Arnala Fort is built on a small island off the port town of Arnala, located around 13 km (8 miles) north of Bassein, Maharashtra,

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

. Being an island fort, it is also called Jaldurg or Janjire-Arnala. The

Portuguese Portuguese may refer to: * anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Portugal ** Portuguese cuisine, traditional foods ** Portuguese language, a Romance language *** Portuguese dialects, variants of the Portuguese language ** Portu ...

, who built the present fort, called the island ''Ilha das Vacas'' (Island of Cows).

History

The island of Arnala, which has water on all four sides, belonged to Sultan Mahmud Begda of Gujarat. The island was conquered by the Portuguese in 1530. In 1737, after nearly two hundred years of Portuguese rule, the fort came under the control of the Marathas in 1737. The fort was rebuilt by the first Bajirao. In the middle of 1817, the fort came under the control of the British In 1516 a local chieftain in Gujarat, Sultan Mahmud Begda, constructed the fort on the island, strategically located at the mouth of the

Vaitarna river The Vaitarna River ( IAST: ''Vaitarṇā'', pronunciation: �əit̪əɾɳaː is a river in Nashik and Palghar district of Maharashtra. The Tansa is its left bank tributary and the Pinjal, Dehraja, and Surya are its right bank tributaries. ...

. In the 1530s the Portuguese had established their operations in the coastal area, headquartered at

Fort Bassein Fort Vasai (Fortaleza de São Sebastião de Baçaím) is a ruined fort of the town of Vasai (Bassein), Maharashtra, India. The structure was formally christened as the Fort of St. Sebastian in the Indo-Portuguese era. The fort is a monument ...

, and soon gained control of the island. The Portuguese captain of Bassein donated the island to a Portuguese nobleman who tore down the old fort and began construction of a fort. The nobleman never completed the fort. Still, it remained under Portuguese control for two centuries; they used it to control shipping and navigation along the northern

Konkan The Konkan ( kok, कोंकण) or Kokan () is a stretch of land by the western coast of India, running from Damaon in the north to Karwar in the south; with the Arabian Sea to the west and the Deccan plateau in the east. The hinterland ...

coast. During the late 17th and early 18th centuries, after a long struggle with the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an early-modern empire that controlled much of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries. Quote: "Although the first two Timurid emperors and many of their noblemen were recent migrants to the subcontinent, the d ...

, the

Maratha Confederacy The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Shi ...

came to dominate the region. In 1737 the then Peshwa Baji Rao I sent his brother,

Chimaji Appa Chimaji Balaji Bhat was born in a Chitpavan caste family in 1707 and died in 1740, commonly referred to as Appa or Bhau, was the son of Balaji Vishwanath Bhat and the younger brother of Bajirao Peshwa of Maratha Empire. He was an able military ...

, to take the Bassein Fort from the Portuguese. After winning the Battle of Vasai, his general, Shankarji Pant, persuaded Chimaji to launch an assault on Fort Arnala, for its strategic importance to the Maratha navy in assaulting Portuguese interests. Their first assault, coordinated with a Maratha naval force commanded by Govindji kasar & Manaji Agre, was routed by a superior Portuguese naval force. A second assault on the fort on 28 March 1737, caught the Portuguese by surprise and forced them to abandon the fort. The victory was commemorated by a plaque installed on the northern wall of the fort and is still visible today. The Marathas then rebuilt the fort, constructing three bastions Bahirav, Bhavani, and Bava. The British captured the fort on 18 January 1781 during the

First Anglo-Maratha War The First Anglo-Maratha War (1775–1782) was the first of three Anglo-Maratha Wars fought between the British East India Company and Maratha Empire in India. The war began with the Treaty of Surat and ended with the Treaty of Salbai. The w ...

. The

Treaty of Salbai The Treaty of Salbai was signed on 17 May 1782, by representatives of the Maratha Empire and the British East India Company after long negotiations to settle the outcome of the First Anglo-Maratha War it was signed between Warren Hastings and Mah ...

nominally returned the Arnala and Bassien forts to the Marathas. The Marathas controlled the fort until 1817. During the

Third Anglo-Maratha War The Third Anglo-Maratha War (1817–1819) was the final and decisive conflict between the English East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. The war left the Company in control of most of India. It began with an invasion of Maratha ter ...

, despite painstakingly defending the fort, the Marathas were finally forced to surrender the fort to the superior naval power of the British. The British formally regained the forts under the Treaty of Poona. Today the fort is in a state of disrepair.

Features

Water Reservoir and Shrines

There is a large octagonal fresh water reservoir inside the fort. Within its walls, are also the temples of Ambakeshwar, Bhavani and Shiva as well as

Darga Darga (Hebrew: ) is a cantillation mark commonly found in the Torah, Haftarah The ''haftara'' or (in Ashkenazic pronunciation) ''haftorah'' (alt. ''haftarah, haphtara'', he, הפטרה) "parting," "taking leave", (plural form: ''haftarot ...

s (tombs) of Shah Ali and Hajji Ali. The 'paduka' or sacred sandals of Shrinity Anand are housed in a dome on the eastern face of the fort.

The Entrance

The main entrance of the fort faces approximately north. Arnala-fort-entrance

The solid stone doorway is adorned with pictures of tigers and elephants. Arnala-fort-entrance-detail

Ramparts and Walls

The external ramparts are in a fairly good condition, and a roughly three-meter-wide path exists along the outer walls. .

Southern Watch Tower

There exists a lone

Martello tower Martello towers, sometimes known simply as Martellos, are small defensive forts that were built across the British Empire during the 19th century, from the time of the French Revolutionary Wars onwards. Most were coastal forts. They stand u ...

about 550 meters from the main fort, on the southern end of the island. This tower has no entrance gate. Arnala-fort-south-watch-tower

References

External links

Arnala Fort Pictures
Pictures of Forts in Maharashtra

A Vasai Cultural Information Website in GeoCities.

A Blog Post on Arnala by a blogger.

* ttp://trekking95.blogspot.in/2015/01/virar.html Trekking Tourism - Virar - विरार - ویرار {{Forts in India Maratha Navy Arnala Portuguese forts in India History of Vasai Rebuilt buildings and structures in India 16th-century forts in India 1530s establishments in Portuguese India Tourist attractions in Palghar district Forts in Maharashtra