PLACES OF INTEREST

PURNGAD

Purngad (Ratnagiri T.; p. 548), is a village on the brow of a barren point at the mouth of the Muchkundi river, twelve miles south of Ratnagiri, used wrongly to be called Rajapur. [Taylor's Sailing Directory, 389.] The nearest railway station is Kolhapur, 95 miles to the south-east. Purngad is a small port with little trade.

The volume of traffic that passed through the port in 1954-55 and 1955-56 is given below:-

On the top of the hill is the small square fort of Purngad without outworks, covering an area of twenty-two acres. Under the Peshva's government no revenue was exacted from fields within the fort as they were brought into cultivation by fort men, gadkaris. At present (1959) nothing remains of the fort except its outer wall in a dilapidated condition. Even at high tide, the river admits only very small coasting crafts, which ply as far as Satavali, about 12 miles inland. [Dom Joao de Castro (1538), calling it the river of Betel, because much betel grew on its bank, describes it as having good water and a large open mouth. The roadstead on the north was a gunshot from the rock. Primeiro Roteiro da Costa da India, 33.]

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