Rajmachi Fort is famous for trekking. The beautiful place is has exotic natural locations as well as it is a historic
site. Rajmachi can be reached via the town of Lonavla
. Rajmachi fort is nearby 20 Kms from Lonavala but
a nice way to reach the fort is from Tungarli Lake. This trek is very good for the beginners.Rajmachi consists of two beautiful peaks namely 'Shrivardhan' and 'Manaranjan'. Rajmachi
is very famous fort near twin hill stations in Maharashtra - Lonavala and
Khandala .Shrivardhan
and Manaranjan can also be considered as two separate forts. There is one small platue in between them. A temple of 'Bhairoba'
is very beautiful. Shrivardhan is 'Bale killa' of Rajmachi. It is almost 3000 feet high. But it was mainly built to keep watch
on Konkan area. The other - Manaranjan is 2700 feet high. Manaranjan consists of strong walls, 3 doors and many water tanks.
. The old caves of 'Kondhavi' on Rajmachi fort are worth to see. The way to fort is long but truly with a good view.
One can enjoy a nice forest, Tungarli lake and many waterfalls as well. Truly, Rajmachi is one of the good places to
visit around Pune.Mumbai The trekkers enjoy the way to fort.
On the way to Rajmachi |
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Rajmachi Fort :- On way to Mumbai from Pune, you come across the Rajmachi point,
where there is a garden. This place is known as Rajmachi point because opposite this is the historic Rajmachi Fort. Rajmachi
Fort can be approach only on foot. It is surrounded by deep valleys on three sides and a thick forest on one side. There are
three ways to reach there (1) Lonavala through Tungarli village and Dam. There is a small right turn here which is to be avoided
and take a left turn to reach the fort. (2) On the railway route, get down at thakurwadi station, cross a place called
Palas Dari and reach Rajmachi (3) from Karjat town one can straight away reach Rajmachi. This fort is very old, it probably
belongs to yadav period because there are two small fort attached to it viz. (a) Shrivardhan (b) Manoranjan . Yadava's
use to name their forts in this manner, the ancient Buddhist caves show that these forts are ancient. Rajmachi fort is 10
kms away from Lonavala and one can travel through thick forests and Deep valleys on the way.
Lonawala View From Rajmachi Fort |
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Shrivardhan The fort east of Rajmachi is known as Shrivardhan fort. Between Shrivardhan and Manoranjan, there
is an old temple of Shri
Bhairavnath. There are
watchmen posts at the entrance of the Shrivardhan fort. The entrance is semicircular in shape so that it is not easy to locate.
A little further there is cave belonging to Buddha period. Remaining part of construction is however in Maratha style. This
can be made out from Ganesha on the door. There are two huge water tanks on this fort. Both have water all year round. One
of them is near the caves and the other one near the fort. At one end there are residences of the people staying on the fort
and on the other end for the guards. Lohagad, Visapur, Tungi, Korigad, Nagfani etc. Can be seen from here.
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