Friday 28 November 2014

VASAI FORT, MUMBAI

  Our visit to Vasai Fort, Mumbai - 28th November, 2014




Even though I had stayed in Mumbai for more than 40 years, I never got an opportunity to visit Vasai Fort. Hence I decided to visit this fort during this trip Mumbai.  Self accompanied by my uncle (Sangam Iyerex-World Bank from the US) visited this fort today in the morning.  As planned we both met in Malad Station and took a train to Vasai Road. We reached Vasai Road by around 9.45 am. Then we decided to go by a bus to this fort. However, we changed our mind and went by a auto and Rs.100/- one way.

Vasai Fort was constructed by the Portuguese in the 15th century and most of the locals here are East Indians. This fort was ruled over by many rulers such as the Portuguese, the Marathas (Chimmaji Appa  - 1707–1741) was the son of Balaji Vishwanath Bhat   and the younger brother of   Bajirao Peshwa  of  Maratha Empire.   He was an able  military commander              who liberated the western coast of India  from Portuguese  rule. The crowning glory of his career was the capture of  Vasai Fort   from the Portuguese (who had technically advanced weapons and artillery at their disposal) in a hard fought battle.and finally the British and in the course of time Bassein became a flourishing shipbuilding centre and the famous Bassein stone was very much in demand.

Despite the fort is so old and in the condition of ageing, there are many remains, which are still livens the wonderful architecture of the olden days.  Some structures looked like  Portuguese churchs, reminded me of the tall and beautiful churches in Old Goa. In fact, the entire place reminded me of Goa.

The doors of the church were massive and the roof was very high. Next door to the church there was a huge funnel shaped tower and right next to it there were rooms around a storey tall with beautiful carvings on the pillars and arches. These are some of the best ruins I have seen till date. Everything about this place was beautiful, I am trying to imagine how they must have built this place. A picture, they say, is worth a thousand words. But pictures alone could not do justice to the beauty of the architecture.

There are many broken down structures around the church. These structures are in a bad state.  
Finally we reached the main entrance to the fort. It had two  doors through which one could enter the fort. Through these two entrances one can easily get into the sea too.

The walls of the fort are in very good condition. It was nice to observe that these walls had survived five centuries. At this end of the fort, there were many broken-down ships, trawlers and anchors which were ageing peacefully.

Architecture excellence  can be seen from the attached photos.