Murud Janjira Fort | मुरुड जंजिरा किल्ला

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Murud-Janjira is located 60 km away from Alibaug, Maharashtra. This small village is on the top of a hillock. It is believed that the rulers of Ahmednagar constructed the fort in the 15th century. Despite the ravages of wind and tide, the fort is almost entirely intact. This 300-year old fort is famous for its fine architecture.
Since its construction by the Ahmadnagar rulers under the supervision of their regent Malik Ambar in the 15th century, any enemy never conquered the fort for over 300 years. Murud-Janjira is probably the only of its kind on the 720 km Maharashtra coastline.

Murud is popular for its appealing beach, murmuring casuarinas, coconut and betel palms and an ancient fort. The shrine of Lord Dattatreya is near the fort on a hillock. The palace of the Nawab and the Janjira caves are also worth visiting. The beaches of Kashid and Nandgaon are in a few kilometers away from the fort.

Nearest airport is at Mumbai (165 km), while nearest railway station is at Roha. Regular ferry services are available from Ferry Wharf up to Rewas (23 km). One needs to take a bus via Alibag and Chaul after Rewas. There are also regular catamarans from the Gateway of India in Mumbai going up to Mandwa.

 

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The fort was originally built in 15th century on a smaller scale by a local Maratha-Fisherman Chieftain- Ram Patil to protect his people from pirates/ thieves and was known as " Medhekot". He was a fearless man with independent bent of mind who was quite popular with the local fishermen. Nizam, the ruler from Ahmadnagar felt threatened by this and sent one of his Siddi commanders Piram Khan, who came with three ships armed with necessary weapons and soldiers and entered fort in disguise as a travelling merchant, at night. He captured the unsuspecting fishermen inside and massacred them including the brave Ram Patil, as they refused to be converted to Islam. Piram Khan was succeeded by Burhan Khan, who demolished the original fort and built an impregnable much bigger, 22 acre, stone fort sometime in between 1567 and 1571. The fort was called 'Jazeere Mahroob Jazeera ' which in Arabic means an Island. Siddhi Ambersatak was nominated as Commander of the fort.
Despite their repeated attempts, the Portuguese, the British and the Marathas failed to subdue the power of the Siddi's, who were themselves allied with the Mughal Empire. Major historical figures from Murud-Janjira include men such as Yahya Saleh and Sidi Yaqub. The fort has a tunnel which opens in Rajpuri. The fort was made by a mixture of lead, sand and gul.
The Marathas led by Shivaji attempted to scale the 12 meters high Granite walls but failed in all his attempts. His son Sambhaji even attempted to tunnel his way into the fort but was unsuccessful in all his attempts.

In the year 1736, Siddi's of Murud-Janjira set out to recapture Raigarh from the ravaging forces of Baji Rao, on 19 April 1736, Chimnaji attacked the gathering forces in the encampments of the Siddi's during the Battle of Riwas near Riwas, when the confrontation ended 1500 Siddi's including their leader Siddi Sat were killed. Peace was concluded in September 1736, but the Siddi's were confined to Janjira, Gowalkot and Anjanwel.