Pratapgad Fort

Forts have been important in the history of mankind. Great warrior kings spent their riches, and energy in building forts, be it the Romans, be it the Pathans, be it the Marathas, the warriors built forts. Conventionally forts were built to ensure a safe and secure human settlement, to keep the enemy far away and to ensure having an upper hand during war. Do you know that the oldest fort in the world is in India? Its name is Kangra Fort and there is Goddess Vajreshwari temple in the fort; you will get to visit it during road journey from Dharamshala to Jammu. India has a wide and large history, it is said there might be some more forts which are not yet discovered by anyone. As of now, India has approximately more than 1000 forts.

It’s worth to note that Shivaji Maharaj gave immense importance to forts and literally built 111 forts within 35 years! He built forts for three prime reasons: first is to establish the empire in the region, to sustain it and expand it. Second reason is once a fort was built in a region, it influenced the lives of the locals residing up to a radius of 50 km from the fort; every fort filled the posts of Killedar (the one with the keys of the fort), Chowkidars (guards), Metkaris (for maintaining intelligence vigil), etc. The locals were benefited by employment generation, markets grew and a sense of security prevailed. The third reasons is these helped in earning loyalty of that region towards Shivaji Maharaj, and the youth would join his army and help him conquer more and more states.

Shivaji Maharaj was a strategist, a visionary: once he established his empire, the revenue generation was important. Maintaining the forts was crucial; Maharaj and his army would raid on various cities like Surat and raise money. For example, in the raid on Surat, then it was a key Mughal power centre, and a wealthy port town which generated a million rupees in taxes. Shivaji Maharaj was successful in acquiring 100 crore Hun, where 1 Hun is equivalent to today’s Rs. 2,40,000! The geographical location of his forts had an additional advantage. They were built near the Ghat regions, next to routes of travelling importance, his administration used to collect Zakat (toll) for passing through the region. Can you imagine, those days revenue was also generated through import and export? Forts were built along the western and eastern coastlines, which helped to generate revenue from import and export of materials. Shivaji Maharaj was ahead of his times, he then knew the importance of securing the coastlines, even if the Europeans and their material try to enter from the Eastern coast or the Western coast, they would first have to go through the Maratha check posts.

Each fort was erected with a wide channel, it also included a fortifications or defensive barrier made of timber posts or stone. Those days’ forts were built extensively using stones, and gypsum was used for plastering construction. Lime plaster was reserved for places that need to be secured against water leakage in roofs, canals, and drains.

It is interesting to note that in medieval India, the practice of burying humans either dead or alive in the foundations of fort walls was carried on; this was to ensure stability of the fort. It was believed that the ghosts of those sacrificed would keep evil spirits away. During the building of the Sri Fort, which was built in Delhi by Alauddin Khalji is reported to have buried 8,000 skulls of Mughals killed by him into the foundation. During the building of Purandar Fort one its citadel gave way several times. The king of Berar then ordered his minister an Esaji Naik Chive to bury a first-born son and his wife into the foundation of the bastion. This was promptly done and after a further offering of gold and bricks. When the bastion was finished Esaji Naik was given possession of the fort and the father of the sacrificed boy was rewarded with two villages. All of this sounds so cruel and ghastly.

In that era people knew the importance of water and had devised a number of techniques to manage and conserve water resources. These efforts not only met the drinking water needs of the people, but also helped the survival of livestock and agriculture in areas where perennial rivers were absent and the population depended on rains and often faced water scarcity or droughts. If you observe the forts built or conquered by Shivaji Maharaj, each fort has many water tanks built within its structure.  The tanks are rock-cut cisterns that accumulate and store rainwater. These tanks were created when the rocks needed for the construction of the forts were extracted from the ground. At some locations, there are dressed stone walls around these tanks to increase the height and the storing capacity of the tanks.

Sinhagad Fort

Two of the forts of Shivaji Maharaj which are breathtakingly amazing are Pratapgad fort which is located 15 kilometres (9.3 mi) from Poladpur and 23 kilometres (14 mi) west of Mahabaleshwar, a popular hill station in the area. The fort stands 1,080 meters (3,540 ft) above sea level.  And the other is Sinhagad previously known as Kondhana is a hill fortress (citadel) located at around 35 km southwest of the city of Pune, Maharashtra state, India. Some of the information available at this fort suggests that the fort could have been built 2000 years ago. There is a temple in the fort of Kaundinyeshwar, it stands as proofs for the same.

Pratapgad is a very strong hill fort built by Shivaji in 1656-58 AD. The construction of the fort was delegated to Moropant Pingale, who later became Shivaji’s Peshwa, and Hiroji Indulkar, the architect.  A special feature of the fort is its double line of fortification and walls on all sides, their heights varying according to the nature of the ground.   The upper fort is built across the northern and western crest of the hill measuring about 180sq.metres.  The lower fort is built on the southern and the eastern terrace with walls and stronghold at corners. The fort has temple of Goddess Bhavani, the family deity of the Shivaji Maharaj, built by him. Pratapgad fort is famous for the assassination of Afzalkhan. When Afzalkhan called Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to meet him at the bottom of the fort, he tried to kill Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj by way of treachery. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj assassinated him in seconds by removing his intestines after cutting open his stomach.

Sinhagad was previously known as Kondhana, the fort had been the site of many battles, most notably the 1670 battle. Sinhagad is built on the edge of an isolated cliff of the Bhuleswar range in the Sahyadri Mountains, the fort is situated on a hill about 760 meters above ground and 1,312 meters above mean sea level. The Sinhagad literally in English known as the Lion’s Fort was strategically built to provide natural protection due to its very steep slopes. The walls and bastions were constructed only at key places. There are two gates to enter the fort, the Kalyan Darwaza and Pune Darwaza which are positioned at the south east and north-east ends respectively. The fort was also strategically located at the centre of a string of other Maratha occupied forts such as Raigad Fort, Purandar Fort and Torna Fort.

India is home to some valiant warriors who have set new premise for the rest of the world to follow in every era. These warriors were exemplary in their war strategies; they were brilliant, visionaries and very good humans. It requires more than absolute brilliance to be remembered for centuries. One of such brave warriors was Bajiaro Peshwa.

Bajirao was too sharp and was known for his speedy attacks; he used to never give time to his enemies to think strategies.  Bajirao established his presence from Delhi to Srirangapatnam and Gujarat to Berar over a twenty year period of his career in the 18th century. He had an inherent ability to gauge the opponent’s strengths and weaknesses and spring the trap when his enemy was not ready or was lulled. This was a typical characteristic of Bajirao. The most astonishing fact is that he won in every battle that he fought. Bajirao achieved it because he had the brilliance and he was too good in implementation.

Bajirao Balaji Ballal was the son of Balaji Vishwanath Ballal who had shored up Chhatrapati Shahu’s fortunes. A grateful Shahu looked no further than Bajirao to be his next Prime Minister – Bajirao was just twenty years of age. The other claimants were much older. After Bajirao took the reins of Peshwa, the older warriors refused to co-operate, hence the traditional Maratha aristocracy appointed Malhar Rao Holkar, Ranoji Scindia and Udaji Pawar as his primary helpers. From here began the move towards an empire.

The Peshwas were hereditary prime ministers of the Maratha Empire who had power commensurate with that of the rulers. Though Bajirao himself made administrative decisions and led the Maratha army in battle well beyond the Narmada, he was still subordinate to Shahu Maharaj, the grandson of Shivaji and ruler of the Maratha Empire.

In the first few years, Bajirao helped the Nizam ul mulk to establish his rule at Aurangabad and was honoured by the Nizam for his role at the battle of Sakharkhedla in 1724. He then went on two campaigns to the south; to Chitradurg in 1725 and Srirangapatnam in 1726. An urgent summons from his king to ward off the threat posed by the Nizam brought him back to Satara. The Nizam, had taken assistance from Sambhaji of Kolhapur had threatened Shahu’s very existence.

Bajirao was also surrounded during the same time by Nizam without his artillery at Palkhed which forced him into surrender. But, the witty and shrewd Bajirao tricked Nizam to accept all conditions. Bajirao’s battle plan at Palkhed has been described as a ‘masterpiece of strategic mobility.’ Bajirao’s brother Chimaji Appa, defeated and killed the Mughal subahdar at Amjhera and stamped Maratha authority in Malwa. This province was the link between Hindustan and the Deccan and therefore was of pivotal importance. Around the same time, Muhammad Bangash attacked Bundelkhand and threatened its aged ruler Chhatrasal. It is mentioned in the historic documents that Chhatrasal’s daughter Mastani met Bajirao and asked his help to fight Bangash.

Bajirao moved quickly through a isolated path to surprise Bangash and rescue Chhatrasal. After a siege at Jaitpur, Bangash sought terms. Chhatrasal, ever grateful, gave Bajirao a third of his kingdom. He also gave him his daughter Mastani whose mother was an Iranian woman named Ruhaani Bai.

And, that’s when a love affair engaged Bajiaro’s life. The great warrior had to face bitterness from his mother, his brother, his wife and other chiefs in the Maratha fold. The great Marathi author N.S.Inamdar in his book ‘Rau’ has painted Bajirao’s enormous life but also depicted him as a flawed figure despite his great achievements. Bajirao was ahead of the time, he wanted to give Mastani status of wife, he wanted people to respect her the way he did. But others dint want Mastani in Bajirao’s life because he was married to Kashibai. After reading the book ‘’Rau’’ one feels that people enjoyed all the good that came from Bajirao’s actions but none gave him the freedom to lead his life as per his wishes. And this is the biggest tragedy in this great Maratha warrior’s life. Bajirao evidently fought great social sanctions and political peril to stay with Mastani, and protected her from political reprisal until his death.

In the 18^th century, India was culturally and ethically so strong that even Kings could not escape the social dogmas. On one hand people were so happy with Bajirao Peshwa for being the only Maratha ruler to extend the Maratha Empire to almost entire India including Delhi and on the other hand same people hated him for having an affair with Mastani. In the end the King who gives shelter to all the poor and needy people died without a shelter. One big lesson to learn from Bajirao’s story is that people expect their rulers to follow the social doctrines, to be ethical and practice what they preach.

Bajirao died on 28 April 1740, at the age of 40. He died of a sudden fever. It seems he was on job of inspecting his jagirs. At that time, he was en route to Delhi with 100,000 troops under his command at his camp in the district of Khargon, near the city of Indore. He was cremated at Raverkhedi near the river Narmada. The Scindias built a chhatri (dome) as a memorial at this place.

It’s sad that such a great warrior’s life is lesser remembered for his heroic deeds; he is more remembered for his love for Mastani.