Sindkhed Raja (Wada and Fort)

Base: Sindkhed Raja (Buldhana district)
Route: Rohinkhed - Buldhana - Chikhli - Deulgaon Raja - Sindkhed Raja (100 kms).

Places to see: Wada of Raja Lakhuji Jadhav (Jijabai's father) , Kala Killa , Samadhi of Lakhuji Jadhav and Someshwar Temple

Sindkhed Raja is famous for the birth place of Jijabai (Shivaji Maharaj's mother). This was the place where Raja Lakhuji Jadhav (Jijabai's father) ruled and lived. The place has a lot of places to see.

1. The Jadhav Wada This wada is located inside the city of Sindkhed Raja and is the birthplace of Shivaji Maharaj's mother Jijabai. One has to pay 2Rs to get a ticket to visit the Wada (a govt initiative). The wada contains big bastions and a beautiful entrance door. Inside there are many artifacts , statues, carvings. Also there are underground rooms in the wada where people used to stay.

Entrance to the wada of Raja Lakhuji Jadhav

Old artifacts and cannon kept inside the wada

The underground rooms in the wada, these were built to keep away the heat in the region. The underground rooms are very cool and keep away most of the heat in all seasons


The birthplace of Jijabai (Shivaji Maharaj's mother) in the wada

The darbaari hall inside the wada where proceedings used to take place

2. The Kala Kot or the Kala Killa (Black Fort)

This fort was built by the Jadhav's but not constructed fully. Only the bastions and outer walls are present , nothing inside.

The walls and bastions of the Kala kot

3. Samadhi of Raja Lakhuji Jadhav

Raja Lakhuji Jadhav was killed by treason by the Nizam at Devgiri fort in Aurangabad with 2 of his sons. There is a samadhi built in his memory in Sindkhed Raja. The samadhi is a nice structure of old times.

4. Someshwar Temple

This is an old temple supposed to have been built by Raja Lakhuji Jadhav on his mother's wishes. This is a Shiv temple with a Shiv Linga for worship.

The shiv linga inside the Someshwar Temple at Sindkhed Raja

This was the last place in our trek. The trek finally ended here after which we took a bus back to Pune.

Rohinkhed Fort

Fort: Rohinkhed Fort
Base: Rohinkhed (Buldhana district)
Type: Land fort
Route: Malkapur-Motala-Rohinkhed (50 kms)

The fort at Rohinkhed is a land fort and a small fort at that. It has only one surviving mosque which was built in older times and one bastion of the fort.

History: Rohinkhed fort supposedly built by Khudavand Khan Madhavi a follower of Jamalkhan in 1582, also the mosque inside was built by the same person.

The sole surviving bastion giving an indication of the Rohinkhed fort

The mosque inside the Rohinkhed fort

From Rohinkhed we proceeded to the last fort of our trek in Sindkhed Raja.

Malkapur fort

Fort: Malkapur
Fort Base: Malkapur (Buldhana district)

The next fort we went to see was Malkapur which is located within Malkapur city. This place is also known as Baradaari and nothing much exists except dilapidated entrance doors and some inner bastions. Many people now live inside the fort in small shabby houses. This fort had 12 entrances and was a big fort during Mughal times

History of the fort: The fort is believed to be built during the 12th Century. No idea of who built this fort. 

It was also ruled by the Mughals for a long time post their entry in India. 

One of the entrance doors of Malkapur Fort

Surviving walls and bastion of the fort

From Malkapur we went to the Rohinkhed fort about 50 odd kms from Malkapur.

Mailgad fort

Fort: Mailgad or Maelgad
Type: Hill fort
Grade: Medium
Base: Raipur (district Buldhana - taluka Jamora(Jalgaon)

Mailgad or Maelgad is a hill fort located in Buldhana district near Jamora taluka. The route is Malkapur-Nandura-Assalgaon-Vadgaon-Raipur (65kms).

This fort is a hill fort and no recorded history exists of this fort. One has to climb for about 30-40 mins to get to the top. On top there exists an intact bastion , lots of (single pillar) water tanks and a devi temple.

The fort from the base village Raipur

Surviving bastion on top of the fort

Single pillar water tank on top of the fort


Devi idol in Devi temple on top of fort - the idol faces the east direction

From this fort we came back to Malkapur to visit the Malkapur fort.

Khamgaon Fort (Shivaji Ves)

Fort: Khamgaon (Shivaji Ves)
Base : Khamgaon

After Balapur we moved onto Khamgaon about 25kms from Balapur. We now entered Buldhana district at Khamgaon. At Khamgaon there was earlier a fort but now all that exists is a single door of the fort known as Shivaji Ves and a small wada near it.

The door (shivaji ves) of Khamgaon Fort

No recorded history of this door or fort exists anywhere. From here we moved on to Malkapur for the day's stay. We covered 5 forts today (4 in Akola and 1 in Buldhana district)

Balapur Fort

Fort: Balapur
Type: Land fort
Base: Balapur (Akola District)
Grade: Easy

The next fort after Akola was Balapur fort. Balapur is on the route to Khamgaon from Akola city on the NH6. The route is Akola-Balapur around 50kms.

History of the fort : The construction was completed in 1757 by Ismail Nawab Khan of Ellichpur(Achalpur) . Balapur was an important military station during the Mughal period. A chhatri or pavilion was built here by Mirza Raje Jaisingh the general of Aurangzeb during the rule of Aurangzeb.

The Balapur fort from the entrance to Balapur

The fort has double walls for protection and most of the doors and bastions are intact even now. It houses the Zilla Parishad offices inside the fort and a primary school in the fort.

The main entrance door of Balapur Fort


A huge bastion (inner level)
Carvings on one of the doors of the fort


The inside of the fort

From Balapur we went on to Khamgaon (Buldhana district) to goto Khamgaon Fort.

Akola (Asadgad) Fort

Fort: Akola (Asadgad) Fort
Type: Land fort
Base: Akola city
Grade: Easy

The next destination of ours was the fort of Akola in Akola city. A distance of about 70 odd kms from the last fort at Vari , the route we took was Vari - Hivarkhed - Akot - Akola.

The fort at Akola is also known as Asadgad. This fort was primarily fortified during the rule of Aurangzeb by Asad Khan in 1697.Hence the name Asadgad. This fort was dismantled and destroyed by the British during 1870

Not many things remain from the fort , only one of the entrance doors, one broken bastion with windows and 2-3 small bastions remain. The fort and its surrounding areas are in neglect now.

One of the entrance doors of Akola (Asadgad) fort

One of the surviving bastions on the fort


One of the other bastions of the fort


Beautiful carvings on the windows of one bastion on the fort

After seeing Akola fort we started for Balapur fort the next in the list. We had lunch in between and refreshed ourselves.

Bhairavgad(Vari) Fort

Fort: Bhairavgad (Vari)
Type: Land Fort
Base: Vari (Akola District)
Grade: Easy

The next fort after Narnala in Akola dist was Bhairavgad (Vari). The route we took was Narnala - Shahnur - Akot - Hivarkhed - Vari (60kms).

This fort is a land fort and very small on top of a small hill in the village of Vari. The fort has no recorded history , except that the Village Vari has some history in the times of Rashtrakuta Kings during the existance of the Pandavas.

The only structures on the fort remaining are the entrance door and a bastion , both of which are in bad shape today. A Shiv temple is being constructed inside the fort now.

The fort as seen from the base village

The entrance door of the fort

The expanse of the fort and the Shiv Temple being constructed on top

From Vari our next destination was Akola fort inside Akola city.

Narnala Fort

Fort: Narnala
Type: Hill fort
Height: 3000 ft (above MSL)
Grade : Easy (motorable road upto top)

Narnala is one of the huge forts in Akola district covering an area of 362 hectares and consists of 3 forts fused together namely Narnala, Jafarabad and Teliagarh. The fort has 360 watchtowers , 6 large gates and 20 small gates. A motorable road leads to the top of the fort giving access easily.

Route is Akot - Popatkhed - Shahnur - Narnala (30 kms) , our route was Dharni - Dhakna - Selu Phata - Khatkali - Popatkhed - Shahnur - Narnala (90 kms).

The Narnala fort from the base

Place where elephants were kept on top of Narnala Fort


Rani Mahal or Queen's place on top of Narnala Fort


Mosque on top of Narnala Fort - nice architecture



The naugazi tof (9m - 27 feet cannon) on top of the fort


This cannon is about 27 feet in length and was commissioned by Aurangzeb during the Mughal rule on this fort. This canon is said to be built by Abu Beg one of the Mughal slaves. The cannon had a range of 20kms and had one more big gun near it known as Kadak Bijli , the gun has now fallen down into the valley. There is an inscription on the canon(pic below) which says

"God is almighty,Emperor Aurangzeb Alamgir commissioned this cannon to establish his rule over Deccan"


Shakar Talav (lake) on top of Narnala (info below the pic)

This is a special lake which has powers which can cure the wound from a dog bite. The water of the lake and the mud has some unique powers.

One of the guardhouses on the fort (below)

History of the fort (from Wikipedia and other sources)

The fort was believed to be built during the reign of the Pandavas in 1400CE. Ahmad Shah Wali fortified this fort from 1422 CE to 1436 CE during construction of the Gawilgad fort.

In 1487 CE Narnala along with Gawilgad came under the rule of Fatehullah Imad Ul Malik the founder of the Imadi Shah dynasty.

In 1572 the fort was captured by the Ahmadnagar King Murtaza Nizam Shah and subsequently in 1587 it was captured by Akbar's officers Saiyid Yusuf Khan Mashhad and Shaikh Abul Fazl, from the officer. In 1701 the Marathas captured this fort under the guidance of Parsoji Bhosale and was at last captured by the British in 1803 CE, in between 16th and 17th Century the fort was also held by the Mughals who had control over the Deccan at that time.

Aamner Fort

Fort: Aamner
Type: Land fort
Base: Dharni or Bhokarbardi (Amravati district)
Grade: Easy

The fort of Aamner is the last fort we had to cover in Amravati district. This fort is located at the confluence of 2 rivers , Tapi and one another(I don't remember the name). There is no specific recorded history of the fort. The fort is a mud fort and some of its bastions and walls are still intact.

The route we took was Chikhaldhara-Semadoh-Dharni-Dhulghat-Aamner Fort (about ~80 kms). In between we had nice snack of Rabri at Semadoh at a small dhaba type hotel. The rabri is indeed recommended if anyone goes that side. All these places are located on the route to Burhanpur (MP) from Amravati.

To get to the fort one has to cross the river (not much water in dry months).

The fort of Aamner from the base

One of the intact bastions of Aamner Fort now cracked.

The expanse of the fort

The river and the fort, you need to cross a small part to gain access to the fort

This was our last fort for day 1 and Amravati district. We set base in Dharni about 20 kms from this fort for the day and had to cover 4 forts the next day in Akola district. To cross into Akola district we had to goto Akot from here which involved crossing the Melghat jungle (famous for the Melghat tiger project) and the gates are closed by forest department from 6pm to 6am daily so we had to wait until the next day hence we stopped at a guest-house in Dharni and started early morning next day at 5am for the forts in Akola district.

Gawilgad Fort

Fort: Gawilgad or Gawilghur
Type: Hill fort
Base : Chikhaldhara (Amravati district)
Height : 2950 feet (above MSL)
Grade : Easy

The fort of Gawilgad is about 2 kms from Chikhaldhara a hillstation in Amravati district. It is located about 50 odd kms from Achalpur. This was the 2nd fort in our Vidharbh trek. Gawilgad is supposed to be build by the Gonds who dominated this region in the 12th century AD. It was a mud fort before and then was strenghtened by the Mughals when they captured this fort later and retained it. Gawilgad was also briefly under the rule of Marathas for sometime before the British took over it.

The fort is a huge structure with lots of remnants, entrance doors to it still intact. It would take around 4-5 hrs to see all the parts of the fort fully as the area is large.

Main entrance of Gawilgad Fort

The huge expanse of the fort

Some ruins of structures inside the fort
Gawilgad front view of the fort

History (from Wikipedia)

The fort has several inscriptions in Persian recording the date of building of each of its seven gates. It has two water tanks(Devtalav and Khantalav) which would have been the main water source in case the fort was besieged. Within the fort is the ruins of a mosque are the most conspicuous. It stands on at the highest point in the inner fort and is built in the Pathan style of architecture. The mosque has a square canopy with intricate stone lattice work and a seven arched façade. The mosque originally had two minarets, only one of which is intact today

There are several unrepaired breaches made by British guns, which remain to this day.

Achalpur Fort

We had done a 12 fort trek in 3 days in the districts of Amravati , Akola and Buldhana from 26-28 Feb 2010 so the information about the forts will be added now in sequence. We started with the fort of Achalpur in Amravati district. Fort: Achalpur Type: Land Fort Base: Achalpur village (Amravati District - Maharashtra)
Grade: Easy

Route : Amravati - Velgaon - Achalpur (~50 kms )

We started from Pune on 25th Feb for the Vidharbh trek and reached Amravati the next day 26th Feb. We had hired a sumo to take us through all these places of the trek. The first fort on the circuit was Achalpur Fort.

It took about 1 hour to get to Achalpur from Amravati via Paratwada. We missed some turns and sometime later we were near the gates of the Achalpur fort. Achalpur also known as Ellichpur (by the British) was an important place and was located in the then Berar district (now Amravati). The fort is a land fort and most of it is gone to the modern civilization but some entrance doors, bastions and walls are still intact.

The gates of Achalpur Fort

Inside the fort now there is a city
The intact walls and bastions of Achalpur Fort

History : Achalpur was ruled by the Muslim Delhi Sultanate from 1294 and that is when the fort must have been constructed. From Achalpur we started for Gawilgad fort near Chikhaldhara and about 50 kms approx from Achalpur.