Murud-Janjira Fort

En un regard

Le château en bref

Set on a rocky islet at the mouth of Rajapuri Creek, opposite the small town of Murud, Janjira Fort is one of the most impressive sea fortresses on the Konkan coast. Its name derives from the Arabic word *jazira*, ‘island’. For more than three centuries it was the stronghold of the Siddis, a dynasty of Abyssinian origin in the service of the sultanates of Ahmednagar and then Bijapur, who later became the nawabs of the princely state of Janjira. Neither the repeated assaults of Shivaji, nor the siege led by Sambhaji in 1682, nor the Portuguese or British fleets managed to take it. Its oval walls of basalt and laterite rise directly from the sea to a height of some fifteen metres and are punctuated by rounded bastions that still carry Indian and European cannon, among them the famous Kalal Bangdi, Chavri and Landa Kasam. The main gate, facing Rajapuri, only becomes visible as the boat approaches; a postern, the Darya Darwaja, opens towards the open sea. Inside, the ruins of the palace, a mosque and two freshwater tanks remain.