Monday, March 01, 2010

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.

5 comments:

Padmashree Rao said...

Hello Mr. Jayaram, This is Padmashree Rao from Shree Girijatmaj Tours n Treks. We are tour operators from Maharashtra.Found your article on Narnala Fort very interesting. Please do visit for any related queries on www.girijatmajtours.org. My blogsite www.travelinginmaharashtra.blogspot.com and www.kokantourplanners.blogspot.com.

Unknown said...

Let people know that this fort is virgin.
Visit the spot and will have pleasure of lifetime.

Ramjee said...

Lovely posting! Nice pics! TFS :)

Ramjee said...

Is is not the lake which has special powers to cure dog bites. It is the tomb of Burhanudin near by that is considered so. This lake is said to be the place where Kamadenu descended to give milk to shiv ling(under water).

Unknown said...

Shakkar talav (lake) collects water from surrounding of fort and there are so many medicinal shrubs surrounding the fort if we say scientifically there is collection of water which is collection of mineral so trible peoples drink.