Overview:
| Type: | Hill Fort |
| Location: | 18 km from Malvan, in Sindhudurg district, of Maharashtra. |
| District: | Sindhudurg |
This fort is on the northern bank of Gad River or Kalaval creek and spread over an area of 1.5 acres and covered with dense vegetation.
Pant Bawadekar and Ramchandra Pant Amatya built ancient fort Bhagwantgad. This giant fort has seen many wars and still is standing firm. This reflects the great and strong architecture as well as engineering of that era. In 1880, British Commander Immelock captured this fort. This fort is in Masure village near Bharatgad fort. It stands by Kalaval creek in Malvan Taluka of Sindhudurg district. The total area captured by fort is 1.5 acres.
History:
This fort helps to check the activities of Sawants of Sawantwadi. The Bawadekar had built this fort immediately after the Sawant’s had built fort Bharatgad in the village Masure on the southern bank of Kalaval creek. This fort was under the control of Chhatrapati of Kolhapur. However, in few years this fort was under the control of sawants of Sawantwadi.
In 1748 Tulaji Angre, the son of Kanhoji Angre tried to capture the fort but, was unsuccessful due to strong resistance from the fort commandant for 18 months. On 29 March 1818, the 4th rifles of East India Company under the leadership of Captain Gray and Pierson captured this fort. After the garrison noticed that the British troops had crossed the creek, they abandoned the fort.
Places to Visit on Fort:
Most of the parts of this Bhagwantgad fort are in ruins. There is a newly built temple on this fort. You can see bastions and strong walls. The view from the fort’s top is amazing as it shows Arabian ocean at one side and Masure village on other.
Lord Siddheshwar’s Temple on the fort is the only remaining architecture. The shapeless stone inside this temple is the idol of Lord Siddheshwar. There is a holy basil plant planted in a special masonry structure of 4 feet (1.22 meters) height in the temple premises. As the fort hardly witnesses visits of tourists / trekkers, there is a dense vegetation cover all over the fort. Due of this, the remnants on the fort can hardly be seen. One can take a bird’s eye view of Bharatgad and Kalaval creek. On the way to Bharatgad from Malvan, an ancient Rameshwar Temple near Angnewadi village can also be visited.
How to reach:
The nearest town is Malvan which is 526 km from Mumbai. The base village of the fort is Masure. The Bharatgad and Bhadwantgad forts can be visited in a single day. Small boats are available from the village Kavawadi or Kawamasure to cross the Kalaval creek.
State transport, private cars and 2 wheelers can be taken to reach this fort. Also auto rikshwas will take you to the fort from Masure village. There is a school in the village and behind this school, there is a route for fort. This route is fully covered with bushes. It requires a 20 minutes’ walk from the school to reach the fort. The fort is not much large and tall so it is easy to get there.
Pune to Masure: 375 km
Mumbai to Masure: 517.8 km
Best time to visit:
You can visit Bhagwantgad Fort at any season.
