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PLACES
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RATANGAD
Ratangad or the Jewel Fort (T. Pen) six miles south-east of
Pen is built on the ridge of a hill 1,880 feet high adjoining Miryadongar on the east side. Like Surgad, this fort probably occupied the whole ridge which is about a mile long and only about twenty feet broad, but, as the wall has disappeared, the exact dimensions cannot be ascertained. The hill is open only on the south, the north-east and west sides being covered with thick forest. The fort is approached by a footpath from the north. Within the fort are two rock-cut cisterns still in good repair but now out-of-use, and a gun, said to belong to the fort is shown in a neighbouring field. The fort is locally believed to have been built by one Baburav Pasilkar [ Mr. E. H. Moscardi, C. S.]. When Sayasta Khan, the maternal uncle of Emperor Aurahgzeb, invaded the Deccan, his force besieged the fort. The fort, however, was stoutly defended by the Killedar Kavji Kodhalkar Pavar who successfully repulsed the enemy.
It is a favourite holiday resort of people from Pen who usually camp there for some days in the hot season. It was the idea of some British officers to develop it as a hill station, and probably a rival of Matheran which was ultimately chosen because the railway track of the Central Railway passes Neral at the foot of the Matheran Hill.
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