Forts and history

There are two forts that one can visit in the Sindhudurg region — one is called Fort Tiracol and the other is Sindhudurg fort itself. The latter is one of the few instances of Chhatrapati Shivaji building a sea fort from scratch, historian Kurush Dalal tells us, adding that in most other cases, he took over existing land forts and repaired them. “One of the great things about Shivaji is that he realised the menace possible from the sea and wanted to control the coast to minimise the threat from the Portuguese,” Dalal explains, highlighting how the fort also has a harbour in front of it, with a sea wall that once acted as added protection now lying under the sea. He adds, “The Sindhudurg fort used to be a residential fort until recently, built over a huge area of 48 acres. There’s a temple inside it with a silver-faced mask that, according to legend, is representative of what Shivaji actually looked like. But it’s not the lean, mean image that we usually see. Instead, it is a chubby face.”

Fort Tiracol is located on the border of Sindhudurg and Goa