ROHIDA FORT (VICHITRAGAD)

 

Hello folks,

Monsoon in 2015 is in full swing this year in Pune and surroundings. As is the case with my gang of trekkers, we usually do weekend travel and cover 7-8 fort treks each monsoon season mixed with 5-7 bike rides in between. That is a total trip count of 12-15 weekends in the monsoon season stretching from June to Early October.

Each year, we try to mix up the trekking experience. We cover newer forts, introduce new people to trekking, do night treks etc. This year, we decided that the first trek should be to a completely new fort which we had not covered in the past years. June 21st was also the first ever International Yoga Day. So I came up with an idea of doing Yoga on Rohida also known as VichitraGad..! And just like that, a plan was set.

There were 5 of us on the trek - Myself, Ashutosh, Anurag, Raunaq & Suraj. We decided to take our car instead of biking because it was raining rather heavily. Reaching Rohida is easy. We took this simple route -

Direction - 

1. Start from Chandni Chowk
2. Take NH4 bypass towards Satara
3. After about 37kms, reach Kapurhol (the village where there is Balaji temple)
4. Balaji temple goes to the left. We had to take a right towards Bhor (landmark is a HPCL petrol pump on the left; the road to Bhor is bang opposite to this)
5. A 15kms ride on this (good condition) road took us to Bhor (take a slight right to go inside the village at the Y junction here instead of continuing on the good road)
6. Once inside the village, we went through a narrow bad condition road for about a km or two to reach Shivaji Chowk (ask anyone for the road to MandharDevi or simply Shivaji Chowk in case one feels lost)
7. Rohida is about 7kms from this Chowk. Take the MandharDevi route and travel for 4kms to find an arch on the right. Take this right turn.
8. A further 3km winding route takes one to Bazarwadi. The base village for the Rohida trek.

A trek from this point is an absolute pleasure with light rain to keep company. It takes about an hour to reach the top of the fort. Most of the fort is in shambles, though one can see the ramparts are still in reasonably good condition. We observed that a private group is trying to restore many sections of the fort, particularly the temple of Rohideshwar. Kudos to their efforts.

Rohida

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Enroute to the top..!

The doors to the forts are in good condition. One of the doors has two beautiful elephants carved in stone on either side. Once on top & a quick darshan of Rohideshwar, we started exploring the fort. We couldn't see much owing to the dense fog and clouds & rain. There's not much to see anyhow except for one Buruj (rampart) on each corner of the fort. Standing on one of these and looking down on a sea of rain clouds is a surreal experience. Do try this..!

Rohida First Darwaza

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Few steps towards second Darwaza

Rained-out, Wind-swept, Trekkers on a Buruj

Another Buruj..! Ghostly! Awesome Weather!

On top of the world!

Following some silly antics & strange dancing in the rain, we decided to walk back down. Here I must mention a peculiar thing about this fort. It had the Strongest gusts of wind that I have ever experienced on any fort. What's more, the strong winds come from all directions almost forming mini-typhoons. Better have good grip footwear, especially during rains and ofcourse walk carefully.

The downhill trek is very easy. We indulged ourselves to a round of Yoga to celebrate International Yoga Day. A round of photography and some 'Gaonwaalo, Suuuiiiiccciiidddeee' drama on top of a water tank at the base of the fort and we finished the trek. We hardly broke a sweat on this trek.

The second Darwaza with the Elephant carvings!

Road to Nowhere???

Yoga Dudes!

Reach for the Sky..!

I would recommend this trek for beginners. Simply carry your own water & food and take standard precautions of trekking i.e. wearing good footwear, not indulging in foolish dares and/or rushing oneself too much. And the whole group will have a great time.

With a total distance of about 60kms from Chandni Chowk & a hour's climb, one can plan this as a relaxed one day trek.

Hope you enjoy your Rohida experience. Do share your thoughts/experiences here in the comments section..! Cheers folks..! The Trekking Season has begun..!

Second part – The Rohida Fort (Vichitragad) :

Fortunately it was raining on the day we started in early morning at 6.15 am from Nigdi to Rohida fort trek. Target was to return by 2 pm. 5 of us gathered at Warje and started journey towards Rohida fort in a car. Fiat Punto it was.

Climate on that day was charming. We could see huge rush of sport bikes rush on the road. Some were couple and some were in a group enjoying rainy season ride on Pune Banglore highway. The scene on Katraj Bridge on bypass highway was astonishing. The great turn, vehicle was crusing at arounf 80 km/h, one side foggy climate on small hill and other side huge sump of water, freezing wind wind drops of rain. Ride itself was cherishing.

Scenic road to Rohida Fort

Climate

We stopped at around 8 on the highway near Kapurhol for break fat at small snack centre. All ordered special Misal Pav dish accompanied by cup of Tea. We took some snack here so that it can be consumed while tracking in case someone feels hungry.

One had to take right turn to Bhor from Kapurhol to reach Rohida. Once you reach Shivaji Maharaja’s statue in Bhor you have to take left turn pointing towards Rohida. Drive straight towards Bajarwadi village and you reach at the base of Rohida fort.

Driving Direction From Pune

Hide and sick game of rain was continuing on that day. And btw that’s a speciality of Pune rain. You can’t escape from it and you have to be prepared for the same.  Finally we reached at the base of Rohida fort at around 9.15 and parked car near one of the local school at the base of the Fort. We changed the cloths covered with jackets. Picked water bottles and snacks in 2 bags and started climbing.

Started Climbing to the Rohida Fort

The Rohida Fort

Just to ensure you have started on the right path from base, please check if there is water tank on the way at the base. If yes then you are on the correct route. Start walking and then rarely you will miss a route after that.

No chance to see how much we have to climb. Since the fort was completely covered with the dense fog. So we were having no option than keep walking until we reach at the top. As we keep walking wind speed and noise kept increasing. I have never ever experience so much of wind before on any fort. Sound of the wind was so threatening that someone may decide to climb down instead of climbing up. At some places you have to be standstill and wait for wind to stop then start climbing again. 100 kg person will be displaced if you are not prepared to be standstill while climbing. So be cautious. Cover your ears with cap / something so that it will be protected from wind pressure. Be prepared in this sense.

No Idea How much to Climb

Climb is straight but steep at some place. Though it’s easy trek it will make sure you are completely exhausted while reaching on the top. We were climbing and almost exhausted and still we were not in a position to know how much to climb more. It was complete foggy climate and raining too. To our surprise we heard whistling sound. As we continued we saw Killedar at the First door of the Fort. And we were happy to know finally we reached at the top of the fort. The aged person there was wearing Mavala dress looking to be true ancient Mavala still taking care of the Fort. He offered us water. He was keeping entry of visitors and their details. He was appointed by “Shivdurg Sanvrdhan”. It is organisation / group doing good job of rehabilitating fort and maintaining it. His first door was constructed and directed such that only one or two person can entre / come close to Darwaja at a time. This is beauty.

First Door of the Fort

Once you cross the first door which is still in very good condition and intact, you come across another two doors. You can some message carved in big stone near second door in Urdu and Marathi. I could not understand the meaning though. A big hinge of door in stone also can be seen and you can imagine how much safety precautions could have been taken during those days. As you move ahead you can see strong fortification still in very good condition. Seeing those civil work of ancient time, moment you just keep thinking how this would have been constructed. A real civil engineering can be observed in every details of the fortification. There are several Buruj on this fort constructed on all the directions. Those are also still intact and some are rebuild by Shivdurg Sanvrdhan. Some of the pictures below tell the details of this fort.

The map of the fort is also displayed at the start once you reach on the top so that anybody can easily come to know what all can be seen on this fort and where is what. Since it was too fogy we could barely see anything surrounding scene from the fort. We were completely in clouds. We travelled from the sides of the fort and visited every Buruj. Clicked some snaps. I am not sure why this fort is called Vichitragad but we experienced some odd things. That could be the reason why this is called Vichitragad. The odd thing is, if you visit one Buruj you can see heavy rains and you are completely wet. Once you move to other Buruj, heavy wind can be noticed. Once you reach third Buruj the nearby area is completely dry and no single drop of rain pours on you. It was strange experience and we concluded this could be the reason why it’s Vichitragad.

Message from Shivaji Maharaj

  

Grinder on the Fort

After seeing complete fort we reached near the Mahadev Mandir. It was rebuilt by same organisation. He opened the temple so that we could see it from inside. It was great and as feeling like cave. The caretaker there used to take visitor visit experience on this fort for his record and suggestions if any. Voluntarily you can donate some money for the good cause and he will give you a receipt for it. One more thing if you plan to stay on this fort, you can carry food material along with you and all the required utensils to cook the food are available there. You can use the same. Caretaker offered us tea and Pohe which we refused. We also mentioned that Reconstruction of Sadar is in progress and will be completed this year. There is small rope way to created on this fort to carry the constructing material on the top of the fort. 

Rope Way to carry construction material

History: The caretaker there explained us brief history about the fort that, fort was with Bandal during those and Shivaji Maharaj captured this fort an included this fort in Swarajya. Bajiprabhu Deshpande and Shivaji Maharaja's first meet was happened on this fort only and Maharaj asked Bajiprabhu to get engaged in Swarajya building. He explained him what is Swarajya and why you should be part of this. Later during "Purandarcha Tah" this fort was handed over to Mhughal which was recaptured by Shivaji Maharaja from Mughal. 

After gathering all the good memories about this fort we started descending at around 1.30 pm and reached at the base at 2.30 pm. It took us 1 hr to descend because while descending the climate was pretty clear and we could see the complete fort. So we took some snaps while descending which took more time. Some other groups were climbing when we were almost finished our trek.

We started our return Journey at 2.30 pm and reached home at around 4.30 pm. While returning we had good lunch at Dwaraka hotel on the way to Bhor.

Nearby places: We come know that Raireshwar is 25 km from here and vehicle can reach to maximum height if you don’t want to climb. We will plan this next time.

Mandhardewi (religious place) is also nearby

Bhorbhatghar Dam – This is on the way and can be seen from road. The entir Bhor and surrounding area of Bhor is scenic during Monsoon/ rainy season.

Keep travelling and Keep exploring... You always learn....