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HERITAGE: SHIVAJI'S FORTS
The Crumbling Past
The Maratha ruler's mighty bastions which have withstood
invasions from sea and land are today turning into virtual monuments to
official apathy
By Sandeep Unnithan
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SINDHUDURG'S SHAME: The ramparts
now lie in ruins and attract few visitors
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The cacophony of
crows greets the few visitors who take the boat ride to Kurte, an island
off the Konkan coast. A solitary signboard embedded in concrete tersely
informs you that Sindhudurg fort, which straddles the island, is a protected
monument.
The signboard is ironic because the ground reality
is that the fort-built over three centuries ago by Shivaji to protect
Malvan port from a seaborne invasion-is today in dire need of protection.
The sea has begun blasting through its 10-m high battlements, threatening
the survival of this fort which is a monument to the 17th century Maratha
king's farsightedness.
The Maharashtra Government seems to think Shivaji's
legacy can be preserved with a few cost-effective steps. So 600 km north
of Sindhudurg in Mumbai, the Congress-NCP regime recently renamed the
Prince of Wales Museum, built in 1923, after Chhatrapati Shivaji. It is
the fourth major landmark in the city to be named after the Maratha king.
In the past four years, besides an important road, the international and
domestic airports, and the city's largest rail terminus have had the warrior
king's name appended to them. On February 19 this year, Chief Minister
Vilasrao Deshmukh unveiled a life-sized statue of Shivaji-in Agra. Of
course, historians would say the coalition is only trying to catch up
with the Shiv Sena which started the renaming game when it came to power
in 1995. "Shivaji's memory is best preserved," says a bitter
Mukund Naravane, author of several books on Maratha forts, "by looking
after his real legacy of forts rather than paying lip service by renaming
structures that had nothing to do with him,''
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RAIGAD'S REVIVAL: The former capital of Shivaji is the only
fort getting a facelift.
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Today, the 200-odd citadels that Shivaji built
during his guerrilla campaigns lie in ruins all over Maharashtra. These
were constructed over 35 years, including six when he was king (1674-80).
Most are yet to recover from a deliberate policy of the British in the
19th century to wreck fortifications to prevent their use as centres of
resistance by Indians.
At Sindhudurg, renamed Fort Augustus by the British
after its capture, cannons lie rusting. The premises are overrun by a
mini jungle. Among the various temples in the precincts of this fort that
has a perimeter of 3.5 km is a one-of-its-kind Shivaji temple. It houses
the only image of the Chhatrapati without a beard. But more importantly,
the fort also preserves impressions of the warrior king's hand and foot
in mortar.
Modern rulers have left more jarring imprints
there. Sindhudurg has two important leaders today-Union Power Minister
and Sena MP Suresh Prabhu and Opposition leader and former chief minister
Narayan Rane of the Sena. Prabhu's only contribution so far has been a
toilet block near the jetty. The latest initiative is a cheap plastic
tank painted a garish pink that sticks out incongruously from a corner.
Inaugurated by Deshmukh in February last year, local officials joke that
the ceremony cost more than the water tank itself.
A helipad at Sindhudurg is former chief minister
Manohar Joshi's contribution. Standing on a crumbling battlement, fisherman
Balkumar Joshi shows some recent additions to the fort, evidence that
its significance has not escaped Mumbai's politicians who are jostling
to claim Shivaji's legacy.
Manohar Joshi swooped down here at the start
of his four-year tenure in 1995, promising an expectant audience that
he would usher in Shivshahi. "But the fort remained as it was,''
says Balkumar. A saffron flag flutters atop the fort, a reminder that
a few years ago the Sena had used the issue of raising a saffron flag
on the fort to rake in the votes.
Further north, Padmadurg, another of Shivaji's
forts, lies in a similar state of dilapidation. The fort-thus named because
the citadel resembled an open lotus-is a remarkable feat of engineering.
Maratha ships sailed 2 km out into the sea some three centuries ago, carrying
hundreds of tonnes of stone blocks that make up this sea fortress. The
fort is almost inaccessible today, which suits its current inhabitants-crows
and pigeons-perfectly
Five years ago, the Sena-BJP government set
up a committee headed by the then cultural affairs minister Pramod Navalkar
to examine the state of 27 important forts in Maharashtra-expected of
a party that swears by Shivaji's name and even houses its headquarters
in central Mumbai in a mock fort. The committee, which submitted its findings
in 1996, estimated it would take over Rs 500 crore to maintain and repair
these forts. The project was to have been piloted and initiated by the
state with the Centre chipping in, but was quietly shelved for want of
funds.
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