India, Oct. 22 -- Celebrating Maharashtra's vibrant heritage and its landscape studded with ancient fortifications, local communities are outdoing themselves this Diwali with elaborate fort-themed Diwali tableaux.

"Legend has it that Shivaji Maharaj built a fort using mud as a part of the Diwali celebrations, so that those who had never seen a fort could imagine what it looked like. Villagers continued the fort-building tradition, and it has survived to this day," said Milind Khot, president of the Swarajya Prabhodini Pratishta, Maharashtra, a Lalbaug-based organisation that organises fort-building competitions during Diwali every year.

In Sector 1 of the Matoshree Gruhnirman Sanstha in Charkop, fort replicas now stand 20 ft x 15 ft tal...