It was late in the night. Abu with his tired and sleepy eyes looked at the woman lying next to him. Her dark and beautiful body, barely covered with a coarse cloth, sweat beads trickling down her neck sparked a desire once again in him. He remembered how she fought when picked up roughly from the highlands of Bale mountains in Abyssinia (
Ethiopia). She had cursed him in
Bussa a local language. Grabbing her he had dragged her to the near by bushes and had her.
The boat had started rocking alarmingly.There was a big bang from the upper deck. Abu forgot everything and rushed through tired row-men, climbed the narrow stairs and opened the latch leading to the upper deck. As he lifted his lithe body quickly, a sheet of rain and wind slapped him hard on his face. Maneuvering the wind and rain, he moved forward, when a flying wooden plank knocked him down. He lost his consciousness.
A vigorous shaking woke him up. Slowly as he regained his senses, he saw his men around him. It was dawn now and the rain had stopped. His dreamy eyes traveled further and focused on what was a shore. He was awake now. He saw soldiers around, may be hundred.
Alien.
Abu, though an Abyssinian warrior, was a shrewed voyager and knew his interests well. Something told him, this was his land, his destination.
The Abyssinians had landed on the shore of Rajpuri, western coast of INDIA!
Sometime in 16TH century:The great general and warrior
Siddi Johar looked towards the sea from a large boat moving swiftly to the shore. The sea fort of
Janjira was his most precious possession. It took him 22 years! It was an architectural marvel. Fortified from all sides. More than 200 cannons, all hidden from the praying eyes! 21 watch posts. 90 ft high from the sea. 20 ft foundation under the sea! Secret material used for cementing only known to the handful of artisans. Under water passages, two sweet water lakes! The general felt a wave of pride passing through his body.
Suddenly realizing the impending war ahead, he turned towards his men and gave a thunderous war cry!
His vast army on the shore was waiting for their general to give marching orders!
The Present:The moment Tommy Singh decided to first visit the fort, our guide Rahim got excited! We were staying at Sand Piper Resort in the beach paradise of Murud, close to the sea fort of Janjira.
To add adventure to our journey, we took an auto-rickshaw to Rajpuri from where we had to start our sea journey to
Janjira Fort. Though there were launches we preferred to take a sail boat. There were other 12 tourists on the boat.
The weather had started playing truant, the clouds over shadowing the sky and the winds making the sea rough. I saw the fort at a distance. From the shore it looked forbidding. A gray black Abyssinian beauty! We were sailing slowly towards that sinister presence. I looked at it keenly. Suddenly I was taken a back. Was it saying 'keep away'? All the tourists were silent. Even a child with his mother stopped crying! What power this mysterious fort holds? Then I shrugged off the thoughts.
Ha!
Soon we were at the main entrance. As soon as we started climbing the stairs to the center of the fort, some thing caught my attention. It was a stone engraving of a tiger holding seven elephants. Rahim was on his job now. he explained, the engraving speaks about the bravery of Siddis.
He continued,
'Siddis were Africans and we called them 'Hubshi' which means slaves. Their arrival here is disputed. Some say they arrived in 13Th century as traders while some say they were brought as slaves by Portuguese. However, due to their skills on sea and land as great warriors, soon they rose to power, became independent with their so called states. Ambar of Ahmednagar and Siddi Johar of Janjira were some of them. Look at this fort,'pointed Rahim.
'For decades,Portuguese, Mughals, British, Marathas tried to conquer Janjira fort but failed. It was unconquerable.'
Then he showed the remaining 3 huge cannons now silent for ever. We looked at the watch posts and through it, the Arabian sea.
It was getting dark in the afternoon. The fort was in ruins now. I started imagining things again. The palace. The women folks, children, granary, schools, families filling water from the sweet water tanks, small market...
'no..no ..come back to this world, Kiran,' I told to myself. There was nothing now. All of a sudden I got struck with an aimlessness around. A brooding atmosphere. The shadows started appearing in the ruins.
There was a yell. Somebody shouted to return. They were going back early. We hurried back afraid to look back. How many wars? How many dead? Where were they?
While returning Rahim told us that Siddis were Sufi Muslims and believed in songs and dances. They had integrated totally with the Indians, particularly with Konkan culture and customs but had retained their African blood line.
I wondered about them, building this invincible fort in the sea.
What an incredible fact of the history! An '
AJINKYA'! Means unconquerable in the local language.
I dared to look back and
Janjira was moving with the sea, staring at me, an awesome mysterious beauty!
Distance:
167 km from Mumbai by road
Stay:
Golden Swan Resort; Tel. 91-2144-274078
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