Ilika Explorer: July 2023

Journey Date : 14th June, 2023
Mode of Transport : Train and Auto

History of the Fort

Ankai Fort is a historic site found in the Satmala Range hills in western India. It is located in Yeola Taluka of Nashik district in the state of Maharashtra. Geographically, it is near Manmad. The Ankai fort and Tankai fort are two different forts on adjacent hills. A common fortification is constructed to secure both. The fort was built by Yadava of Devgiri. Mughals led by Shah Jahan's General Khan Khanan captured this fort in 1635 by bribing the fort commander. In 1665, Thévenot mentions these forts as a stage on the journey between the cities of Surat and Aurangabad. Ankai was ultimately captured by the Moghals. In 1752, the fort came under control of the Maratha empire after the Treaty of Bhalki. It was subsequently captured by the British in 1818.

How To Reach by Public Transport

Manmad junction is the nearest railway station.
Many trains are available from Mumbai CSMT as well as from Pune for Manmad Junction.
From Manmad west you will get auto rickshaw or you can board MSRTC bus for Shirdi and get down at Ankai village.

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Travel and Trek Experience

We had planned this trek as a monsoon trek, but the monsoon got delayed due to Cyclone Biperjoy, also this fort falls under the low monsoon region. We boarded the Shirdi Sainagar Express from Dadar station at 9:45 p.m.; we had a confirmed booking so that at least we could get one to two hours of sleep. We got down at Manmad Junction at around 1:45 a.m. Earlier, we had planned to reach base village as early as possible, but the place is unknown to us, so we decided to wait at Manmad junction till 5:00 a.m. We took a rest in the waiting room, and about 5:00 a.m. we headed towards Manmand West, where we had breakfast and started bargaining with Auto rickshaw drivers. There are a total of nine members in our group; hence, we hired two auto rickshaws for 200 rupees per auto rickshaw.

After twenty minutes of travel, we reached the base of Ankai Tankai fort at around 6:30 a.m. The fortification of the fort is clearly visible, and it looks similar to the forts in Rajasthan. We headed towards the fort and observed that ASI had recently re-built the steps and also made an arrangement of tables to take rest. Within 5 minutes, we reached the first section of the Jain caves. We explored the cave and moved ahead towards the second section of Jain and Hindu caves, which are big and have beautiful carvings on the stones.

View of the fort from base village

Jain cave at first section

In one of the caves, there is a statue of Godess Bhagvati carved into the stone. The carvings inside the caves are so beautiful that we almost spent 30 minutes there. We are lucky because monkeys were not there, due to which we fearlessly explored the cave; otherwise, we had to focus on taking care of our belongings.

Goddess Bhagvati statue

Jain caves at second section

After exploring the second section of the caves, we moved ahead towards the fort. After 20 minutes of ascending, we reached the main gate, where we took 10 minutes of rest, did a Shiv garjana, and at around 8:00 a.m., we moved ahead to explore the fort. While exploring the fort, we observed ASI doing restoration work.

We ascent for 15–20 minutes and reached at the third section of the caves. These are Hindu caves, and one of the caves has a Trimurti statue (Bramha Vishnu Mahesh). A similar statue was found on Elephenta Island, and now the same status is used as a symbol of Maharashtra Tourism. In front of the caves there is a well, but currently it is in dry condition.

Trimurti inside fourth section of cave

After exploring the caves, again we ascent for 10 minutes and reached at Manmad door, we move left from Manmad's door towards Ankai Fort. we move ahead and observe the fourth section of caves, which is again a Hindu cave. We avoid exploring it as the path is covered with bushes and we need to climb rocks. We moved forward by climbing rock-cut steps. While climbing, the fortifications of Tankai Fort are clearly visible. As we had observed, there are multiple doors constructed to protect the Ankai fort.

Note: The path is steep but safe; there is no exposure for accidents.

View of Tankai fort from Ankai fort

At around 8:30 a.m we reached top of the fort were we saw another section of cave, these cave are big and named as Sita Guha (cave), but now local peoples are using it as a cow shed, hence we didn't enter into it to explore, we moved ahead and come across another cave named as Agasti cave, where god idols were kept also in this cave some saits resides, they have maintained the cave very well.

After spending a few minutes inside the cave, we moved towards and reached the plateau, where there is a lake carved in the rock. The lake is known as Kashi Lake. In the middle of Kashi Lake, there is a mausoleum of Agasti Muni. There is a huge structure away from the lake, and before reaching the structure, we come across two more lakes. The structure is huge, with a dry lake in the middle of it. The structure is known as a wada (palace). There is no ceiling on the structure, and only the arch of the structure remains. On one end of the structure, there is a pir (darga). As usual the mausoleum of a saint was illegally captured and converted into the darga, or pir by islamic invaders.

Palace or wada

At this point, the Ankai Fort exploration ends. We come back to the Sita caves, where there is a clean place to sit outside. We had breakfast at around 9:00 a.m. and started descending. After we reached the Manmad door, we started ascending towards Tankai Fort. We reached the top within 15 minutes. There is a huge plateau on the Tankai fort that contains a ruined Shiv temple, mausoleum, and lake.

View of Ankai fort from Tankai fort

Ruined Shiv Temple at Tankai

   We explore the Shiv temple, and after taking 30 minutes of rest, we start descending Tankai at around 10:15 a.m. We reached base village at around 11:00 a.m.; we called auto rickshaw drive for pickup; they came within 15 minutes; and we reached Manmand station at around 11:45 a.m.
Note : Take contact number of auto rickshaw drive for return journey, as there is no transport available from base village of the fort.

   There are multiple restaurants at Manmad station, but we inquired about restaurants where we got good reviews of Hotel Visava, so we decided to do lunch in the Visava Hotel. We have an extra 5 hours, as we have made a reservation for Tapovan Express, which will arrive in Manmad at 5:00 p.m. The trek was completed too early as per expected time, which is also an example of bad planning.

   The trek experience is full of enjoyment, and we also got new trekking partners, Mr. Arun Barate and his family, who have experience on more than 150 treks. We returned home with new experiences and good memories.