Fort No More

“Who knows about the history. Once in a while someone comes from either Mumbai or Pune to write and take pictures of the fort,that is it. There is nothing much to see here,” says Baban Padwal,a local farmer,from the base village of Vaduste. An interesting concept that the 12 households in the village have employed is that they offer their services as being guides for trekkers whenever they come. Making around Rs 1,000-1,500 a month,villagers like Padwal say that it helps them get by in the lean months when the rice crop doesn’t do very well. “I have been climbing the fort ever since I was a kid. Back then,one could clearly see the outline of the fort walls. Both the caves in the fort had cold water all round the year and there was also a pindh of Lord Shankar that we used to go up to worship ever fortnight. Now,there is nothing. Just one of the caves,the God Manjar Guha,has water; the other one,the Rajgad Guha is now bone dry,” says Balu Morwadkar,another localite.

Village folklore and local stories have trickled down generations and state that the Pandavas had stayed at the fort. Incidentally,even the children here volunteer to go up the fort as guides for the said price of Rs 100. Lined up a very narrow path that goes up the steep terrain of the fort are shrubs known as karav . Explaining their importance,Padwal says,“The road up the fort is very steep,and climbing down can be dangerous as the red sand on the fort doesn’t provide an easy gripping surface. The karav plants that line the path along most of the terrain function as a hand rail and allow people to come down the north and the eastern faces of the fort easily.”

The story of Kailashgad,as tragic as it is,is also one of hope and giving. Through its two caves and broken stone walls and narrow cow paths,the fort continues to give,if nothing else,a thin chance to the locals to make some money off it.