Tikona

        We could see the fort from below through the trees but we had lost our way in the jungle! It seemed as if we had chosen a wrong path. We were waiting for Sarang, one of the leaders of our group, to give a green signal when he shouted, ‘Hey guys! It’s a wrong way. We have to go back’.

         We came on a plain area then, where we were directly facing a side of the fort. We had actually decided to climb through a pass which was on an edge of the pyramidal fort. But at one point, we were really puzzled as we weren’t able to find the exact path. We could see the pass but we were finding it difficult to go there. ‘There’s a land slide’ said Ojas, a member of the leaders of our group.

Tikona seen from Kashig village

          When Sarang went to find another route to make it out, we were waiting for him eating Karvanda from the plants nearby. Imagine 70 of us waiting on a small plain on a sunny day. We were expecting the rain to fall but we couldn’t see a single sign of it. While we were bored, sitting on the plains, Satish Marathe, the group leader, was looking at us through the pass, confused, about where we went wrong.

Waiting for further instructions

          He waved at us in desperation. Now we knew the route but where was Sarang? It was just the moment when Satish asked my younger brother and me to run and ask the participants to wait in the pass when he went searching for Sarang. We ran very fast as we had no idea about how many people have gone ahead as it could have led to losing the path again. We were quite exhausted when we reached the pass.

          In about next 5-10 minutes, Satish, Ojas and Sarang came with the last few participants and without wasting time, we started climbing the pyramidal fort, Tikona.

On the way

Oh still so much to climb..

While climbing up the fort

           Tikona which is also known as Vitandgad is a fort in the region of Maval in the Western India. It is about 60 kms away from Pune located near the village of Kamshet. The fort got its name because of its triangular or rather pyramidal shape as mentioned which is about 3500 feet high. The fort is famous for its big gates, water tanks, temple of Trimbakeshwar Mahadev and Satvahana Caves.

History of Tikona:

            Very little is known about this fort and its origin. Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah I of the Nizam Shahi dynasty conquered the fort in 1585 and annexed it to Nizam territory. In 1657, Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj brought thwe whole of Kokan which had been under Nizam territory, under his control. He conquered Tikona at the same time along with other forts like Karnala, Lohagad, Visapur, etc. The fort was a centre of control of entire Pawana Maval region. Later, the fort was surrendered to a Moghal warrior, Kubadkhan, who attacked the region with Halal Khan and others according to the treaty of Purandar signed on 12 June 1665. 

                The fort was comparatively small, so we could have been on the top of the fort in just one and a half hour from Kashig village. It was sunny, we all were tired climbing up. It took more than one and a half hour to go up. 

Temple with the well in front

Chunyacha ghana

         On the way, we came across a gate named as Vetal Darwaja, a cave through which we have to pass, followed by a temple with a well in front of it. Here we filled up our water bottle as the water was potable. Next was an idol of Lord Hanuman carved on a rock which is coloured with vermillion and a Chunyacha Ghana (limestone grinder). After that is a well-built staircase of small width which made it difficult to climb. But it was a great fun climbing up the stairs.

Stairs

Stairs of the bastion

           On the top was a huge bastion just in front of the gate. There were some stairs going up on the top of the bastion which seemed to be destroyed. There was a temple and some caves beneath it. Then, Satish Marathe as well as Sarang gave us some information about the surrounding area of the fort. As the sky was very much clear, we could easily see nearby forts and places like Lohagad, Visapur, Tung, Pawana dam, Duke’s Nose peak, Torna and Sinhagad except Korigad which was behind the misty clouds. After enjoying the scenic beauty of nature, clicking some photographs of it, we sat and had our lunch. Everybody had brought their own tiffin and we all were busy enjoying and sharing our packed lunch. There was variety in the food including various kinds of parathas, puris, bread items, rice items in it. It was more than welcome as we were very hungry by then.
  

Group photo on the top

         After spending some time on the top, some of us went near the caves with water tanks in it to fill up the bottles. Yes, it was too hot and the sun was beating our skin. We all were feeling thirsty again and again. We were expecting rain which for some reason did not show its face on that day. The top of the fort have very few trees. Isn’t it the responsibility of the people staying there or the visitors to plant some trees which are dense enough to give the shadow? We did our part by planting some Jamun and Mango seeds this time too. I know that not all but some of them will definitely grow up into big trees some day.

           We started climbing down after having the lunch, this time by a new route, towards Tikona-peth and to our surprise; we climbed down the fort in just 45 minutes or maybe one hour. It was exact 2:30 p.m. when we were in the parking spot of the village.

           When everybody came down, we sat into the bus who were waiting there since morning. The place where we had our tea seemed to be an ideal place for one day picnic spot. The hotel had an approach to the Hadshi lake which was almost dried up with some water. We had our snacks and tea and started with our return journey.

       We made our return journey memorable by singing and dancing merrily on the music played on the music system. We reached Pune at about 5:30 p.m. and actually were surprised to arrive so early in the city.

         We enjoyed the trek and I am eager to visit the fort again.


Photo credits:

Satish Marathe 
Shantanu Kanade