Sinhagad Fort: Where Tigers Have Been Spotted


Set on a mountain top surrounded by wilderness sits the Tiger Fort, one of a chain of fortifications that the Marata armies captured. The Government of India placed warning signs to beware of big cats, including tigers and leopards. The word for leopard directly translates to "Spotted Tiger" so I can confidentiality say that tigers have been spotted near this fort! (Too much of a dad joke?)

The complete opposite of Janjeera in many ways, except the availably of fresh water. Sinhagad was a huge sprawling fortification, on the top of a mountain. It was captured by Shivaji and the Marata army and became a key fortification in a chain of forts overseeing the valleys below. Over the years, many of the walls, fortifications and cannons have been lost, unlike Janjeera. But true to any good fortification, both forts had ample supplies of fresh water. Sinhagad had spaces for elephant bathing and watering, horse watering as well as a clear spring that is safe to human consumption to this day (no, I did not try it out, but I was tempted!)


I thought about this a lot: plentiful water on the top of the mountain. I'm not a geologist, so I can only guess that there is an aquafer trapped within of the volcanic basalt layers that form the mountain. That would explain why this mountain was chosen for a fortification, and not other surrounding peaks.


That said, I suspect there is more infrastructure lost in the wilderness. The fortification is large and difficult to climb, even imposing by car. To get supplies into the preserved area, the locals still use pack donkeys. There must have been storehouses and other infrastructure in the valley below that supported the fort, collecting supplies and intelligence for use above. I wonder if those structures were simply claimed by nearby villages or if they are overgrown in the jungle, guarded by tigers and snakes? 

For the record, there is a mongoose colony in the fort, so while they are voracious predators, they are best known for hunting cobras. There are likely cobras in addition to big cats in the area! Thankfully the population is kept in check.

Lastly, wisdom from the ruins of the fort: you many choose any path, but still might not know the way.




Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Day Zero, Oregon to Palshi

Image
 It's a different type of Palshi Cruise. There might not be boats, but it will end in Palshi, and so I think that counts. We have managed to deal with Serriff bringing a knife to the TSA security check once again (completely unintentional each time, but it's feeling like a tradition!) and deal with a lost passport, not going to say who lost it, only that we all have ours now. To be clear, if someone had lost a passport, the rest of us would still go. Thankfully we didn't need to vote anyone off the island. Yet. After getting through security, we got breakfast at Jamba Juice and topped it off with Tillamook ice cream. The twins got waffles from Jamba (who knew?) and made unhealthy but tasty ice cream sandwiches. We are now spending our time enjoying the calming music and soothing color changing recessed lights.  In a couple hours, we will lift off on KLM / Delta and head across the continent, across the Atlantic and head to our transfer to Amsterdam.  And one other note: J...
Read more

New Delhi Day 2 Time for REAL tourism

Image
We spent the day with three individuals who have defined modern India. These three men were Mahatma Gandhi, Shah Jahan and Emperor Ashoka, the Great. Mahatma Gandhi lived in the mid 20th century, and was instrumental in India's independence from British rule. Most people know Shah Jahan for the exquisite white marble tomb he built for his wife Mumtaz Mahal. He was a great military ruler and city planner, building many castles and edifices to worship God and literally defined the layout of many major Indian cities today. The last and possibly the most influential lived thousands of years ago, and preached tolerance, peace and acceptance. One of the symbols of a united India is the seal of four lions sitting back to back to back, which was created by Ashoka the Great the the 3rd century b.c.e.  We started the day off visiting a beautiful red sandstone mosque built in the mid 1600s by Shah Jahan. I wish we had time to explore the Shah's other famous red sandstone structure in Delh...
Read more

From OC to Disney and Back; Day One : A New Beginning :)

Image
After today, everything will be better. The day started bright and early (Sarah and Kat insist it was too early) and the first hours of the morning were quiet. Dad and I enjoyed an amazing swim with the swimsuits that we'd packed. When we returned home, we made sure those swimsuits went into the dryer, to dry of so that we could pack them later. Then came time to awaken any sleeping Sarahs to get up for the day.             Once everyone was awake, and someone, like Dad, had done their repacking, we loaded everything we could think of into the car. We had a carry-on for each member of the family and then some. We then happily drove to Clackamas Town Center, to park the car and catch the Green Line MAX Train to Gateway Transit Center. While in the white walled, Primary Color-Plated carriage, we came upon an epiphany. We had left the check bag in the living room. (Cue the dramatic music!) The check bag that had all of our Snorkel Masks, the...
Read more