Were finding some plan to go for trekking, but unable to
think about due to extreme summer.
And also getting bored, so we thought we would go for any
overnight trek. Finally got the place for hanging up in the night, The Raigad.
I just called my friend Rishi and got him ready, and obviously
my brother being always ready for Raigad anytime. We did the final plan to go
for and decided to leave in the night.
My bro (Pappu) who
was excited for driving, because he just got CNG kit been
installed in his
car.
So we just got ready and left the home at 8:00 PM of April 7 2012.
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| Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's samadhi |
Being on the way, we were at Hotel Ayushi which is around
60-65 km from Pune just after passing Bhor, decided to take a dinner. This
hotel is famous for AKKHA MASOOR as told by brother and ordered the same . The
food was good ,So we finished the dinner and started the journey towards
Raigad.
The Raigad which is second capital of SWARAJYA established
by Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (The first one was Rajgad), called me so many
time and I was missing it every time. But this time I got it. The fort being
around 120-130 km from Pune in Raigad district in the Sahyadri ranges.
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| Beautiful view of Nira Devghar dam from the road towards Varandha ghat |
Interestingly, the way towards the Raigad is as much
adventurous as itself; means, am talking about the Varandha ghat. This ghat
always attracted me. Every time I got there feeling something new, refreshing,
inexpressible peace, adventurous and in the night it just is like getting out
of hell. Means it is just being heaven.
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| Awesome Varandha ghat peak(Photo Not taken in this trek) |
After covering the around 12 -13 km distance we reached the
peak of the varandha ghat and this is the place I was talking about. It was
11:00 PM in the clock. No vehicle to and fro on the road. There is small temple
of Waghjai Devi.
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| Shivtharghal located in middle most lush green region(Photo not taken in this trek) |
We the three were just feeling peace of mind. From here we could see Shivtharghal, the
place where Samartha Ramdas swami written “DASBODH”.
After staying for some time,
we headed towards the fort.
So we finally reached the base village of Raigad (Pachad). Being
12:15 AM in the Clock. We could see the way in the night because it was the
full moon day, the day before. We were supposed to hike two hills to reach
there at top of the fort.
Reaching pachad, 4-5 dogs were barking loudly, first we got
irritated but I think then they decided to come with us and walking with us
very calmly. Where there we stopped they did.
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| Beautiful rising sun |
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Rising sun from Sahyadri
|
 |
One of my favorite pics
|
We started hiking; having wonderful night, calm atmosphere,
full moonlight, the time was just excellent, and we got shivered. I never
experienced that peace of mind ever before. Around 1:45 AM we reached top of
the fort. After wandering at some places, we got best place to spend the night;
very near to tomb of Shivaji Maharaj. Already two people were sleeping there
and told us they are police, any how we got permission to stay there.
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| Early in the morning At samadhi
|
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| Entrance to the samadhi place with lightning moon in the morning |
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Waghya's samadhi
|
We woke up early in the morning around at 6:15 AM and
decided to go for sightseeing. We started from Samadhi itself. At this place,
the whole night I was thinking how would be the atmosphere at the time of
Shivaji Maharaj and also was feeling very happy to spend the night besides Samadhi.
As usually we started capturing the images. The sun was just rising and full
Moon was beautiful at the same time.
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| Jagdishwar Temple (built like mosque)
|
There is tomb of Maharaja’s dog “Waghya” as people say.
Waghya was very loyal to Maharaj. But there is no base of explanation in
history regarding this, some people says that this is tomb of Holkar’s dog
that did renovation of Shivaji maharaja’s Samadhi.
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| Seveshi Tatpar Hiroji Indulkar
|
Any way we started walking, we noticed step at entrance of
Samadhi on which some text is written it says “Seveshi Tatpar Hiroji Indulkar” meaning always ready at the
service/duty of Swarajya.
Hiroji Indulkar who built The Raigad was one of most trusted
men of Shivaji Maharaj
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| BajarPeth
|
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| The famous statue of Maharaj
|
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| An entrance to Grand Darbar Where Maharaj was crowned as Chatrapati
|
After leaving from Samadhi, we headed towards Jagdishwar temple
of Shiva; it is built like mosque to be protected from attacker/destroyer. Then we visited Darbar, Entrance to Darbar is
in good state but “Ranivasa” the place for queens are in worst condition
destroyed by attackers.
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| Minister's residential
|
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| "RANIVASA" The queen's residential |
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| Maha Darwaja(Nagarkhana Darwaja) |
After visiting bajarpeth, couldn’t stop thinking about how
it would be crowded at that time and for moment I was stunned. There is famous
statue of maharaja at very centre place called Holicha Mal where people on fort used to gather for
any celebration.
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| The way to TAKMAK tok ,point of execution |
After that we headed towards the famous TAKMAK Tok this was
place where rebels were punished by pushing them from there.
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| way to Ropeway
|
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| Gangasagar Talav
|
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| Climbing down towards base Village
|
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| The second doorway towards Fort
|
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An first entrance to Fort
|
After visiting almost places, we spend some time on the fort
and started our return journey
Trek Details
History: Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj seized the fort in 1656 from ChandraRao More.He then declared Raigad fort as capital of Maratha Empire in 1674. He was crowned as Chatrapati at the same place. In 1765 fort was target of an armed expedition by British and subsequently destroyed by EAST INDIA Company in 1818.
Height: 2700 ft above sea level
Level: Medium
Distance from Pune: 126 km, daily buses from Swargate,Shivaji Nagar
Sightseeing: Gangasagar Talav,Takmak tok,Raigad Ropeway,Pachad Village,Darbar, Nagarkhana darwaja,Holicha Mal,Jagdishwar Temple and of course most important Samadhi
Accommodation: food and accommodation is easily available at MTDC Resort also we can use open space on the fort for spending night to get thrilling experience
Save the Nature,Live the Trek!!!!!!
