Journalism of Courage
The Korigad fort is a rare example of a fort that has managed to retain its glorious heritage in spite of being a hotspot for visitors
There are stories of the mistreatment of monuments and those of monuments that have managed to wade through history successfully. The story of the Korigad fort falls into neither category. In spite of having a lot of visitors at the fort around the year and having had its fair share of mistreatment,Korigad as a fort has surprisingly managed to hold its own. This is visible in the remarkably good shape of the fort ramparts,the main door and the temple in its premises. That however does not negate the fact that work needs to be done to maintain the fort and to ensure that permanent caretakers are present.
The fort has temples dedicated to the patron goddess of the fort,Koraidevi,along with temples dedicated to lord Vishnu and Shiva. The entire two kilometre wall of the fort is still intact,a remarkable achievement,given the state of other forts. Speaking more about Korigad,Arun Shinde,a restoration architect who specialises in restoring historic monuments,says,Most of the forts in this area have been built in the same style and also using the same materials. What has gone against the other forts is that they have been mistreated to such an extent by the locals and tourists alike,that restoration work on them has been hampered severely.
However,the repairs that were carried on here at Korigad were done easily because most of the fort ramparts are still in place. In such cases,all that needs to be done is to cement the cracks that appear in the walls,and re-stack the broken rubble and cement them. Also the lime jaggery and sawdust mixture,that has been used to cement the walls at Korigad were of a superior quality,since black clay was used as a binder, explains Shinde.
Walking down the periphery of the fort,one cannot however help but marvel at its engineering, which is reflected in the hydraulic and civil engineering of those times. All of these have ensured that this piece of history has not been lost to the sands of time.
