Murud-Janjira
Fort is situated on an oval-shaped rock off the Arabian Sea coast near the port
town of Murud, 165 km Mumbai.
Janjira is considered one of the strongest marine forts in India. The fort is
approached by sailboats from Rajapuri jetty.
The main
gate of the fort faces Rajapuri on the shore and can be seen only when one is
about 40 feet away from it. It has a
small postern gate towards the open sea for escape.
The fort
has 26 rounded bastions, still intact. There are many cannons of native and
European make rusting on the bastions. Now in ruins, the fort in its heyday was
a full-fledged living fort with all the necessary facilities, e.g., palaces,
quarters for officers, mosque, two small 60-foot-deep natural fresh water lakes, etc.On the outer wall flanking the
main gate, there is a sculpture depicting a tiger-like beast clasping elephants
in its claws.
The
palace of the Nawabs of Janjira at Murud is still in good shape.
A
special attraction of this fort are 3 gigantic cannons named Kalalbangdi,
Chavri and Landa Kasam. These cannons were said to be feared for their shooting
range.Another gate to the west is sea-facing, called 'Darya Darwaza'.
There is
also another fortress, named Ghosalgad, which is located on top of the hill
around 32 km east of Murud-Janjira, that was used as outpost
for the rulers of Janjira.
Origins of the name
The word
Janjira is not native to India, and may have originated after the Arabic word Jazeera,
which means an island. Murud was once known in Marathi as Habsan
("of Habshi" or
Abyssinian). The name of the fort is a concatenation of the Konkani and Arabic
words for Island, "morod" and "jazeera". The word
"morod" is peculiar to Konkani and is absent in Marathi.
