SHIVNERI: BIRTHPLACE OF SAHYADRI’S LION

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 19^th 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.

THE MAP OF THE FORT

MAIN DOOR

CARVING OF THE DOG CRUSHING THE ELEPHANT ON ONE OF THE DOORS

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.

RUINS OF THE AMBARKHANA

 Clicking some snaps here and there we proceeded further. There are total seven gates which one needs to cross.On one of the doors you can see a carving of a dog like animal crushing the elephants under its feet.It meant that even a nameless entity can crush the mightiest. Our main destination was to see the birthplace of this great leader.

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.

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.

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,

FROG NEAR THE TANK

THE TWIN TANKS

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.

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.

SHIVAJI'S BIRTHPLACE(Court. google pics)

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.

FIRST FLOOR OF THE BUILDING(COURT GOOGLE PICS)

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).

OUTSIDE THE BUILDING (COURTSY. GOOGLE PICS)

THE MOSQUE NEARBY THE SHIVJANMASTHAN

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.

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 1^stcentury A.D.
From the Satvahanas , the Shivneri changed many hands Yadavas of Devgiri, Delhi Sultanate and then the Bahamanis in the 15^th 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 19^th 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.