Information on Korigad Fort (Pune, Maharashtra) - History & Architecture

Korigad Fort is a beautiful hilltop fortress found in the Shyadri Ranges right next to the Aamby valley city along with the Western Ghats. This is an ancient fort which is lesser know about its origin. This fort has a long standing history in the Maratha kingdom. This fortress is situated in the Tel Bailya village, Lonavla Town in Pune District of Maharashtra State in India.

Korigad Fort Architecture

Korigad Fort is well built over the Shyadri Hill Ranges. It is about 930 meters above from this main land ground. These are traditional built fort in the Indian architectural style. It has the impact of medieval era by its designs. There is no much large fortification found here. There can be seen only few existing wall bordering the cliff areas of this citadel mount. The most beauty part is the curved bastion. It is formed in circular walls, which is built on the side of this hilltop. A fine stretch of place is occupied on the hills with very good stair ways naturally carved on stones found here. There are also many stone made steps too. The building materials used here are the stone cut from this same regions, probably the area were the fort was built. It has used the limestone paste for bonding purpose. Its few part of this structure shows the links to free mason style of art works. These types of art works started in India in the medieval times only. It has got a very huge arched gateway along with stone carved steps. It looks very beautiful in its design. There is little open structure found here which may be the living room. It has got a very good fresh water pond on its hilltop; this would have served as drinking water source. There are many cave found here, these are filled with water in the rainy season and look so cool here. There are few temples built here in the Hindu style. One is the Kora Devi Temple, this is built in the Mother Nature god form to give respect and honor these hill ranges. There are also few Lord Shiva and the lord Vishnu temples build in the ancient style here. These temples have very good single stone sculptures, which show its highly skilled craftsmanship of the past days.

Korigad Fort History

Korigad Fort is also otherwise known as the Koraigad Bundar, Kumwarigad Killa and Koarigad Fort locally in this region from the medieval times. This fort is believed to be a 1500 years old. There are no record found in the Indian history of who built this fort and when and why questions are not known. It is an ancient for built here, which was under the control of the Maratha kingdom for many centuries. Few inscriptions and the temple built here shows that it was built by the followers of Hindu religion. The Maratha King Shivaji brought this fortress in his province. He was known to build the Maratha Empire in expanding stage. These forts were important to them to keep a vigil of the surrounding areas and look out for invaders. The British Colonel Prother attacked this fort after several failing attempts with the Maratha's and finally made it up with a simple cannon firing. Till independence it was under the British rule. After independence few renovation works were done for tourism purpose. But these areas are well covered for trekking purpose by private agencies. Now these lesser know forts are becoming famous through Social Medias.

Korigad Fort Tourism Importance

Korigad Fort is a very best place to visit to see this enigmatic ancient marvel. It has got picturesque scenic environment all around. It is a very pleasant place to visit in the monsoon seasons.