walls / stones have eroded few inches due to lashing waves but this material is still intact without any sign of erosion. At padmadurga we saw broken beer bottles, paper plates, garbage, indicating lot of partying by locals. That must be one of the reasons why they don’t want people to visit Padmadurga.

Fully content, we left Padmadurga at 10 am. We sailed back around Janjira. I was thrilled to see Darya Darwaja of Janjira from Darya. Back to Rajpuri Koliwada, while parking our boat near a barge like platform, boat banged on it as the younger fisher boys could not manage the parking well . Gopal shouted…"Nustach pagar ghetat Yedxxxx, kaam nako karayala randechyana!" His 3 sons were among these randeche. Thanking Gopal and his father we left Rajpuri at 11 am.

We decided to see Samrajgad. Samrajgad is located on a hill near village Ekdara which is between Murud & Rajpuri. No one in the village could help us with directions. Book ‘Vedh Jaladurgancha’ by Shri. Bhagwan Chile came in as help. Following directions from the book, we reached a Shiv temple in Ekdara village from where Murud Coast is seen. Further, uphill is Samrajgad, a relatively unknown fort built by Samrajpant the lieutanent of Shivaji Maharaj. This fort fell to the Siddis in 1675 on a Holi night. The ammunition store was attacked by Siddis, the explosion was so massive that Shivaji Maharaj, who was on Raigad then, woke up to order immediate inspection of Samrajgad’s condition. There is a small double wall showing that Samrajgad existed sometime at this place. Presently, no notable structures exist on the top. Janjira is to the South and Padmadurg is to the North-West of Samrajgad. It was lunch time by then and we moved to Patil Khanaval at Murud. We freaked on Paplet, Kolambi, Ravas, Surmai.

On the way back we halted to see Revdanda Fort at 3 pm. Not much remains here except huge fortification along the beach, few cannons & (must see) Gr + 5 floors tall Bell Tower. The fort walls are about 25 ft high & 15 ft wide. One has to see it to experience the fear that they would have created in the minds of the enemy. This fort was built by the Portuguese on the junction of Kundalika River & Arabian Sea. An important remain on this fort is a symbol of Portuguese Empire above the entrance. Such symbol can also be seen at Vasai & Korlai Forts but here this symbol is peculiar with a Crown jutting out from the main wall. Now many villagers have built houses & Villas inside the fort so not much is left to see. From Revdanda, Korlai Fort seems so close that you can walk it.

We reached Mulund at 7.00 pm after a memorable visit to Sea Forts.

Organisation – Private Trek

Members – Rajan Mahajan, Vinay Kulkarni, Sadanand Apte Kaka, Kiran Khatu, Kavita Joshi, Sandeep K, Hemlata, Nitin K, Purvesh, Milind Kadam, Sachin Patil, Hemant, Chinmay, Jayaram (On bike)

Route – Mulund – Pen – Vadkhal Naka – Alibaug – Revdanda – Murud – Rajpuri.

Food / Water – No water on Padmadurga, Samrajgad. In Revdanda Fort, water is available at Shiv Temple. Water / Food are available at Rajpuri, Murud & Revdanda villages.