Baobab tree of Shirala fort

On the morning of December 30, 2022 I happened to share the link to "Baobab trees in Karnataka and Telangana" with Vijay Menon, an acquaintance through this blog. Vijay Menon and a few of his friends are fort experts - the group has visited 580+ forts, 500 in Maharashtra itself. The group is undertakes regular expeditions to forts, explore them thoroughly identifying the key spots within, participate in restoration work and conduct photo exhibitions. Having shared the link, I fely Vijay might have seen a Baobab or two during his explorations. My intuition was right. Vijay responded that he would read the post and a few moments later he shared pictures of a Baobab with a caption "In our recent trip ...boabab tree in Shirala fort- Sangli district." I was elated. We spoke over phone, I wanted to know more about the new discovery. During the chat I learned about Vijay's interest in Banyan & Peepul trees... basically huge and rare trees.

Shirala is a town in Sangli district of Maharashtra state. The ruins of the fort marked as "Bhuikot fort" is situated on the southwest side of the town. According to Vijay just a couple of bastions and rampart walls remain of the fort. Besides the fortification, there are couple of shrines and an ancient well in the fort area. One of the shrines is a Shiva Mandir close to which is this Baobab tree.

I zoomed into the picture to get a closer look at the bark and compared it with barks other Baobabs. They are almost same, any difference seen could be due to different lighting. Going by this Baobab's form, it is closer to the Baobab of Ogapur near Vijayapura. As to its age, it could be 200 to 300 years old.

In the fort area are offices of forest department. I assume the round platform around and benches around the tree are forest department's contribution. People can sit under / near the rare tree and appreciate its beauty. However, the round platform around the tree's stem might restrict the tree's growth. Unlike other trees, Baobabs grow newer stems which merge with the main stem thereby increasing its girth over time - this is the reason for their long life spanning 1000 to 3000 years. Perhaps it would be wise to remove the round platform altogether, create open space around the stem and fix a fence so that people do not step on the open space.

Hoping the people of Shirala and the forest department take good care of their town's living heritage. Thanks to my friend Vijay Menon for discovering this rare tree.

Before closing this post, I would like to mention that Baobab is originally from Africa. Between the XIV and XVII Centuries CE, groups of Sufi ascetics who travelled from Africa to India carried Baobab saplings and planted them wherever they camped for long periods. Baobabs though a rare tree in our country, thousands of trees are said to be existing in the western parts i.e. Goa, Maharashtra, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh. Baobabs made their way interior regions i.e. the Deccan plateau and even down south to Tamil Nadu. For the reader's benefit, below is a list of known Baobab trees of India-

1. Hilltop Nightclub, Vagator, Goa
2. Cabo Raj Bhavan, Dona Paula, Goa
3. Quepem, Goa
4. Bamboo Motels, Goa
5. next to Yogapur mosque, Bijapur
6. Mahalakshmi Gudi premises, Martur, Kalburgi district
7. Dodda Hunashe Matha, Savanur, Karnataka
8. Near the aquarium in Lalbagh Botanical Garden, Bengaluru
9. on the outskirts of Devadurga, Raichur district, Karnataka
10. Purana Qilla, Golconda Fort, Hyderabad, Telangana
11. Attapur, Hyderabad
12. Vansthalipuram, Hyderabad, Telangana
13. near Chappel Road, Hyderabad, Telangana
14. Ranganath temple at Nanakramguda, Hyderabad, Telangana
15. Shivalaya on Balachandruni Guttalu, Nalagonda, Telangana
16. Uppal in Chengicherla Reserve Forests, Hyderabad, Telangana
17. Nellore, Andhrapradesh
18. Theosophist Society Gardens, Chennai, Tamil Nadu
19. The American College campus, Madurai, TN
20. Chinmaya Vidyalaya's campus at Ilanthope, Rajapalayam, TN
21. Mangaliawas near Ajmer, Rajasthan
22. Vadodara, Gujarat
23. Dayapur, Gujarat
24. Kutch, Gujarat
25. Bhanagar, Gujarat
26. Baroda, Gujarat
27. Victoria Garden, Sukharamnagar, Ahmedabad, Gujarat
28. Mulund, Mumbai, Maharashtra
29. Byculla zoo, Mumbai, Maharashtra
30. Outside the Vasai fort, Maharashtra
31. Tilak road and Ghokale road, Pune, Maharastra
32. near Aurangabad, Maharashtra
33. opposite Mandvi Darwaza at Vasai Fort, Maharastra
34. Nana Fadnavis Wada premises, Menawali, Maharashtra
35. Mandavgad or Mandu, Madhya Pradesh
36. near Sangam, left bank of the Ganga, Prayag, Uttar Pradesh 
37. Sanjay Gandhi Biological Park, Bihar

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