Aurangabad, Feb 4 (PTI) More than 300 stones that fell possibly due to landslide from the 'Nane Darwaja' of Maharashtra's historic Raigad Fort have been retrieved and will be used to rebuild the structure based on architectural points from the time, an expert involved in the work said on Saturday.

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Situated in the Sahyadri mountain range, Raigad Fort, some 370 kilometres from here, was made the capital of the Maratha Empire in 1674 on the coronation of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.

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As per the book 'Shrimad Raigirau' by Gopal Chandorkar, the Nane Darwaja was an octroi collection point at the fort and the structure may have collapsed due to a landslide at the time, conservation architect Varun Bhamare said.

"We searched for the arch and bracket stones that fell from the structure in the valley below and managed to retrieve around 350 of them. These have been numbered by us after identifying their position in the original structure. Work to fix them accordingly to recreate the structure has begun," Bhamare told PTI.

A channel made from cutting stone to ensure water flowing downhill does not harm Nane Darwaja has also been found and the mud and sludge covering it has been cleared for it to drain out water as per the original architecture, he added.

The aerial mapping of Raigad Fort has also been completed and some 350 sites that existed during the reign of the legendary warrior-king have been identified, Bhamare said.

All these works to restore Nane Darwaja has been undertaken by the Raigad Development Authority, he said.

(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)