On my fourth trip to the capital of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s kingdom, I cheated. The technological advance let me take a shortcut on this pilgrimage. Instead of climbing the thousand+ steps over 2-3 hours, I sat in a cable car and was wisked to the top in less than 5 minutes. It was nice to be not tired upon arrival, but climbing up is fun, too.

A view from the cable car, of the steep cliffs that surround Raigad and provide natural protection from enemy.





Dilapidated remains of living quarters of Shivaji Maharaj, and his ministers' homes.







The location where the throne of Maratha kingdom stood and where Shivaji Maharaj was annointed as a king. The throne was made of gold and weighed about 1400 Kg. It was stolen by the British when they took Raigad in I think, 1818.



The Nagaarkhana is the entrance to the large courtyard where Shivaji Maharaj held court. This big courtyard is open now, but was completely covered with a roof in those days.



One of the two entrances to the fort. This is the main entrance, which I missed entering through because of the cable car ride. It is heavily fortified and has huge wooden doors. The natural defense of steep unscalable walls is visible in this view, too. The fort finally fell to the long range canons of the British. They targeted the warehouse that stored gun powder on the fort and the whole place was burning for days.



Shivaji Maharaj died on Raigad and was cremated here. This memorial was built on the cremation site.



Takmak tok is the part of the fort that jutts out from the main mountain. From this point, there is a straight fall of about 1000 meters. This is the place where people who committed treason were executed by a simple push over the edge.



This place has some protective railings which have thoroughly rotten due to rainy season. I would not try to get any support from them.



Finally, me standing at the end of Takmak tok enjoying the view.