Arnala Fort - The Fort along the Shores of an Island

There are many forts in Maharashtra, but not a lot in Mumbai. Though Bandra & Mahim fort can be counted as forts, but these forts are not that significant for obvious reasons. Bandra fort being crowded anytime of the season and the condition of Mahim fort is very poor. In addition to that, these forts cannot be called as places for trekking or hiking.

But one fort which caught my eye was the Arnala fort. First reason was that it was a sea fort which is located on an island. Secondly the fort looked enormous and massive and looked in good condition. Before going to the Arnala fort, I had done a solo to Bassein fort, which was in a very sorry state. But when I searched for Arnala fort It looked as if it was very well maintained. As it was nearby & easy we decided to hike this fort.

Arnala fort – It is built on an island of Arnala, which is located In Virar. Me & one of my office colleague were going to hike this fort. But it so happened that while discussing the plan, other colleagues also heard us & even they got interested. So now a group of 5 people were going to trek the Arnala fort. So we planned our itinerary and decided that we will go for this trek on Sunday early morning.

So as decided Abhishek boarded 5.30 train from Bandra for Virar and Nitin boarded the same from Andheri. Prashant had already reached Borivali station & was waiting for me. The worrisome factor was me, whether I was going to reach on time to borivali or not & as a matter of fact, it was true. I reached borivali station just one minute before the train arrived. As it so happened, I realized later that I had not taken a ticket. We reached Virar at 6.30, where we met Viraj.

This fort is easily accessible. One has to reach Virar station & take a bus for Arnala. So we took a bus from Virar station. Frequency for bus being good, we did not had to wait for a long time. Must say that the view in the morning was very refreshing and cool. We were actually surprised to see thick layer of fog in the open fields, which was a fascinating sight for all of us as we rarely get to see. From Virar station to Arnala beach it took us hardly 20-25mins. It’s around 8 kms from Virar station. We got down at the stop of Arnala Beach, where the road was already very crowded as because it was the Arnala Market. Kolis selling fishes was one common sight everywhere. As we did not know where we heading, we asked one koli Mavshi (as they are fondly called). She gave us the proper directions and we started heading in that direction.

It’s a 10 minute walk towards the beach. Once we reached the beach, we came to know that there is only one ferry boat that goes to Arnala Island & comes back. While we were waiting for the boat to arrive we observed that whole beach is a mess. Waste lying around and the water is too bad to even step in it. Such was the condition of the beach.

Our boat arrived & we quickly got in to it. There was not anything to be worried about as it was going to be just 5 mins of journey towards the island. So there was no fear of feeling sick due to water. As we came near to the island we saw that the it has been inhabited by the people. Now we got down on the Arnala Island and took a look. This shore was comparatively clean. We again asked for the directions from some locals & they guided us. We had to make our way from the village. Though it looked like a typical village, the homes that are built look modern, which was a bit surprising. We even saw that many people had not removed the Gudi Flag (garlanded with flowers, mango and neem leaves, topped with upturned silver or copper vessel on account of the festival of Gudi Padwa). While walking through the narrow pathway, we finally reached Arnala fort. The entrance to Arnala fort is very huge and still looks very strong with very beautiful carvings of elephant & tiger on either side. However the sad part is that lots of idiots have scribbled their names on the walls. What satisfaction does this kind of people get in proclaiming their love by scribbling on these historical structures? Don’t they realize that they are actually ruining these places? As this not only happens in Maharashtra, but all over India it is a very sorry thing to see that there are people in our generation who are actually doing everything to preserve these places while others are making it worse.

We entered the fort from the back as the main door is closed. Upon entering the fort we climbed to the top through the steps. Upon climbing we observed that fort is in rectangular shaped & is very well connected. The sun started beating down even though it was 8 am. We were not even aware about it. The enthusiasm was so that we climbed to the spot where Maratha Flag was furling vigorously. We started clicking pictures. Climbing to that spot was very easy, but that was not an appropriate thing to do. A misjudgment while clicking pictures and we could have actually fallen down. So not taking any more risks we came down quickly & started moving ahead.

We didn’t had to get down as the fort was very well connected internally from the top. While walking along the way, we noticed that there are secret doors along the walls of bastions. There are some windows which could have been used to keep a watch on the enemy. But now these same give a good view of sea to click pictures.

Here came the worst part. The portion which consists of the bastion had passages which must have been a secret path that could have been used for the soldiers to get out of the fort. They had been littered by the visitors. Plastic bottles, eatables, beer cans, wrappers and what not have been thrown by the people visiting this place and have blocked the path. This was observed at every part of the bastion, though was relieved to see that not all the passages were not blocked. But in the future if this doesn’t stop then conditions could become worse. Luckily we got one passage where it was not that bad & so we crawled inside. It was pitch dark that even our cell phone torches were proving to be insufficient to lighten the place. That’s when we realized that why do soldiers use to carry torches of fire (Mashals) as it used to illuminate the whole place. But that did not stopped us from going inside. So we kept on moving ahead. We had come so ahead that at one point we thought we must have lost ourselves. Just then we saw a door & when we went through that door, we were exiting the fort. Such was the architecture of the fort.

So we came back the path we went and started circumventing the fort. We stopped on a spot for breakfast. Viraj had bought toast sandwich for us which were more than enough for us. During that time we were discussing the history of this fort and the present situation of the fort. It was great to hear the opinions of everyone. After we finished our breakfast we started again. Clicking pictures and exploring the fort we observed that the area outside the fort was very clean. There were a broken quarters inside the fort.

From a distance we saw that there was something like a watchtower which must have been built for keeping an eye on the enemy & to warn the people Just outside this Shiva temple there is this unique Octagonal water well which has steps leading down the well and on the periphery of the well wall there was this Ganapati Idol at the fort. There happened to be places of 2 different cultures with a Shrine and a Temple in the Fort complex. One being the shrine of Hazratshah Alishah Baba & other bring the Lord Shiva temple. Both of them happened to be very well maintained.

After completing the exploration of fort we started moving out. While moving out we saw that there was a wooden stand like structure made outside the entrance of the fort which was for drying fishes. The occupation of drying fish is very common here. We started walking back again from the same narrow path that we had come & reached there in no time. Within 5 mins, our ferry boat arrived. We thought that the boat might come towards the shore. But it wasn’t to be. As soon as the boat came near, all the locals started running & the boat stopped right there. That was a cue for us that if we don’t run now we will have to wait another half hour for the ferry to come back as there were a lot of people who had to go the other side of the sea. And so we had to go in to the boat with knee length level of water. We reached the shore and started going towards the bus stop, which luckily arrived in no time and we reached Virar station. Upon reaching Virar station. We did not waste any time & quickly boarded the train. Getting in the Virar train was very easy but it was like leaving a fight while getting down from the same train at Borivali. We were already tired and to face this struggle of train proved to be more frustrating. But it was worth it.

The Early morning at Virar, Foggy weather, Boat rides, exploring the Arnala fort was very much an awesome hike. Sincere request to people visiting to this place is that they can actually avoid scribbling walls or dumping anything not only in Arnala but anywhere.

Though the trek is very easy it tests our endurance & fitness in the scorching heat. But the sense of pride we get to feel & to relive the moments while exploring the fort and the history that we get to learn is too great. Sad part being that people need to realize that Arnala fort is a heritage structure and not a dumping ground or a picnic spot.

On that Note:

झनझविला भगव्याच्या समान तुम्ही,
जागविले मरगळलेले मर्द मावळे तुम्ही,
घडविले श्रीं चे स्वराज्य तुम्ही,
ऐसे श्रीमंत योगी अखंड महाराष्ट्राचे कुलदैवत,
श्री राजा शिवछञपती तुम्ही… !!