Tuesday, June 15, 2010

KARNALA FORT BOMBAY--THE FUTURE GENERATIONS OF INDIA AND THE WORLD WILL NOT FORGIVE ;IF THE FORTS OF INDIA ARE NOT MAINTAINED BY PRESENT RULERS




Karnala fort(also called Funnel Hill[1]) is a hill fort in Raigad district about 10 km from Panvel city. Currently it is a protected place lying within the Karnala Bird Sanctuary

Its exact date of formation is not known but likely it predates 1400 CE as under the Devagiri Yadavs(1248- 1318) and under theTughlaq rulers(1318-1347), Karnala was the capital of the north Konkan districts of their respective empires. It later fell under the command of the Gujarat Sultanate but in 1540 was taken over by Nizam Shah of Ahmednagar. The Gujarat sultans then requested the help of the Dom Francisco de Menenzes the commanding officer of the Portuguese at Bassien(modern day Vasai) to win it back. He ordered 500 of his solidiers to Karnala fort and they were able to capture it. The fort was left in charge of the Gujarat Sultanate but with Portuguese garrisons.
The loss of Karnala enraged the Nizam Shah and he took back the fort and the surrounding countryside by sending 5,000 of his men. The Gujarat sultans fled to Vasai in panic and gave up any claims of the fort to the Portuguese. In the subsequent battle between the Nizam Shah and the Portuguese, the latter were victorious in repulsing further attacks of the Nizam Shahi army and the fort remained with the Portuguese. However the Portuguese Viceroy determined that the forts of Sangli and Karnala were of little value to them and decided to give them to the Nizam Shah for an annual payment of Rs. 17,500(or 5,000 gold pardoas) to further their friendship 
Shivaji conquered it from the Portuguese in 1670 by building breastworks as he advanced After his death in 1680 it was taken over by Aurangzeb. After this the Mughals occupied it for some time after which it in 1740 with the rise of the Peshwas of Pune it went to them. It remained under the command of killedar(garrison commander) Anantrao until a colonel Prother won the fort and established the rule of the British East India Company there in 1818.

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 VALLEY VIEW  FROM FORT


ENTRY GATE TO KARNALA FORT BOMBAY

KARNALA FORT WALLS






FORT ARNALA -SEA FORT -NEAR VIRAR-BOMBAY


Arnala Fort is built on a small island of the port town of Arnala, located around 8 miles north of Vasai, Maharastra, India . Being an island fort, it is also called Jaldurg or Janjire-Arnala. The Portuguese, who owned this fort ,rebuilt and gave it the name Ilha das vacas.

History

In 1516, a local chieftain in Gujarat, Sultan Mahmud Begda originally constructed the fort on the island, strategically located at the mouth of the Vaitarna river. In the 1530s, the Portuguese had established their operations in the coastal area headquartered at Fort Bassein and soon gained control of the island. The Portuguese captain of Bassein donated the island to a Portuguese nobleman who tore down the old fort and began construction of 700x700 foot fort. Though fort was never completed by the nobleman, it remained under Portuguese control for 2 centuries, who used it to control shipping and navigation along the northern Konkan coast.
During the late 1600s and early 1700s, after a long struggle with the Mughal Empire, the Maratha Confederacy came to dominate present day Maharastra. In 1737 the then Peshwa Baji Rao I sent his brother, Chimaji Appa, to take the Bassein Fort from the Portuguese. After winning the Battle of Vasai, his general, Shankarji Pant, persuaded Chimaji to launch an assault on Fort Arnala, for its strategic importance to the Maratha navy in assaulting Portuguese interests. Their first assault, coordinated with a Maratha naval force commanded by Manaji Agre, was routed by a superior Portuguese naval force. A second assault on the fort on March 28, 1737, caught the Portuguese by surprise and forced them to abandon the fort. The victory was commemorated by a plaque installed on the northern wall of the fort and is still visible today. Marathas then rebuilt the fort, constructing three bastions Bahirav, Bhavani and Bava.
The Marathas controlled the fort until 1817 when, during the third British-Maratha war, despite successfully defending the fort, they were forced to surrender the fort to the British due to their superior naval power. The Arnala and Bassien forts were returned to the Marathas by the British in the treaty of Salabai, but the forts again changed hands under the treaty of Pune. Today the fort is in a state of disrepair
ARNALA ISLAND AND FORT NORTH BOMBAY