Fort : Sudhagad

Distance	53 km	Height	590 m / 2030 ft
Days	2 days	Difficulty	Simple
Base Village	Pachhapur-Thakurwadi / Dhondase
Shelter	Around 50 people can stay in Pant Sachiv Wada. Even Bhoraidevi temple is a good place to stay on the fort.

Overview

Sudhagad is one of the ancient forts in Sahyadri. It was the glory of Bhor state. Initially Sudhagad was called as 'Bhorapgad'. During empire of Shivaji Maharaj this fort was named as Sudhagad. It is called as replica of Raigad. Located in the vicinity of Pali and endowed with about 50 acres plateau atop, Sudhagad offers a wonderful and a easy trek. Sudhagad situated at the height of about 600 metres is well fortified by steep cliffs.Due to its qualities Sudhagad was actually proposed by Naro Mukund to Shivaji Maharaj to make it the capital of Hindavi Swaraj. Shivaji Maharaj visited it to survey it, but he chose Raigad because of its central location.
Sudhagad fort is situated in Sudhagad taluka, Dist - Raigad. The central place of Sudhagad taluka is Pali, well known for its Ganpati Mandir which is one of the eight Ganpati Mandirs popularly known as Ashtavinayak.
The ‘Thanale’ excavations in this area are nearly 2200 years old. This shows that Sudhagad may be that much ancient. The construction and the geographical significance indicate that some great rulers might have constructed the fort.
According to the Puranas, Sage ‘Bhrugu’ had stayed here and he had established the temple of Goddess ‘Bhorai’ on this fort.

Sudhagad was included in ‘Swarajya’ in 1648. It is described in old records as follows:
“Malavji Naik Karake put the ladders in Sakharadara. Initially, Jadhav and Saranayak both climbed the fort under the guidance of chieftain ‘Maloji Bhosale’. After that Haibatrao climbed the fort. 25 soldiers went ahead and killed the guards. Further the chief of the fort was killed in anguish and the fort was conquered.”

Shivaji Maharaj renamed Bhorapgad as Sudhagad. Later Sambhaji met Akbar (the rebellious son of Aurangjeb) in the ‘Pachchapur village’ situated at the base of this fort. Annaji Datto, Balaji Aavji Chitnis, his son Aavji Ballal and Hiroji Pharjand were all important persons in ‘Ashta-Pradhan Mandal’ of Shivaji Maharaj. Sambhaji has killed all of them in ‘Parli’ village near Sudhagad.

Places of Interest

There are lots of places to visit on and around Sudhagad. On Sudhagad one can enjoy the echo's at Echo Point, nearby there is a Takamak Tok, in ancient times it was used to punish the convicted person by pushing him from it into the valley, but in present times it offers us with a mesmerizing panoramic views. Pant sachiva Wada is the place where a night stay can be made, Bhorai devi's temple- where one can take the blessings of Bhor provinces kuldaivat and Mahadarwaja greeting you on the way to Sudhagad from Dhondse. It's said that Sudhagad's Mahadarwaja is an exact replica of Raigad's Mahadarwaja. There are many lakes and pond's atop Sudhagad. One can even include Tailbaila,Ghangad and Thanale caves in the trek.
The first fort has several ruins of two temples dedicated to Shiva. However, the temple of Bhoraidevi(its patron goddess) is well maintained temple. On the large plateua at the summit, there are two lakes, a house, a big granary, some tombs, a shrine (Vrindavan) and numerous other ruins, scattered around the fort area. There are three main gates the largest of which is called the Maha Darwaja. From the top, other forts like Sarasgad, Korigad, Dhangad, Taila-Baila are clearly visible.
The perimeter of this fort is quite big. There are many lakes on the fort. There is a palace of Pant Sachiv on the fort, where 50 people can stay comfortably. Also there is a temple of Bhorai Devi, where 25-30 persons can be accommodated. Different kind of medicinal plants and trees can be seen in the surrounding forest.

Bhoreshwar temple : There is temple of ‘Bhoreshwar’ near the palace. If we move further, we can see a well with a secret door. There are steps from palace to the ‘Bhorai Devi’ temple. If we descend towards the other route, it takes us to water cisterns, which hold good drinking water. The route on the left side of these cisterns takes us towards a secret door. But this route doesn’t exist now.
Pachchapur Darwaaja : If we enter to the hill through this door, we come across a plateau after climbing some distance. To the left is the temple of ‘Siddheshwar’, storehouses of food grains, some cisterns, a lake named “Hawaldar Tale” and “Hattimaal”.
On the right hand side we can see natural fortification of the fort.
Takmak Tok of Sudhagad : After leaving the palace come up with the steps and turn to right hand side of the route. This route goes through ‘Hatti Paga’ (place where elephants were tied).
It directly takes us to one peak. This peak is very similar to the cliff “Takmak Tok” on Raigad. From this peak Dhangad, Korigad, Tel-Baila can be seen very clearly. Similarly river ‘Amba’ and the villages surrounding it can be seen from this place.
Takmak Tok of Sudhagad : After leaving the palace come up with the steps and turn to right hand side of the route. This route goes through ‘Hatti Paga’ (place where elephants were tied).
It directly takes us to one peak. This peak is very similar to the cliff “Takmak Tok” on Raigad. From this peak Dhangad, Korigad, Tel-Baila can be seen very clearly. Similarly river ‘Amba’ and the villages surrounding it can be seen from this place.
Dindi Darwaaja : The way from Ghat of Sawashni takes us directly to Dindi Darwaaja. This door is exact replica of the ‘Mahadarwaaja’ (main entrance) on Raigad. The construction and arrangement of this door is of the type called “Gomukhi” (in shape of cow’s mouth). This door is well protected since it is hidden in between two huge bastions.

There is one secret path well on the fort at the backside of the palace.
It has one tunnel in it, but now it is dumped by mud. There is also a secret path to move down from fort in case of any difficulty. There are some tombs at the backside of the Bhorai Devi temple. We can find beautiful carvings on them.

History

The origin of this fort is said to date back to the 2nd century B.C the same age as the Thanale and Khadsamble caves nearby. It was then called Bhrorapgad (after its presiding deity, Bhoraidevi). In 1436, it was captured by the Bahamani Sultan. In 1657, the Marathas took over and renamed it "Sudhagad"(the sweet one). It was a large fort and Sudhagad was considered by Shivaji as the capital of his kingdom. He surveyed it, but instead chose Raigad because of its central location.
In the regime of the Peshwas, the ‘Pantsachivas’ of Bhor became the custodians of this fort. After the annexation of princely states in 1950 the fort became patron less. As a result, the fort is in a state of ruins, even though it escaped the wrath of the British.

How to Reach

Savashnicha Ghat : Come straight to Dhondase village from Pali village, which is at a distance of 12 km. It takes 3 hours to reach the fort from this place and the way is quite tiring. But it is straightforward; hence there are least chances to loose the way. We reach to Dindi Darwaaja by this way.
Nandand Ghat : Move to west from Akole village keeping Dhangad to the left. We reach Nandand Ghat within 45 minutes. Next to that there is Bavdhan village. Then move towards Pachchapur village to reach at Thakurwadi. From here we can reach the top within 2 hours.
From Pachchapur : The distance between Pali to Pachchapur is 12 km, whereas Pali to Thakurwadi is 13 km. You can walk from Pachchapur to Thakurwadi. From Thakurwadi, one has to ascend by a ladder. This route is not only slippery, but also exhaustive. It takes two hours to reach to the fort by this route. This way takes us directly to Pachchapur Darwaaja.

Food Facility

It's better to make food arrangement by yourself.

Drinking Water Facility

Water cisterns are available at the top.