Purandar Fort

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Purandar Fort is a mountain fort inPune district inWestern Indian state ofMaharashtra, India. The fort stands at 1,374 metres (4,508 ft) above the sea level in theWestern Ghats, 50 kilometres (31 mi) to the southeast ofPune.^[1]

Purandar Fort
Pune district,Maharashtra
Purandar Fort
Site information
Type	Hill fort
Owner	Government of India
Open to the public	Yes
Condition	Ruins
Location
Purandar Fort Shown withinMaharashtra Show map of India Purandar Fort Purandar Fort (Maharashtra) Show map of Maharashtra
Coordinates	18°16′50.8″N73°58′25″E / 18.280778°N 73.97361°E /18.280778; 73.97361
Height	1,374 metres (4,508 ft)
Site history
Materials	Stone

The twin forts of Purandar (or Indraneel Parwat) and Vajragad (or Rudramal) of which the latter is the smaller of the two, is located on the eastern side of the main fort rising 1,347 metres (4,419 ft) above sea level.^[1] The village ofPurandar takes its name from this fort.^[2] It is the birthplace of Dharmaveer ChatrapatiSambhaji Maharaj.^[3]

History

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The oldest known reference of existence of the Purandar fort dates back to theYadava dynasty in the 11th century.^{[citation needed]}

After the defeat of the Yadavas by the foreign invaders,^{[citation needed]} the territory surrounding the fort fell into the hands of the invaders who further fortified the Purandar Fort in 1350 A.D. During the early rule of theBijapur andAhmednagar kings, The Purandar Fort was among the forts directly under the Government rule and was never entrusted toJagirdars.^[4]

Under the rule of theBahamani Sultanate, the fort was besieged several times. To prevent the Purandar Fort from ever falling again, a sacrificial ritual was performed where a man and a woman were buried alive under one of the fort bastions to appease its patron deity.^[5] Another ritual was soon performed where the king ordered a minister to bury a first-born son and his mother into the foundation of the bastion which was promptly done with a further offering of gold and bricks. When the bastion was finished, The minister, Yesaji Naik, was given possession of the Purandar Fort and the father of the sacrificed boy was rewarded with two villages.^[6]

To protest Adilshahi commander Fatehkhan In 1649 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj took the charge of fort temporarly from Raje Mahadaji Neelkanthrao Sarnaik who was his father's friend and commander of Purandar for 4 generations. On the occasion of Diwali in 1656 after 2 years of death of Mahadajipant Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj took advantage of family disputes in Mahadajipant's 4 sons Neelkanth, Shankar, Tryambak/Pilaji and Vishwanath/Visaji and captured the fort.^[7] In 1596 A.D, theBahudar Shah of theAhmadnagar Sultanate granted the territory of "Pune" and "Supa" toMalojiraje Bhosale, the grandfather of Shivaji.^{[citation needed]} The Purandar Fort was included in the territory.

Vajragad Fort

In 1649 A.D, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, still in his youth, in one of his first victories for theMaratha Empire, raided and established control of the fort. In 1665 A.D, the Purandar Fort was besieged by the forces ofAurangzeb, under the command ofJai Singh II and assisted byDiler Khan.Murar Baji Deshpande ofMahad, who was appointed as thekilledar (keeper of the fort), offered strong resistance against the Mughal forces ultimately giving up his life in a struggle to retain the fort. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, daunted at the prospect of the fall of his grandfather's fort, signed a treaty known as theFirst Treaty of Purandar withAurangzeb in 1665. According to the treaty, Shivaji handed over twenty-three forts including Purandar, and a territory with a revenue of four lakhhons and was made thejagirdar of the territory. On 8th March 1670 the fort was recaptured by Neelakanth Sondev Bhadanekar, Amatya/Mazumdar of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.^[8]

During the tenure of Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj (1689-1700) Mughal captured the fort once again but soon Marathas took the charge back under the leadership of Sachiv/Suranvis Shankaraji Narayan Gandekar.^[9]Balaji Vishwanath's family took the shelter on this fort when Krishnarav Khatavkar attacked on Balajipant.^[10] PeshwaNanasaheb took the fort from Shankarajipant's descendants and gave it to Madahev Ambaji a.k.a. Baba Purandare. In 1674 A.D. old guardians Of purender namedRamoshi andMahadev Koli people rebelled against Neelkanth Mahadev a.k.a. Aba Purandare and captured the fort. On the condition of deposing Aba Purandare and Shankar Ganesh a.k.a. Baba Sarnaik they return the fort to Peshwa.^[11]

Under thePeshwa rule, the Purandar Fort acted as a stronghold whenever their capital city ofPune was under attack. In 1776 A.D, a treaty was signed between theBritish Raj and theMaratha States known as theSecond Treaty of Purandar. Its conditions were never fulfilled, being overruled by the subsequentTreaty of Salbai in 1782 between theBombay Government andRaghunathrao, at the close of theFirst Anglo-Maratha War.^[4]

In 1790, it was conquered by aKoli chiefKuroji Naik and a Victory Bastion also erected here.^[12]^[13]^[14]

In 1818, the Purandar Fort was invaded by aBritish force under General Pritzler. On 14 March 1818, a British garrison marched into Vajragad (the smaller fort). As Vajragad commanded Purandar, the commandant had to accept terms and the British flag was hoisted at Purandar on 16 March 1818. During theBritish Raj, the fort was used as a prison. During World War II, it was an internment camp for enemy-alien (i.e.German) families. Jews from Germany were interned. A German prisoner,Dr. H. Goetz was held here duringWorld War II. He studied the fort during his stay and later published a book on it. The fort's major use however, was as asanatorium for the British soldiers.^[3]

The thousand-year-oldNarayaneshwar temple^{[citation needed]} of theHemadpanthi architecture built by theYadavas still exists at the base village of the fort calledNarayanpur.

Temple of the Purandeshwar deity from which Purandar takes its name

It is believed that Purandar is the broken part of theDronagiri Parvat, whichHanuman carried in theRamayana.^[4]

Structures

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Cannon at the top of the fort

The fort has two distinct levels. The lower part of Purandar is called themachi. North of the machi is a flat area where the cantonment and hospital was housed.

There are many temples dedicated to Purandareshwar (the fort's patron god, from which it also takes its name) and Sawai Madhavrao Peshwa here. There is a statue ofMurarbaji Deshpande, the commander (killedar) of the fort who gave up his life in order to protect the fort from theMughals. The northern part of themachi has a low fall with several bastions and an imposing gate with two towers.^[4]

Statue of Murarbaji Deshpande

From the lower level of themachi, a staircase leads to the upper level calledBallekilla. The first structure of theBallekilla that comes into view is theDilli Darwaja (Delhi Gate). This area also houses an ancient Kedareshwar (Shiva) temple. TheBALLEKILLA is also surrounded by steep drop on three sides.

Current use

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The Purandar Fort is a popular tourist destination and is also used by theNational Cadet Corps academy for training purposes. The fort is a hotspot forparagliders andtrekkers.^[3]^{[additional citation(s) needed]}