Paranda Fort: The Fort Showing Maharashtra’s Defense Logic (2024)
The Paranda Fort is in the Osmanabad District, Maharashtra. The fort is well-known for its strong fortifications and breath-taking architecture of the buildings. If you are planning to visit the Paranda fort, here is some information for you.
Historical Importance of Paranda Fort
There is no specific record of who built Paranda fort, making it another fort with origins unknown. Experts think that Mahmud Gawan, the Prime Minister of Bidar built the Paranda fort some time in 15 BC. 
The ownership of the Paranda fort has changed hand several times. Interestingly, in all its years, the fort has never experienced a siege or a battle. Paranda fort was majorly a storage area for arms and ammunitions. Even with this information, it is interesting to know that the Kings and rulers were not interested in the firepower inside the fort.
Structures Inside Paranda Fort
The Paranda fort is not just a strong fort. It is one of the better-maintained forts. The fort has several structures, and props inside that are in good shape and.
As you enter through the main gate, you see various buildings and rooms that were the royal residence years ago. You see one building, with a beautiful window and the carving of an ancient animal.
Moving inside the Paranda fort, you see some cannons that are now out of service. The fort has a deep lake as well. Further up the road, there is one cannon that is better maintained. If you explore Paranda fort in the proper manner, you will see some stone cannons still stored about. This is one of the few forts in Maharashtra that gives you an up-close look to the cannons. You can see that one of the cannons is put together, in what seems to be the welding activity. If you have trekked to other forts in Maharashtra, you have seen some cannons, but the ones that you see in Paranda fort are more intricately made and look more beautiful than any other you have seen. You will also find some cannons that are made of a single piece and could be destroyed, maybe during some siege. The way the cannons are places, there must be some technique to move them in a 360-degree view, prepared to retort to an onslaught from any direction.
At the Paranda fort, the military prowess and engineering of the King are at prominent display. The fort has a trench surrounding it at all sides, making it difficult for anyone to reach the sides of the fort easily.
You will see the guard posts on the top of the fort’s inner wall, the bastions that maintained peace in an era gone away. There is a small mosque within the fort walls as well.
Once you are in the center of the fort and at the top of the Paranda fort, you get a birds’ eye view of the entire Paranda city, making for another surreal experience.
The big mosque is breathtakingly beautiful and has several must-see props. You will see a prayer hall, a Hammam, and an open space that makes the mosque complete.
Tourist Experience of Paranda Fort
The Paranda Fort is in the middle of the city, and anyone can visit it. This fact makes it a unique part of fort tourism in Maharashtra. Also, reaching this fort does not involve trekking.
Paranda fort has the regular steps, and everyone can explore it to its full as well. It would take around an hour to explore the fort. 
The fort is a vlogger’s favorite because it is easy to reach and looks very formidable. You will see many video bloggers moving about and making videos of the fort. That is also because from various spots in the Paranda fort, you get an enthralling view of the Paranda city and its environs. The fort is amid modern settlements, so it is a surreal experience.
Experts reckon that the entire design of the fort was to provide more safety to the people living inside and the arms and ammunition. For example, the bastions are thicker than what we see in most other forts in the Maharashtra area. The bastions are semi-circular in shape, as opposed to the square or rectangular shape we see – that is to increase the space so that the defense personnel can move freely. At the best of times, Paranda fort has had three walls of defense, the first being the moat, the second being the inclined wall – that does not exist today, and the third being the semi-circular bastions.
Places to Visit Near Paranda Fort
While there are some places that you can visit around Paranda Fort in Osmanabad, they are a bit far away, so it makes sense to plan for a whole weekend in this place. One of the must-visit places is the Dharashiv Caves, at around 70 KM. 
These are seven caves in the Balaghat Mountain. The architecture here is like the one you see in the Ajantha caves. You will see several idols related to Jainism as well as Buddhism.
At about 100 km is the Dhakte Tuljapur Temple. The temple has a unique concept of changing the position of the idol during a specific season. During that time, the place where the idol usually is empty. The temple has a spiritual, calm, and serene environment and is a must-visit for the religiously inclined. 
Again, at two hours is the Saint Goroba Temple. The temple is famous for the mostly orange and red-colored temples. You see several devotees flock around and a darshan of the idol inside calms you up.
How to Reach Paranda Fort?
If you are traveling from Mumbai, you can travel via train or the roadways. If traveling from Mumbai or Pune, you first need to reach Kurduwadi Junction. From Kurduwadi, it is a forty-minute journey. The journey from Mumbai to Kurduwadi is around 7 hours. For those traveling from Pune, the distance between Pune and Kurduwadi is about 4 hours.
