INDIA BACKPACKER: Fort Reis Magos Restored Bardez Goa

Ries Magos Means three wise men in Portuguese, maybe it was designed and executed by three wise men, originally signifying the architect, viceroy and the King. The credit should obviously go to Adil Shah, Almeida and Albuquerque too. Originally there may have been an ancient hindu temple from the era of Kadamba dynasty...........

Prologue : Fortune favours the brave how true this statement is we realised on hindsight. We were guided to an extent by Francis of Angel Resort, but we almost were misguided and met with a major accident. But after visiting Reis Magos we realised it was worth the trouble of hunting it down literally after 2 hours........

Portuguese were in fact lucky to establish their empire in Goa due to the patronage of Vijaynagar feudatory Timayya. Adil Shahs was literally driven out of Goa after reign of nearly 2 decades. Krishnadevaraya too had just ascended the throne ( 1509 ) when Albuquerque with his Armada attacked and drove out the Adil Shahs of Bijapur on Dec 1510. Initially they sought the support of the local Hindu populace, Timayya’s ambition to control the territory fell on his face when Afonso Albuquerque stayed put by occupying the queens palace ( now old secretariat ) on the banks of river Mandovi.

Albuquerque occupied Adil Shah’s Fortress on the south Bank of river Mandovi. It was a strategic decision to have Fortress on the northern Banks of the river Mandovi probably due to constant attacks by Dutch, Moors and Arabs with changing style of Warfare. Reis Magos was built during the Viceroyalty of Afonso Noronha ( 1551-1554 ). The Fort was constructed with a perennial source of water with a spring providing the required quantity for sustaining the entire garrison of the Portuguese armada.

Fort Reis Magos was literally chiselled into a Hillock with laterite stones providing the building material. This fort was an extension of an outpost created Adil Shah in 1493 and later expanded by Albuquerque ( 1509 – 1515 ). The Fort consists of 6 Gunloops located inside the basement of the Fortress. It has a strategic Dual Cannon firing watch towers facing the South and East. There are literally 6 firing spots covering 180 degrees into the backwaters of the Mandovi River.

Barracks were constructed along the river beds for the soldiers and their families. Slowly the extension was built in the form of a church for the Portuguese army for retaining their religious identity. Two steep stair connected the Fortress in its original Format along with a side railing towards the church leading to the Fortress. This was used by the horse astride higher ranking officials of the Portuguese. A strategic view point was created for the generals to guide their soldiers in case of vicious attacks on the fortress. Probably once in a while the viceroys used it as their residence during extreme summer months due to cool breeze providing relief at the peak.

There are literally two main buildings housing the soldiers and their officers on the Fortress premises along with a small barracks. The fortress has Watch towers facing all directions literally. Cannons were placed at cylindrical vantage turrets to fire their salvos against the invaders. The Portuguese flag donned the Fortress precincts.

There are graveyards on both the sides of the fortress which seems to be have largely vanished in due course of time. During Viceroy De Mello Castro (1707) extensive changes were incorporated to Reis Magos which was enabled the fortress to fire from 33 cylinders literally on the enemies. This enabled the fortress to withstand the guerrilla type of warfare by the Marathas in 1739. However they made dent in the defence of the Portuguese by occupying some portion of Goa. In 1741 Marquis De Lourical was able to repulse the Bhonsle threat who retreated to Pernem and borders of Sawantwadi.

Location :The Fortress is located is Verem, Bardez, which has two approaches from the Mondovi bridge from Panjim towards Calangute . Take the immediate left turn and keep going till you reach a left turning towards cocoa bridge. One has to keep checking the route till one approaches the Francis Asissi Church which has a small cross as a landmark. Keep towards the left till 2 kms further down and cross the Kings Resort leading towards the Ries Magos. One can be easily mislead or misguided by locals when you ask for a Fort they will guide you Fort Aguada, some may guide you towards Cocoa Bridge which is actually Dolphin view point. This has a narrow road and it is jam packed one can end up wasting precious 2 hours in parking and finding way back. Note : Fort Reis Magos is Closed on Mondays Open 11 am to Sunset.

Reis Magos was converted to a mini jail after the naval attacks from Dutch and Ottoman empire decreased. In 1798 the British occupied the fortress along with a treaty with Portuguese after defeating them at Sadshivghad. After India gained Independence in 1947, rebellion started cropping up various forms in Goa. Freedom fighters were jailed in this fortress. Finally Goa was liberated in Dec 1961, whereas Fort Reis Magos continued to function as jail till 1993. A number of modification seems to have been undertaken keeping the prison requirements till nature took its toll due to the ageing of the building. Once it was abandoned as a prison the entire structure fell into a state of ruins.