In Buldhana district of Vidarbha, there is a village called Kingavraja on the Jalna-Mehkar road. It was an important village in the domain of Raje Lakhojirao Jadhavrao, the grandfather of Shiv Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. In the course of time, the fort of King Jadhav in this village has been destroyed to a large extent and some ruins of this fortress are still telling their relation with history. Kingaon Raja, which is only 13 km above Sindkhedaraja taluka is 82 km from Buldhana town and 47 km from Jalna town. We can see the ruins of this fortress in the area behind the Kamakshi temple in Kingavraja village. The remains of the Kingavraja fortress are the remaining earthen ramparts on two sides of the fort and the three earthen bastions in this fortress. ... This fortress of Jadhavrao is completely destroyed today and there are houses of descendants of Jadhavrao in this area. Looking at the remaining remains of the fortress and its surroundings, this square-shaped fortress is spread over an area of about half an acre and there should be four bastions at the four ends of this fortress, but we can see only three bastions at present. The height of these bastions is about 25 feet. The structure is made of stone with a sloping arch of the door on the remaining ramparts of the fortress. Looking at the stones in the construction of the ramparts, this fort must have been built in stone, but as these stones were taken away for the construction of houses in the village, only the inner soil fill remains. As there are no other remains of the fort, our trek is completed in just 15 minutes. During the period of Nizamshahi and AdilShah, some Maratha families emerged on their own efforts and prowess, Sindkhedkar Jadhavrao was one of the prominent families. Deshmukhi of Sindkhed, which had its roots in the sixteenth century, was acquired by Lakhuji Jadhav. in 1576. Shivaji Maharaja’s mother Jijabai was the daughter of Lakhuji Jadhav Rao. On 25th July 1629, Raja Lakhuji Jadhav, his two sons Achaloji and Raghoji and grandson Yashwantrao were murdered by the Nizamshahi in Devgiri. The lineages of the four sons of Raja Lakhuji Jadhav have extended to Sindkhedaraja, Deulgaonraja, Adgaonraja, Kingaonraja, Mehunaraja, Umrad and javalkhed.
© Suresh Nimbalkar