The story of lion and the lion fort :Simhagad

“It was a very dark night and some 200 to 300 Mavla soldiers slowly and without a sound were marching towards their destination. All of them had determination etched on their faces. Their leader was a brave man from the army of Shivaji Raje......He too was determined to finish off the task his childhood friend had entrusted him with.......however he was also angry. “how could Raje do this to me?how could he plan this attack without me? Just because I have the marriage of my son pending does not mean that i am not going to do my duty towards Swarajya. Thank Bhavani that I came to know about this attack and now I am going to capture this fort for him. Raje ,aadhi lagin Kondanyache,mag mazya Raibache”(first will be the wedding of Kondhana and then that of my son Raiba). This leader was none other than Tanaji Malusare, Shivaji’s trusted aide and childhood friend who had set out to capture the fort of Kondhana.

The fort in question was one of the favorites of Shivaji and there is no reason why it shouldn’t be.  It is located  in between the forts like Rajgad, Purandhar and Torna and stands majestically at about 1315 meters above sea level in the Sahyadri range. The fort was known as Kondhana  after Sage Kaudinya and its history dates back to 14^th Century when the Delhi Sultan Muhammad bin Tughluq captured it from the Koli tribal chieftain. After that Kondana changed many hands......from Tughluqs to Nizamshahi to Adilshahi.........Shivaji captured it first in the year 1647 but soon had to give it to Adilshah of Bijapur to release his father who was captured. Shivaji again captured it in 1656 only to lose it to the Mughals in the Treaty of Purandhar with Mirza Raje Jaisingh. In 1665. Aurangzeb who knew the importance of the fort handed it over to a Rajput by name of Udaybhanu who was recruited as the Killedar of this fort.

In the dead of the night Tanaji along with his brother Suryaji and 300 Mavla soldiers were heading towards this fort. They reached at the base of a stiff cliff on the western side.Tanaji had a ghorpad (monitor lizard) ’Yeshwanti’ with him to whom he tried the rope and threw her on the cliff. The Ghorpad with her sharp claws scaled the cliff and hung itself to the wall of the fort. Following her Tanaji and other Mavlas climbed the fort. The battle began and the killedar was told about the intrusion in the fort. Wielding a sword he came out of his quarters and a fierce fight began between Tanaji and Udaybhanu. Both were brave men and injured themselves many times while fighting each other. Finally the shield of Tanaji was shattered to pieces still he fought by protecting his hand with headgear. At last both of them lost their life. Seeing their master fallen to the ground dead, the Maratha army started running back. However Suryaji, Tanaji’s brother cut the ropes and stopped them and encouraged them to win the battle for their king in the name of Tanaji. Finally  the Marathas won. When Shivaji came to know of the victory he reached the fort only to realize that he had won the fort but had lost a lionhearted friend. Mourning the death of his loyal childhood friend, Shivaji is said to have said “Gad aala pan Simhagela”(we have got the fort but lost the man with the strength of a lion). However there is a controversy regarding this statement . According to the historians Kondhana was known as Simhagad many years before this particular battle took place and this line which is attributed to Shivaji is actually a line from a famous Marathi novel Gad Aala Pan Simha Gela written by Hari Narayan Apte.

After 1670 till 1689, the fort remained with the Marathas. It again was captured by Aurangzeb’s army. However Marathas were successful in recapturing it and it remained with them till 1818. After that the British took over the fort.

MAP OF THE FORT(Courtesy Google Pics)

SIMHAGAD AT PRESENT

Everytime I visit Pune I make it a point to visit this fort. I think out of 5 visits of mine I have been here at least 4 times. When you plan to go to this fort, do go early in the morning and if possible without having breakfast. Starting from the foothill of the fort you have small huts which sell piping hot Zhunka bhakar and Kanda pakoras. It feels heavenly to sit there and eat.

   

After eating, you climb the steps and the first gateway that welcomes you is the Pune Darwaza. Since it faces the Pune city it has been named so.

PUNE DARWAZA

 After you cross the gate, you come across a small room like structure. This structure was used as storage room for the arms and ammunition. In between the storage room and the Pune Darwaja, on the right hand side there were the water tanks meant for the horses.

DARUKOTHAR OR THE STORAGE HOUSE FOR AMMUNITIONS

WATER TANKS FOR HORSES, BEHIND IT CAN BE SEEN THE TV TOWER

Keep walking for some distance and again on the right hand side you come across the bungalow of Lokmanya Tilak. Tilak used this bungalow on the Simhagad as his resthouse. It is very small but a very beautiful structure and well preserved.

TILAK BUNGALOW

Near by the Tilak bungalow you find the Samadhi place of Chatrapati Rajaram. Chatrapati Rajaram was the second son of Shivaji. After the capture of Raigad by Zulfikar Khan in the year 1689, Rajaram fled to Jinji in Karnataka while Yesubai, the wife of Sambhaji and his son Shahu were taken as captives of the Mughals. Rajaram fought the Mughals from Jinji and captured many territories. At last he came back in Maharashtra and made Simhagad his home and here at this fort he breathed his last. Inside the Samadhi temple you find a small shivlinga. (Our guide informed us that this was one of the shivlingas that Shivaji used to worship daily.)

CHATRAPATI RAJARAM SAMADHI(Courtsy:Google pic)

Next you go further and you come across the largest water tank in the fort. The water of this tank is still used to drink. The people who live in and at the foothill of the fort carry this water in the barrels. The specialty of this water is not only it taste sweet but higher the temperature, the cooler is the water. It refreshes you completely and again you are ready for the further exploration.(of course here you can once again take a break and have pakodas or ripe cucumbers which are given to you sprinkled with a little bit of salt and little red chili powder and believe me it tastes yummy!!! )

After resting we went to see the Samadhi of Tanaji. Nearby his Samadhi you have that particular cliff of the fort which he is supposed to have climbed.(according to the guide). Today if you see that steep cliff in the broad daylight you wonder how did Tanaji climb it on that night when it was so dark. And your head automatically gets bowed down imagining the bravery of those mavlas who climbed the wall along with Tanaji. These unknown soldiers did not do it for the sake of reward or money. In fact they did not even know what they would encounter once they reach on the top. Their only thing was they have to conquer this fort for their beloved Raje! Such was their loyalty...and such was their love for Shivaji....

THE STEEP CLIFF

SAMADHI OF TANAJI MALUSARE

   

Other than these structures on the fort you have the temples like Kondhaneshwar temple which the main deity of the fort, Amriteshwar temple, the tomb of Udaybhanu, the rajput who died fighting Tanaji and other ruins of the fort.

The fort is very large and it takes you almost half a day to see it. Of course in between you can have rest and eat pakoras, zhunka bhakar as I said earlier. The fort has two doors: one is Pune Darwaja and the other is Kalyan Darwaja. When I had visited the fort for the first time, near the Kalyan Darwaja we had sweet curd and buttermilk which is served to you in earthen pots (another specialty!)J

The climate on the top of the fort is very cool and pleasant. And if at all you feel tired the fresh and cool glass of limboo pani or buttermilk will make your tiredness go away instantly.

Kalyan Darwaja is the last point of this fort. Then you go back to Pune but the experience of this fort remains with you forever. For me it was very special because this was the first fort that I saw when I started my travels.

Today even though Simhagad has become a place for rave parties and one day picnic spot for the people living in the surrounding areas, it still retains its charm for the history-lovers like me.

HOW TO REACH SIMHAGAD:

Simhagad fort is about 30 kms to the city of Pune.

v  From Pune the distance by car is of about one or one and ½ hours. You can take the car right on the top and then climb just few steps to reach the Pune Darwaza.

v  There are buses going to the foothill village of Simhagad from Swargate.

v  Half a day is enough to see the full fort. Though people do spend the whole day since its a favorite picnic spot too.

v  It is also a favorite fort among the trekkers.

v  It is very easy to spot the fort because of the television tower which can be seen from far .