acknowledgements

The information contained in this report is as of December 2003. This

is the first stage report for the project titled "Study of Forts within
the MMR''.

Acknowledgements Photographs courtesy

This report was result of the contributions of several persons, especially Chandrakant Tare, Teacher -Primary Section, Raja Shivaji Vidhyalay,
the locals who helped us during the study. We wish to acknowledge Ghodbunder for images of Ghodbunder Fort and Brinda Gaitonde.
the technical inputs from professionals such as Mr. B. V. Kulkarni,
Archaeologist, Directorate of State Archaeology and Professor B.
Project Team
Arunachalam, Former Head of Department of Geography, Mumbai
Aishwarya Tipnis
University for his inputs on the geographical development of Mumbai.
Harshada Patgaonkar
Cdr Mohan Narayan, Curator, Maritime History Society, and Captain
Kinnari Gandhi
Baveja, Principal, INS Chanakya, for general help. Mr. V. N. Patkar, from
the MMRDA, we acknowledge for the many times we went to him for Design & Layout
maps and satellite imagery records, many of which were unannounced Asavari Honavar, Studio Ananya, Mumbai
and we hope not unwelcome. The Department of Geography and
Project Co-ordinator
particularly Dr. Prasad Gogate are deeply acknowledged for providing
us with the Survey of India maps and other geographical information. Brinda Gaitonde
As mentioned in the beginning, the contribution of local people was Conservation Consultant
perhaps the most crucial as some of the forts were difficult to access Abha Narain Lambah
or had sporadic information. We particularly wish to acknowledge Mr.
Chandrakant Tare, Mr.Jaywant Vaity, Mr. Keshav Gharat, Corporator and Prepared by
Mr. Dhanegave, Assistant Town Planner, Mira-Bhayander Corporation Academy of Architecture
for the section on Ghodbunder Fort and Mr. Ravi Kapote, Shakha 278, Shankar Ghanekar Marg
Pramukh for help at Durgadi. The study would not have been possible Prabhadevi, Mumbai 400 025 India
without the support of Mr. Pradip Amberkar, Principal, Academy of Supported by
Architecture and Professor Arvind Adarkar for taking us through the MMR Heritage Conservation Society
teething stages.
 ntroduct o n

Map showing forts in India

"cl(; Ullllllr),J ll9itffo.ttt a pacSt

fza& tile emptillecs& cf a harrell wntinenl;
and a city witffout old buildhl/yS i& lilu a ,nan t0itffout a 111enwr;J"

.. -- Graeme Sfla11lda11d

,j\ ,,,fumbai Metropolitan Region with its historical variety.comprising
I Y Lof Asokan relics in Sopara to Colonial Architecture in the Fort, is
truly blessed with the amazing menagerie of monuments. In addition
to these, this region extending from Virar in the North to Alibag in the
South to Karjat at the east, also boasts of at least 25 forts, several of
which date to the 121h to 16'h century. Caught between a time warp of
functional redundancy and contemporary urban pressures of
development, several of these gradually face extinction. These vestiges
are a crucial section of Mumbai's history between an ancient historical
settlement and the relatively modern Colonial past. They serve as
testaments to the colonial zeal of the Portuguese or English and the
territorial forays of the Siddis and the Marathas.
Falling at a strategic location along the western sea front of India,
the area in and around Mumbai was always fiercely defended. The
numerous forts, crowding every important creek or mouth of rivers,
with a strong fort. The area extending from Surat to Bassein was
Mughal, Bassein and surrounding including Thana was under the
Portuguese dominion, Bombay island with the English, Khanderi with
Marathas and nearby Underi with Siddis. The coastline from Kulaba
up to Chaul was Maratha territory, Chaul and Revdanda was
Portuguese, Janjira with the Siddis, Janjira to Goa under the Maratha
occupation and Goa was under Portuguese dominion in the 17'h
century.
These forts were flashpoints of several power struggles and doubled
to form trading ports. Such was the influence of the need for defence
that even houses and religious structures were provided with
defensive outworks and every promontory capped with a fortified
outpost. The impregnable western Sahyadri hill range also provided
an excellent look out point and was heavily fortified along important
trade routes. Hence a concentration of hill forts and coastal forts is
observed along the western region.

L_
are evidence of the importance of the Mumbai harbour. In fact the
entire Konkan coastline was divided into zones and every zone manned

s t u d y 0 f f o r t s