Kulang and Alang
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Kulang and Alang
Two blocks of precipitous flat-topped rocks, crowned by forts, on the Ahmadnagar frontier of the Igatpuri taluka, Nasik District, Bombay, about 10 miles south-east of Igatpuri station. Kulang is situated in 19° 35' N. and 73° 38' E., and Alang in 19° 35' N. and 73° 40' E. Kulang and Alang are about 2 miles distant from each other, Alang lying almost entirely in Ahmadnagar District. Their tops are inaccessible, the old way of approach having been destroyed. The two blocks are separated by the smaller mass of Mandangarh, which, like its neighbours, was rendered inaccessible by the destruction, probably in i8i8, of the rough staircase leading to it through a cleft in the almost perpendicular rock.
Alang can be climbed from Kulangvadi village in Nasik, about 2 miles to the north, but with great difficulty and some danger. To the east of Alang is the steep pass known as Navra-navri (' the Husband and Wife '), from two curious pillars of rock that jut up from the ridge dividing Nasik and Ahmadnagar Districts. The pass is practicable for pedestrians, though difficult. No record of the builders of these forts has been traced. They were probably ceded to the Peshwa by the Mughals in 1760, along with Kavnai and other Nasik forts. From the Peshwa they passed to the British in 1818.
