Nature has bestowed a lot of beauty on Konkan. It is rare for a tourist to come to Konkan, which is adorned with the beauty of the forest, golden sand, and blue seas. Many forts in this beautiful Konkan have been destroyed over time although some forts remain, these have completely vanished from the minds of people. Madgad is one such forgotten fort. This fort is situated on a small hill in the village of Wanjale surrounded by Diveagar beach, forests at Borlipanchayat in Shrivardhan taluka. Madgad fort still stands on the hill behind the village of Wanjle surrounded by dense forests on all four sides. This fort is 180 km from Mumbai via Indapur-Mangaon-Mhasla-Borli Panchayat and is located at a distance of only 8 km from Diveagar. When you reach Wanjle village, you can see Madgad hill with a saffron flag fluttering in the back. ... As there is no water facility on the fort, a sufficient quantity of water should be filled from the village and then the fort should be climbed in the direction of this saffron flag. The fort has been beautifully preserved by some local youth without displaying the name of their organization on the fort. To reach the fort, directional arrows are set up displaying the path at various places. This footpath with directional arrows is easy to climb. This way we enter the fort from a ruined bastion in half an hour from the village. The boat-shaped head of the fort is spread over an area of about 2 acres and is 920 feet above sea level. Upon entering the fort, you can see water cisterns carved in the rock in front. The conservation work of this cistern is currently underway. Going straight ahead from the footpath to the cistern, you can see the remains of some structures as well as the ramparts on the left side of the hill. The stone remains found during the conservation process have been laid out on this road. The road leading from here leads you to the premises of a mansion. The entire quadrangle structure of this mansion remains and this mansion should be of the militant chief of the fort. A saffron flag and an image of the Shivaji Maharaj have been placed at this place. At the front of the road, there is a very tall quadrangle structure and three tombs on the top of this structure. Remains of a temple are placed on this quadrangle structure too. After seeing this structure and going straight ahead, we reach the other end of the fort. The remains of a well can be seen here. All these remnants can be seen today only because the bushes on this fort have been cleared during the conservation. Apart from this, you can also see other small quadrangle structures and an extinguished cistern. In other parts of the fort, however, there is still a large number of bushes and many remains have been lost. From Madgad, there is a beautiful view of the surrounding areas of Shrivardhan, Dighi, Diveagar, and Bankot. An hour is enough to explore the entire fort. Although Madgad does not have any reference during Shivaji Maharaj’s era, it should be an important fort for surveillance as it is the only fort in the coastal region from Bankot creek to Mhasla creek. After the death of Sambhaji Raja, Madgad came under the control of Siddi but it is mentioned that in June 1733, the Marathas brought the fort back under their control. In December 1769, in a skirmish between Raghoji Angre and Siddhi, the fort was handed over to Janjirekar by the Peshwas. On March 23, 1770, Abdul Rahim Khan Siddi recaptured the fort from the Peshwas. When the fort was in the possession of Siddi in the 17th century, Shrimant Ramabai Peshwa came to Harihareshwar for visiting the temple in 1772, a salute of cannon was given from the fort in her honor and a gift was sent to her from an elephant by siddi. this was recorded in the Peshwa documents. The fort was demolished by Janjirekar Siddi Mohammad Khan around 1830.
© Suresh Nimbalkar