Raigad is a hill fort situated in the
Mahad,
Raigad district of
Maharashtra,
India. The Maratha king
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj built this fort and made his capital in 1674 when he was crowned King of a Maratha Kingdom which later developed into the
Maratha Empire eventually covering majority of modern-day India.
[1][2]
The fort, which rises 820 metres (2,700 ft) above sea level, is located in the
Sahyadri mountain range. There are approximately 1737 steps leading to the fort, though today
Raigad Ropeway, an
aerial tramway, exists to reach the top of the fort in 10 minutes. The fort was looted and destroyed by the British after its capture in 1818.
Shivaji had seized the fort in 1656, then the fort of Rairi, from the royal house of Chandrarrao Mores, a junior or
Cadet dynasty to descended from the ancient
Maurya imperial dynasty. The last More king (or
raja) was a feudatory of the Sultan of
Bijapur. Shivaji renovated and expanded the fort of Rairi and renamed it Raigad (the
King's Fort). It became the capital of Shivaji's kingdom.
Pachad and Raigadwadi villages are located at the base of the Raigad.
These two were very important villages during the Maratha rule. Actual
climb on the top of Raigad starts from Pachad. In Maratha rule 10000
cavalry was always kept as a standby in Pachad village.
After capturing Rairi from Chandrarao More, Shivaji also built another fort
Lingana which is around 2 miles away from Raigad. where he used to keep prisoners.
In 1689 Zulfikhar Khan captured Raigad and Aurangzeb renamed it as 'Islamgad'
In 1765 the Raigad Fort, along with
Malwan in present
Sindhudurg District, the southernmost district of
Maharashtra, was the target of an armed expedition by the
British East India Company, which considered it a
piratical stronghold.
[citation needed]
In 1818 the fort was bombarded and destroyed by using cannons from
the hill of Kalkai. and as per treaty on 9 May 1818, it been handed over
to
British East India Company
Major features
The fort was built by Chandrarao More in 1030. Its ruins today
consist of the queen's quarters: six chambers, with each chamber having
its own private restroom. The main palace was constructed using wood, of
which only the bases of pillars remain. Ruins of three watch towers can
be seen directly in front of the palace grounds overlooking an
artificial lake called
Ganga Sagar Lake created next to the
fort.Now only two are visible.Third watchtower collapesd in
bombarding.It also has a view of the execution point called
Takmak Tok, a cliff from which the sentenced prisoners were thrown to their death (in marathi: kadelot). The area is now fenced off.
[3] The fort also has ruins of the market, and it has such structure that one can shop even while riding on a horse.
Maha Darwaja (literary Huge Door) having two very huge bastion on
both sides of the door which are approximately 65–70 feet height. the
top of the fort is 600 ft higher from the location of this door. Fort
was having only once access route which goes through this Maha Darwaja.
Khubladha Buruj, Nane Darwaja, Hatti Talav (Elephant Lake), Gangasagar are the famous attractions of the fort.
Tomb of Jijabai, Shivaji's mother. can be seen at base village Pachad
The fort has a famous wall called "Hirakani Buruj" (Hirkani Bastion)
constructed over a huge cliff. Its story is that a woman by the name of
Hirakani from a nearby village at the foothills of Raigad had come to
sell milk to the people living in the fort. She was inside the fort when
the gates were locked by sunset. The love for her infant son back at
her village gave her the courage to climb down the cliff in the dark.
She repeated the feat in front of King Shivaji, and was rewarded for it.
In appreciation of her courage, Shivaji arranged for a wall built at
this location. Even today
[when?] we can see it standing.
The king's public court (
Durbar) has a replica of the original throne that faces the main doorway called the
Nagarkhana Darwaja. This enclosure had been acoustically designed to aid hearing from the doorway to the throne. A secondary entrance, called the
Mena Darwaja,
was supposedly the private entrance of the royal ladies of the fort; it
leads to the queen's quarters. The erstwhile main entrance to the fort
is the imposing
Maha Darwaja. The convoy of the king and the king himself used the
Palkhi Darwaja.
To the right of Palkhi Darwaja, is a row of three dark and deep
chambers. Historians believe that these were the granaries for the fort.
A statue of Shivaji is erected in front of the ruins of the main market avenue that eventually leads to the
Jagdishwar Mandir and his own
Samadhi (tomb) and that of his loyal dog Waghya. The statue was removed by alleged members of the
Sambhaji Brigade[5] in July 2012 as a protest but was re-instated by Shri Shivaji Raigad Smarak Samiti, the
Archaeological Survey of India, sculptor Rambhau Parkhi and the District Administration
