It has withstood the test of time. It has survived severe lashings from the sea, the sun and the rain. It has survived the attacks of marauding Maratha warriors, English ships and Portuguese schooners. For more than three hundred years, it has stood in mute silence as witness to the troubled past of India. It is the island fort of Janjira, a story I promised in my blog post Nothing but the sea and the sand.

The fort was built in the 17^th century by the Sultans of Ahmednagar, on an island about 2 kms from the coast of a village called Murud. The name Janjira could have been derived from the Arabic word Jazira meaning island.Shivaji, I am told, tried 13 times to take the fort but did not succeed. His son Sambhaji also came a cropper. The Peshwas made several attempts but failed. The Portuguese and the British tried their might but could not conquer the fort.

The fort was supposed to have had several cannons striking terror in the hearts of anyone approaching the fort with malafide intentions. Like the famous guns of Navarone, these cannons too had built quite a reputation. It might have needed several Mallorys and Andreas to topple these cannons. Three of them can still be seen on the fort. The guns have fallen silent but standing next to one, it is very easy to imagine the power they would have wielded.

A wonder of Nature can be seen inside the fort. Two fresh water springs, two kms in to the sea amidst such saline water, still yield plenty of sweet water to the thirsty and /or curious tourist.

A word about the sail boats by which one can reach the island. It is a delight to watch the boatmen maneuver the sails to catch the same draft of wind to sail to the island and back.