Vairagad Fort

Vairagad is a small fort at the meeting of the Khobragadhi and Satnala rivers in Gadchiroli district, 80 km from Chandrapur and 180 km from Nagpur. Tradition says the town was founded in the Dvapara Yuga by a king called Vairacan. Mana chiefs ruled here until the Gonds took over around the 9th century, and Vairagad's diamond mines are mentioned in Abul Fazl's Ain-i-Akbari. An old Idgah and 108 Muslim graves are thought to mark soldiers who fell when Ahmad Shah Bahmani raided the town around 1422. The fort became a protected monument in 1925.

The fortress covers 10 acres just north of Vairagad village, with three entrance gates and a moat 15 to 20 ft deep. Inside are many wells, including a ruined two-arched step well that still holds water. Beyond the walls are the Gond prince Durga Sah's tomb and the grave of an English girl believed to be the daughter of a garrison commander, and about a mile away is the Bhandareshwar temple.