The Belgaum border issue is a never-healing wound on the heart of Maharashtra. This self-governing Marathi province was added to the state of Karnataka during language-wise division of states. Today, these forts which are in Belgaum district were once in Swaraj, so I still consider these forts as Maharashtra forts. If you have your own private vehicle, you can easily see 5-6 forts here in a day. Most of these forts are ground fort or fortress and with one exception the number of hill forts is very less. I have tried to give the information of all these forts we visited on the website Durgbharari. Rawal in Khandesh, Khot in Konkan, Kulkarni or Patil in Desh, similarly Desai’s in Belgaum area. The duty of these Desai family was to deposit the tax collected with the government subject to the changing royal authority. ... They used to get certain share for this. These Desai’s used to live like a Sansthanik. They built fortified fort like fortresses in their territory. All these fortress were of private nature and were used for revenue collection and self-defense. Some of these were built in the 18th century and since no battle ever took place on this fortress, it is still in use today in its original condition. One such well-preserved fortress enclosed by ramparts can be seen at Tallur in Saundatti taluka. Both the fortress of Tallur and Shirasangi have the same internal and external construction. Tallur fortress is 60 km from Belgaum and 32 km from Saundatti Taluka. Located at one end of Tallur village, this fortress is known as “Desai Bhuikot” in the village. There is a spacious yard in front of the gate of the fortress and many ruins can be seen in it. On entering this premises, on the left is a beautiful stone-built temple. This temple has collapsed a bit and is not in use now. Apart from this, one smaller temple can be seen in this premises. There is a deep well in the center of the compound. At some distance next to this well there is a lime pit. There is a small niche in the rampart on the right side next to the door and in it there are things related to deities and next to it there are Saptamatrikapat, Shivlinga and some sculptures. There is a sculpture of Hanuman in the bastion wall to the left of the fortress. This square-shaped fortress is spread over five acres and has four bastions at the four corners. The bastions and ramparts of the fortress have emplacements built to fire guns and cannons. The main gate of the fortress is facing east and there is a warehouse just ahead and a small gate next to it. As the descendants of fortress, Desai family are staying there, one should enter with their permission. Inside the door, there are guard rooms on both sides. On entering, right in front is a beautiful two-storied mansion (wada) that evokes the former glory of Desai family. On both sides of the mansion, Gallery and Vharanda are built along the rampart. To the right of the door is a stone staircase leading to the top of the ramparts. The entire fortress can be toured from the ramparts. Half an hour is enough to see this fortress.
© Suresh Nimbalkar