Laling Killa ( mr, लळिंग किल्ला) is a small fort (''killa'') situated in the present day

Dhule district Dhule district (Marathi pronunciation: ̪ʰuɭeː is a district of Maharashtra, India. The city of Dhule is the administrative headquarters of the district. It is part of North Maharashtra. The Dhule district previously comprised tracts o ...

of Maharashtra state in

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 ...

. The fort is situated on top of Laling hill about south of

Dhule Dhule is a city located in the Dhule District in the northwestern part of Maharashtra state, India known as West Khandesh. Situated on the banks of Panzara River, Dhule is the regional headquarters of MIDC, RTO, and MTDC. The city is mainly kn ...

city. It was one of the important forts in the

Khandesh Khandesh is a geographic region in Central India, which includes parts of the northwestern portion of Maharashtra as well as Burhanpur District of Madhya Pradesh. The use of Khandeshi Language (a.k.a. the Ahirani Language) is prevalent in t ...

region during the time of the Faruqi Kings.

History

It is a place of considerable antiquity and the fort is supposed to have been built during the reign of the first of the Faruqi Kings. The fact that this fort and not that of

Thalner Thalner is an Shirpur Tahsil's Village, the first capital of the Faruqi kings, stands on the banks of the Tapi river, in Shirpur tehsil about 46.67 km. (28 miles) north-east of Dhule in Maharashtra state, India. It was fortified and pla ...

was granted by Malik Raja (1370-1399) to his eldest son would show that Laling was his chief fort. It was in this fort that Nasir Khan and his son Miran Adil Khan were besieged in 1437 by the

Bahamani The Bahmani Sultanate, or Deccan, was a Persianate Sunni Muslim Indian Kingdom located in the Deccan region. It was the first independent Muslim kingdom of the Deccan,

general till they were relieved by an army advancing from

Gujarat Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...

. Early in the seventeenth century it is mentioned more than once in connection with the movements of the Mughal troop's

Deccan The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by the ...

campaigns llior, VII, 35, 102. In 1862, the fort is described, as strongly situated with very few defences left. This fort was on the historical Surat-Burhanpur commercial road.

Present condition

Around the fort is a small village called as Laling village with 1,549 inhabitants in 1961. Laling has, besides the fort, two ''

Hemadpanthi Hemadpanti Sculpture (also spelled as Hemadpanthi) is an architectural style, named after its founder, the prime minister Hemadpant (1259-1274 CE) of the court of Seuna Yadavas of Devagiri. Architectural elements This building style was formed du ...

'' temples in dilapidated condition. There is also a mined ''hemadpanti'' well. Presently the fort is in a ruined and collapsed state. It offers a panoramic view of Dhule city. There is a Lilitamata temple at the top of the Fort. There are several rock cut water cisterns on the fort. The escape gate is on the southern side of the fort which leads to a semicircular dam with a ''chatri'' nearby.

How to reach

The Laling Area is part of

city, and it is located 16 km Western from the Dhule CBS on a busy Mumbai-Agra NH3 Highway. The path from the old hemadpanti temple in the base village leads to the fort. Recently steps are constructed to reach Laling fort.

Gallery

File:Laling fort.jpg, Top of the fort File:Laling1.jpg, Lalita mata temple File:Laling2.jpg, Dried pond File:Laling3.jpg, rock cut cisterns

History

Present condition

How to reach

Gallery

References

See also