Gopalgad Fort / Anjanvel Fort ( mr, अंजनवेल चा किल्ला/ गोपाळगड) is a fort located from
Chiplun
Chiplun ( ͡ʃipɭuːɳ is a city in Ratnagiri district in the state of Maharashtra, India. It is the financial and commercial Hub of Ratnagiri, and the headquarters of Chiplun taluka. It is about 320 km south of Mumbai in the Konkan ...
, in
Ratnagiri district, of
Maharashtra. This fort is an important fort in Ratnagiri district. The Fort is located on a prominent and commanding point for guarding the trade route along the
Vashishti River
River Vashishti is one of the larger rivers in the Konkan coast of Maharashtra, India. The river begins in the Western Ghats and snakes its way westwards towards the Arabian Sea. Kolkewadi Dam near Alore has a vast reservoir, which feeds a ...
, which runs till
Govindgad near
Chiplun
Chiplun ( ͡ʃipɭuːɳ is a city in Ratnagiri district in the state of Maharashtra, India. It is the financial and commercial Hub of Ratnagiri, and the headquarters of Chiplun taluka. It is about 320 km south of Mumbai in the Konkan ...
and the
Dabhol
Dabhol (Marathi pronunciation: ̪aːbʱoɭ, also known as Dabul, is a small seaport town in the Ratnagiri district of Maharashtra in India. It is located on the northern and southern sides of the Vashishthi river that later flows by Chiplun ...
port which was a busy route in medieval times. It is a fort located on a hill near the sea.
History
No record evidence about the construction period of this fort is known. This fort was captured by the king
Shivaji
Shivaji Bhonsale I (; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), also referred to as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adil ...
from
Mohammed Adil Shah of
Bijapur in 1660 during his conquest of Dhabol creek. A dockyard/shipbuilding dock was later built by him and the fort was named Gopalgad. It was later under the control of an
Abyssinia
The Ethiopian Empire (), also formerly known by the exonym Abyssinia, or just simply known as Ethiopia (; Amharic and Tigrinya: ኢትዮጵያ , , Oromo: Itoophiyaa, Somali: Itoobiya, Afar: ''Itiyoophiyaa''), was an empire that historica ...
n general Khairriyatkan from 1699 for further 46 years. It was won by Tulaji Angre in 1745. An officer of
Angres
Angres () is a Communes of France, commune in the Pas-de-Calais Departments of France, department in the Hauts-de-France region of France.
Geography
A farming and light industrial suburb situated just southwest of Lens, Pas-de-Calais, Lens centr ...
Ramji Mahadev Bivalkar captured the fort in 1756. The Fort was won by Colonel Kennedy in 1818.
How to reach
The nearest town is
Guhagar
Guhagar (Marathi pronunciation: uɦaːɡəɾ is a census town in Ratnagiri district in the Indian state of Maharashtra. Guhagar is known for its virgin beach, coir items, coconuts, betel nuts and mainly Alphonso mangoes. The nearest city ...
which is 46 km from
Chiplun
Chiplun ( ͡ʃipɭuːɳ is a city in Ratnagiri district in the state of Maharashtra, India. It is the financial and commercial Hub of Ratnagiri, and the headquarters of Chiplun taluka. It is about 320 km south of Mumbai in the Konkan ...
. The base village of the fort is Anjanvel which is 13 km from Guhagar. There are good hotels at Chiplun, Guhagar, and Anjanvel, now tea and snacks are also available in small hotels along the coastal road. The trekking path starts from the hillock west of the Anjanvel village. Now there is a very safe and wide road up to the fort. It takes about half an hour to reach the entrance gate of the fort.
Places to see
The fort is spread over an area of . The Fort is rectangular in shape with a dry moat on all the sides. The Fort walls are 12 feet high and 8 feet thick. The road to the fort ends near a small entrance on the western side of the fort. There were 15 bastions on the outer walls of the fort armed with cannons. there was an inscription in
Persian
Persian may refer to:
* People and things from Iran, historically called ''Persia'' in the English language
** Persians, the majority ethnic group in Iran, not to be conflated with the Iranic peoples
** Persian language, an Iranian language of the ...
language on the fort till 1707, now it is nowhere seen. The entire fort is constructed from lateritic rock. The fort is divided into three sections: Varchakot, Parkot and Balekot. There is a small entrance to the Padkot which opens to the outer-side. There is a mango orchard inside the fort walls, the fort has remained in a dispute for ownership issue. There is an ancient temple of Uddalakeshwar near the fort. There is a lighthouse about 2 km from the fort which can be visited by paying a nominal fee.
See also
*
List of forts in Maharashtra
This is list of forts in Maharashtra a state of India
# Achala Fort (Nashik)
# Agashi Fort
# Ahmednagar Fort
# Ahivant Fort
# Ajinkyatara
# Akola Fort
# Akluj Fort
# Alang Fort
# Ambolgad
# Anjaneri
# Anjanvel Fort
# Ankai Fort
# Antur Fo ...
*
List of forts in India
This is a partial list of forts in India.
Andhra Pradesh
Coastal Region
# Anvika Fort
# Addanki Fort - Prakasam district
# Bellamkonda Fort - Guntur district
# Bobbili Fort – Vizianagaram district
# Dharanikota Fort – Guntur distri ...
*
Kanhoji Angre
Kanhoji Angre (Marathi: कान्होजी आंग्रे, anʱod͡ʒiː aːŋɡɾe, also known as Conajee Angria or Sarkhel Angré (August 1669 – 4 July 1729) was a chief of the Maratha Navy in present-day India. Kanhoji became k ...
*
Marathi People
*
Maratha Navy
The Maratha Navy was the naval wing of the armed forces of the Maratha Empire, which existed from around mid-17th century to mid-18th century in India.
Formative years
Historian Sir Jadunath Sarkar noted:
In medieval India, the Muslim rul ...
*
List of Maratha dynasties and states
This is a list of Maratha dynasties and Maratha princely states.
Historical Maratha dynasties with original clans spread globally
† - States annexed by the British East India Company
Maratha Princely States
The Marathas ruled much of ...
*
Maratha War of Independence
The Marathi people ( Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a ...
*
Battles involving the Maratha Empire
*
Maratha Army
The Maratha Army was the land-based armed forces of the Maratha Empire, which existed from the late 17th to the early 19th centuries in India.
17th century
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, the founder of Maratha Empire, raised a small yet effective l ...
*
Maratha titles
The following list includes a brief about the titles of nobility or orders of chivalry used by the Marathas of India and by the Marathis/Konkanis in general.
Titles used by the Maratha Royals
The titles used by royalty, aristocracy and nobili ...
*
Military history of India
The predecessors to the contemporary Army of India were many: the sepoy regiments, native cavalry, irregular horse and Indian sapper and miner companies raised by the three British presidencies. The Army of India was raised under the British R ...
*
List of people involved in the Maratha Empire
This is a listing of people who were involved in the formation and growth of Maratha Empire.
The Maratha Empire or the Maratha Confederacy was an Indian power that existed from 1647 to 1818. At its peak, the empire covered a territory of over 2. ...
References
Gallery
File:Gopalgad Outer Wall East side.jpg
File:Gopalgad Inside view.jpg
File:Sea View from Gopalgad.jpg
{{MarathaEmpire
Buildings and structures of the Maratha Empire
Forts in Ratnagiri district
16th-century forts in India
Tourist attractions in Pune district
Former populated places in India
Hiking trails in India
*