YEAR 1630.Jijabai, the wife of Shahaji was standing before the statue of Goddess Shivaii,the patron
goddess of the Shivneri fort. Her face was showing the anger and the
helplessness that she felt at that moment. Just then she had received the news
of the brutal murder of her father and her brothers in the open darbarhall of
Nizamshah. Shahaji having protested the brutal murder; had left his post in the
court of Nizam; was facing the death threat himself and was on the run. In the
meantime he had left his pregnant wife at Shivneri, in the care of the
killedarVishwasrao who was his trusted aide. With all these events running in
her mind the agony which Jijabai was going through was showing on her face.”Aai Bhavani,
help the Marathas to unite, help them to get their self-respect back.Show the
path”Jijabai pleaded with the Goddess with all her might. And probably her
prayers were heard. On 19th April 1630 a son was born to Raja
Shahaji and Jijabai. He was named as Shivaji after the Goddess Shivai.
And to this fort I was heading to
with two friends of mine Priti and Sarita.
We parked our car at the bottom
of the fort. Priti was tired after climbing the Lenyadri and decided not to
join us. So it was Sarita and I along with our kids started our journey of this
fort. Right at the entrance you have the map of the whole fort displayed. That
tells you how big the fort is.
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| THE MAP OF THE FORT |
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| MAIN DOOR |
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| CARVING OF THE DOG CRUSHING THE ELEPHANT ON ONE OF THE DOORS |
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| ANOTHER RUINED GATEWAY OF SHIVNERI |
You go little further and you come across the ruins of what was the storage room for storing of grains. It was known as the AMBARKHANA.
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| RUINS OF THE AMBARKHANA |
On the way you come across a path
on the right hand side. This path leads you straight to the temple of Goddess
Shivai.
The main temple is very small and now a big portrait of Raje Shivaji is displayed at the entrance.
Seeking the blessings of the goddess who answered the prayers of a heartbroken lady, we spent some time in the vicinity of this temple. Sitting on the wall of the temple one can see the surrounding sahyadri range stretched far and wide. The green fields below soothed the eyes. The doorway which leads to the temple has beautiful carvings displayed.
The main temple is very small and now a big portrait of Raje Shivaji is displayed at the entrance.
Seeking the blessings of the goddess who answered the prayers of a heartbroken lady, we spent some time in the vicinity of this temple. Sitting on the wall of the temple one can see the surrounding sahyadri range stretched far and wide. The green fields below soothed the eyes. The doorway which leads to the temple has beautiful carvings displayed.
From the temple we again
proceeded to the Shivjanmasthan. The road from the temple to the building where
Shivaji was born or for that matter where Jijabai and other royal ladies stayed
is about 2 km far from each other. We could see the building from where we
stood. It looked like it was on the end of the cliff and was about to fall down
from there.
Looking at the distance one wondered how Jijabai used to go everyday from her quarters to the temple in her pregnant state. Mind you the road is not smooth either. You need to climb up and down the uneven steps carved out of the rock. This is where one requires the supply of water with you. Halting, taking a sip or two from the water bottles and marvelling at how both the children were walking ahead of us without getting tired, we too joined them though we were little behind them.
Looking at the distance one wondered how Jijabai used to go everyday from her quarters to the temple in her pregnant state. Mind you the road is not smooth either. You need to climb up and down the uneven steps carved out of the rock. This is where one requires the supply of water with you. Halting, taking a sip or two from the water bottles and marvelling at how both the children were walking ahead of us without getting tired, we too joined them though we were little behind them.
On the way we passed the Badami talav
(Badami Tank) and the two water tanks i.e. Ganga and Jamuna. The water from
these tanks is now polluted but the tanks never get dried up. The water source
is constant throughout the year,
and then came the structure where a statue is kept of child Shivba and his mother Jijabai. Spending just five minutes over there, we proceeded further.
Our destination was very near and I was eager to see it.
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| FROG NEAR THE TANK |
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| THE TWIN TANKS |
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| STATUE OF BAL SHIVAJI AND JIJABAI |
Our destination was very near and I was eager to see it.
And finally we reached. The two
storey building was calling me to step in and that’s what I did.
The place where Shivaji was born.......this is a small room on the groundfloor of this building and is very dark. In those days the labour room used to be very dark and nobody except the middle woman that is Dai was allowed inside. Today the room has a bust of Shivaji and a small cradle is kept to keep alive the moment and the incident that took place.
Taking in the sight of the room
as much as we could, we went on the top floor. This was where Jijabai lived
after her delivery. The floor has arches and raised platforms near the windows.
Compared to the labour room this top floor had the ventilation and plenty of
light and air.
From the windows you could see
the parts of the fort in the distance. The arch of the mosque which is a
prominent landmark could be seen from here. In the courtyard of the building
there are ruined structures of probably another water tank (or was it a pool).
It was nearly the sunset time.
The sun was slowly saying goodbye to the Shivneri. Taking the cue we too said
our goodbye and proceeded towards the car taking with us the wonderful memories
back of the fort which had seen not only the birth of this great leader but
also the first few precious months of Shivaji’s life.
The place where Shivaji was born.......this is a small room on the groundfloor of this building and is very dark. In those days the labour room used to be very dark and nobody except the middle woman that is Dai was allowed inside. Today the room has a bust of Shivaji and a small cradle is kept to keep alive the moment and the incident that took place.
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| SHIVAJI'S BIRTHPLACE(Court. google pics) |
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| FIRST FLOOR OF THE BUILDING(COURT GOOGLE PICS) |
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| OUTSIDE THE BUILDING (COURTSY. GOOGLE PICS) |
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| THE MOSQUE NEARBY THE SHIVJANMASTHAN |
HISTORY OF THE FORT
Shivneri fort is at the height of
about 3500 feet above sea level and is one of the important forts in the
Sahyadri range. The fort is surrounded by other forts like Harishchandragad, Narayangad,
Hadsar, Chavand and Jivdhan.
Mention of Shivneri is in the
chronicles way before the birth of Shivaji. It got its name probably during the
Satvahana dynasty. During this time this fort was
mainly used to guard the old trading route that is Naneghat. Before that it
might have been used by the Buddhist monks who carved out caves in the hill of
Shivneri. These caves, rock cut architecture as well as the water system dates
back to 1stcentury A.D.
From the Satvahanas , the Shivneri changed many hands Yadavas of Devgiri, Delhi Sultanate and then the Bahamanis in the 15th century. In the year 1595, Maloji Bhosle , a Maratha sardar in the court of Nizamshah and the grandfather of Shivaji was given the control of Shivneri and Chakan.From there the jagir passed on to his son Shahaji. During the years 1626 onwards Shahaji who was earlier a sardar in the court of Nizam Shah had moved from the court of Nizamshah to the court of of Mughals for a brief period and then on to the Adilshah .During these turbulent times when he was always on the run, Shahaji was concerned for his pregnant wife Jijabai. So he thought that Shivneri would be the best place for Jijabai to be safe. It was the perfect place with a strongly built citadel and moreover the Killedar was a trusted aide of Shahaji by name of Vishwasrao.
From the Satvahanas , the Shivneri changed many hands Yadavas of Devgiri, Delhi Sultanate and then the Bahamanis in the 15th century. In the year 1595, Maloji Bhosle , a Maratha sardar in the court of Nizamshah and the grandfather of Shivaji was given the control of Shivneri and Chakan.From there the jagir passed on to his son Shahaji. During the years 1626 onwards Shahaji who was earlier a sardar in the court of Nizam Shah had moved from the court of Nizamshah to the court of of Mughals for a brief period and then on to the Adilshah .During these turbulent times when he was always on the run, Shahaji was concerned for his pregnant wife Jijabai. So he thought that Shivneri would be the best place for Jijabai to be safe. It was the perfect place with a strongly built citadel and moreover the Killedar was a trusted aide of Shahaji by name of Vishwasrao.
It was
here and under these circumstances that a son was born to Jijabai on 19th
February 1630.He was named as Shivaji or Shivba as he was known as after the
patron Goddess of the fort,Shivai. This was the fort where he spent his
childhood before shifting to Lalmahal in Pune.
Even if
this fort was his birthplace, Shivaji had to surrender it to the Mughals and
throughout his lifetime though he made attempts to reconquer it he could never
do so. The fort came under the control of the Marathas in the later half of 18th century and after 1820 the fort was taken over
by the British.
HOW TO
REACH SHIVNERI:
- From Pune, Shivneri is about 90 km by road.
- The nearest village is Junnar which is 2/3 kilometers away from Shivneri.
- There are buses plying from Pune to Junnar from Swargate in Pune.
- If you go by private vehicle you can go little bit further on the fort and from there you need to walk to reach the first doorway.
- It’s better to carry your own food and water supply.
