हिंदीOn this day
Standing

Sindhudurg Sea Fort

Shivaji’s sea fort on the rock island of Kurte off Malvan, built to check the Siddis, the Portuguese and the English. Inside is the only temple where Shivaji himself is worshipped.

Built: 1664–1667, Chhatrapati ShivajiWhere: MaharashtraDeity: Shivrajeshwar (temple of Shivaji)16.04° N, 73.46° E
  1. 25 November 1664
  2. 1667
  3. c. 1695
Photo: Sanjaybhagwat · CC BY-SA 4.0

01A navy for Swaraj

Shivaji saw that whoever held the sea held the Konkan’s trade, and that the Siddis of Janjira could not be beaten from land. He began a navy and a chain of sea forts. The foundation of Sindhudurg was laid on 25 November 1664, and some three years of work, with molten lead poured into the foundations, raised a wall of about 3 km with more than forty bastions, its gate hidden between bastions so that it cannot be seen from the sea. A slab inside carries the impressions of his hand and foot, set in lime.

02Shivrajeshwar

Chhatrapati Rajaram built a temple inside the fort with a murti of Shivaji, called Shivrajeshwar, and it is still in daily worship. A few families still live within the walls. The Maratha navy that grew from these forts later fought the English and Portuguese under Kanhoji Angre in the 18th century. Shivaji also strengthened the older sea fort of Vijaydurg and repaired Suvarnadurg on the same coast, and Sindhudurg stood at the southern end of that chain.

The life of this place

  1. 25 November 1664Shivaji lays the foundation of the sea fort.
  2. 1667The fort is completed.
  3. c. 1695Rajaram builds the Shivrajeshwar temple inside.
Visiting

Boats run from Malvan jetty in the fair season (roughly October to May); the sea is closed to them in the monsoon.

People

Chhatrapati Shivaji MaharajRuler
1630–1680 CE; crowned 1674

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

Founder of Hindavi Swarajya, crowned Chhatrapati

Nearby

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