TheFreeBird
Niraj can you recommend a fort which has something unique as compared to other sahyadri treks. Well how about a Arabian sea fort called Murud Janjira fort which was never conquered even after multiple attacks from Maratha, British & Portuguese. Janjira fort gets its name from Arabic word Jazeera meaning ‘island’. Murud Janjira has always belonged to the Siddhis who called it “Jazeera Mahroob Jazeera”. Though it was impossible for anyone to enter this fort for 500 years we can now reach here by boat in 20 minutes 😁. This Murud Janjira fort blog will be your trip guide to plan this day visit to Murud Janjira.
Murud Janjira Fort History?
The original inhabitants of the island were Koli community ( fisherman) who built wooden structures here to protect themselves from pirates. The then Nizam Shahi Sultanate of Ahmednagar saw this island to be of great strategic importance. Hence he send his general Piram Khan here who drugged the Kolis to take charge of this island. Murud Janjira construction was started by a general Malik Ambar. His subordinate Siddi Ambar took control of the fort and became widely known the first Nawab of Janjira state. Since then Murud Janjira has remained the strong hold of Siddhis. It has successfully stopped its enemies including Maratha , Dutch & British largely because of the superior fort structure with 500+ cannons across all buruj / bastions & 3 big cannons with very long range which we will see later in the blog
Things to see at Murud Janjira ?
- Things to see at Murud Janjira fort:
- 3 huge long range cannons – among top 3 biggest in India
- Forts wall & buruj / bastion are in proper conditions. Each of this 20+ buruj have 3-5 cannons
- View of Kasa fort / Padmadurg – sea fort to the North west of Janjira
- Two fresh water lakes in middle of the salty sea
- Remains of 4 storey darbar
- Highest Flag point of the fort & the nearby palatial remains
- Darya Darwaja- The door on the exact opposite of the main entrance
- Additionally there are remains of many buildings, temple , masjid
- Things to see near Murud Janjira Fort:
- The sail boat experience to reach the fort
- Sunset from the Rajpuri beach / Murud beach
- Water supply of Murud – Garambi Dam & Garambi waterfall
- Ahmedganj palace- The 19th century Nawab palace just before Murud from Alibag side
How long is the Murud Janjira trek?
Niraj, how much time does it take to see the complete Janjira fort. There is no trekking needed to reach the fort. A boat will drop you at the entrance. The boats have a schedule where in they pick you up after 45 minutes. So you get to see the important points quickly before returning. However fort lovers should have atleast 2 hours to see the complete fort for a fulfilling experience. What I did was I informed my boat person to not wait for me as I will be late & I explored the fort for 2 hours and then at the boat pick up place requested another boat person to take me back. This guy shouted a lot then finally agreed after we gave him some extra money.
Murud Janjira Difficulty ?
Niraj, how difficult is Murud Janjira for beginners? There is nothing difficult at this fort. Only part some may find difficult is getting down from the boat at the fort esp. elders. But there are many people to help.
What is the best time for Murud Janjira fort?
The best time for Murud Janjira is Oct to March when the climate is soothing & the water is calm. In monsoon the boat service is stopped due to larger waves.
Food & Stay at Murud Janjira ?
There is absolutely nothing at the fort. You can get plenty of food options at Rajpuri jetty. Since you are near the sea you will get plenty of fresh fish options. Infact you can even buy fresh catch at Murud which has a fishing community. For fresh fish a hotel on Murud beach called “Patil Khanaval” is very famous. I was already eating fish since 2 days prior to reaching Murud and when I actually reached Murud beach that night I decided to eat something light 😁. For staying I prefer hotels in Murud
How to reach Murud Janjira from Mumbai & Pune?
Where is Janjira located? Janjira is located near the Rajpuri village in Raigad Maharashtra. It is 5kms from Murud, 40kms from Roha, 50kms from Alibag, 150 kms from Mumbai & 160 kms from Pune. Murud has plenty of state transport bus connectivity from all the places. In case of Murud vehicles are not available , Roha & Alibag can be selected for cut journey both of which have ample connectivity.
Nearest Railway Station is Roha
For private vehicles just add Rajpuri and enjoy the coastal roads to reach here. For Mumbai folks taking your vehicle in a ferry/ RoRo to Mandwa jetty can save 110 kms of car driving & about 2-3 hours of travel time (~1000rs per car)
Boats for Murud Janjira:
Once you have reached Murud there are two options to reach Janjira fort
- Rajpuri Jetty (is 5kms from Murud) This has been the shorter & the original way to reach the fort. It takes about 80 Rs per person & 20 minutes to reach the fort. One advantage is that they have sail boats here i.e. wind powered boats meaning no noise & you can enjoy the sound of waves
- Khora Jetty (is 3kms from Murud)This is newer option which we reach first on the way to Rajpuri. It has steamers which take larger crowds at one go. Since the distance to the fort is longer they take about 120 Rs.
Both these options are available from morning 10 am to 430 pm with more rides scheduled on holidays. On holidays like Diwali this place is extremely crowded and even after waiting for a ticket in a 2 hour queue you might return empty handed. Plan accordingly
Murud Janjira Fort Map
The most common question that i get asked is I want to travel a lot but I dont have leaves. Should I quit my job ? I have always suggested to not quit your job unless you have another source of income. In search of this source of income I tried freelancing , trek leading, vlogging and I realised nothing works in the long term. After trying many different thinkgs finally I came across trading
Trading for getting freedom & income is perfect for a person with traveller mindset. You can trade from anywhere around the world be it some off the grid village in Himachal or Meghalaya, be it some island in Andaman. All you need is an internet connection and a trading account. You can earn by trading for 1-2 hrs a day and would have freedom to do anything in the free time.Or you might have just earned enough in a day to take the month off travelling around the world. If you are able to learn this then it has potential to make all your dreams come true. I would suggest you take it up as a side project for 6 months to see if you have patience & intellect to master it.
Murud Janjira Fort: TheFreeBird’s story
I have been trekking a lot in 2023 to offbeat places. With the growing summer heat it becomes difficult to trek longer distances hence I was searching for some easy place where my friends wont have to walk much. Murud Janjira fort is one such unique sea fort where many families come for a fun filled day. We took our car all the way to Rajpuri jetty & booked our seats on a sail boat.
We decided over the steamer boat at Khora jetty since I have always loved the sound of waves. The traditional boating way is simple & a real joy to experience. More than anything a boat moving silently using the wind to navigate is really interesting. The entrance of the fort remains hidden untill the very last moment. As the waves keep on dodging the boat in every possible direction getting down from the boat got me excited as whenever I tried to get down the boat would rise up due to waves. The entrance is a very formidable one and it shows the effects of strong winds & waves which has but naturally eroded the walls at the bottom.
Elephants & Sharabha carvings
This entrance has carvings of Elephants & Sharabha. Sharabha – a mythological creature which is part lion part beast is shown attacking 6 elephants. A kind of reference to what used to happen here. As legend has it if the approaching boat did not have these symbols they were attacked by spears.
Once we enter the fort we decided to explore Janjira counter clockwise. The walls & bastion are in the best condition in the fort. The internals of the forts are largely structural ruins. Our main intention was to go at the extreme end of the fort to visit Darya Darwaja – the other entry to the fort. Just at the beginning we encounter the famous cannons. Janjira used to have 500+ cannons during its hey days . Cut to present day there are about 100 present on the fort. The limelight is stolen by the 3 huge cannons – Kalaal Baangadi , Chavri & Landa Kasam.
Kalaal Baangadi is a 22 ton cannon which is the third largest cannon in India. Legend has it that these 3 are the main reason why no one was able to capture Janjira. Kalaal Baangadi has such long range that it even destroyed a Buruj on the neighboring Padmadurg / Kasa fort. It was also used to destroy the causeway built by Sambhaji Maharaj in his attempt to capture Janjira.
Ruins of a past glory
The walls & buruj are in extremely good conditions while I cannot say the same for the forts internal structure. Baring a few large structures most of the smaller buildings are in shambles. Tell me this ruined structure doesnt have a face ?? Eye of the photographer
The 2 fresh water lakes on the fort in the middle of a salty sea just blows my mind. Thinking about this ingenuity beings centuries old is even remarkable. We continued to walk to reach the highest point on the fort. There is also remnants of a palace at top. The 360 degree view that we get from here would have quite helpful to keep an eye on the enemy. Being afternoon we didnt wait here for long, getting down to reach Darya Darwaja.
Darya Darwaja is a much better option for boats to anchor than the main entrance . There are stairs to reach the sea on both side of the platform. Since we were already late than the 45 minutes allowed by the boat person we continued to move ahead to complete our anti-clockwise tour of the fort. On reaching every bastion we could see atleast 3-5 cannons which would have been nightmare for an enemy boat.
By now I had seen atleast 80 cannons. But the 3 huge ones at the start definitely stole the show. Though it was extremely hot outside these windows where cannons are placed had the most soothing wind blowing through it. We sat in these windows for quite some time. but still didn’t feel like leaving. No wonder the occupants were not ready to lose such a beautiful place & fought with all their might.
We continued our exploration to reach the masjid near the entrance signaling the end of our round trip. The second fresh water lake – Chirekeni Talav is not maintained properly being covered in green algae
We took the first possible boat. The boat guy scolded us for missing our designated boat. I dont know we just missed the return boat scheduled after 45 minutes by 2 hours 😁. He threatened us to call a separate private boat which would cost Rs 2000, but finally allowed to share his boat for Rs 100.
Having reached the shore we visited the neighboring beach to enjoy the sunset. We even got to play beach cricket with locals. The beach session was totally therapeutic
We went Murud beach for dinner & staying the night. ( Hotels in Murud). Next day we visited Kulaba fort in Alibag. Will write about it some time soon.
Bye !
That’s it for the Murud Janjira blog.
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I've written blogs covering numerous Sahyadri treks, all accessible in the section below. Additionally, I create ambient Sahyadri videos on YouTube, featuring solely natural sounds such as birdsong, wind rustling through the trees, and the soothing patter of rain—the elements of nature that I hold dear.
SAHYADRI TREKS NEAR
