Tiracol fort

entrance to the Tiracol fort

A friend’s father was narrating his discovery of absolutely inexpensive yet amazing  accommodation in the Northern tip of Goa in no less than a beautiful fort-Tiracol. His visit was in the 1980’s.

Being intrigued, a little research revealed that this fort is situated at the mouth of the scenic Tiracol river and bordering Maharashtra.Just 42km north of Panaji, the quaint ferry ride from Querim makes the beginning of this journey an enjoyable experience.
The strategic location of the Tiracol fort was probably a well thought out plan of the original occupiers; the Raja of Sawantwadi, all this in the 17^th century.

Known as Khem Sawant Bhonsle this Maharaja chose a steep hillock tobuild the fort and allow a commanding view of the Arabian sea and also watch over his fleet that used to be sheltered upstream of the River Tiracol.

The fort was well fortified with 12 guns (cannons) and had barracks within the massive walls.It was learnt that in the year 1746 the Portuguese Conte de Assumar named Marquis de Alorna defeated the maharaja after a bloody and violent seafaring war. The Portuguese maritime superiority was declared when Tiracol fort finally surrendered on 23^rd November 1746.

chapel in the Tiracol fort

It was thereafter that the Portuguese marked the fort with a chapel or church constructed and dedicated to the Holy Trinity. It was later dedicated to St. Anthony/St. Andrew, which serviced the converts with all their religious solemnities

The elders who were mainly agriculturists and fisher folk talk proudly of this edifice serving as a symbolic location where freedom fighters demonstrated from time to time against the Portuguese
.On August 15 1954, Sathyagrahis who entered Goa from the north,  used the fort as a bastion of freedom and flew the Indian flag for a day before they were captured and imprisoned.

lovely view from the Tiracol fort

The walls of Tiracol fort have stories to tell. A lesser know one is that during the little known Portuguese civil war the fort served as a rebel stronghold during an uprising in 1825 against the Portuguese. Dr. Bernardo Peres da Silva the very first Goan born Viceroy of Goa led the revolt which was brutally stamped out by the commandant “TIGER KILLER” Da Cunha who entered the fort, defeated the rebel and ordered the beheading of the entire group and the staking of their heads for public display on the ramparts .  

The fort in recent years has been rebuilt and restored and maintained in an exotic way but is an expensive Heritage Holiday Luxury Getaway now unlike when my friends father visited in the eighties!!

The serenity and blissful natural beauty of the Arabian Sea and these northern coasts belie the bloody and aggressive stories of the past, but the Martyrs memorial tells one the story that for every beautiful present lies a damned and violent past.