| Battle of Sinhagad (Kondhana) | |||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of Imperial Maratha Conquests | |||||||||
 The Fort of Sinhagad | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||||
 Maratha Empire |  Mughal Empire | ||||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||||
 Tanaji Malusare † |  Udyabhan Rathore † [1] | ||||||||
The Battle of Sinhagad, also known as Battle of Kondhana, involved an attack by the forces of the Maratha Empire during the night of 4 February 1670 on the fort of Sinhagad (then Kondhana), near the city of Pune, Maharashtra. The Marathas captured the fort.
In the 1650s, Aurangzeb sent Shaista Khan to subdue Shivaji. Khan captured Poona (now Pune) and took residence in Lal Mahal. Shivaji and his soldiers made a surprise attack on Khan, wherein they wounded him and killed one of his sons. However, Khan eventually escaped. Khan looted Pune for 2 years and devastated Deccan. So, Shivaji went on to loot and plunder the wealthy port city of Surat to restore the wealth as Surat at the time was a centre of great riches and wealthy merchants. This greatly increased Aurangzeb's anger against the Marathas. He sent his General Mirza Raja Jai Singh with a large army to subdue Shivaji. Jai Singh besieged Purandar fort. Meanwhile, Diler Khan defeated the armies at Vajragad, near Purandar. The Mughals plundered villages in the Maratha kingdom. For the welfare of his subjects, Shivaji decided to sign a treaty with Jai Singh. They met and signed the Treaty of Purandar. According to the treaty, Shivaji was to give 23 forts to the Mughals and agree to fight for them when needed. He would be allowed to retain control of 12 forts. Later, he agreed to meet Aurangzeb at Agra.[ citation needed ]
Upon reaching Agra, Aurangzeb put him under house arrest, but Shivaji managed to escape. Shivaji then kept a low profile for some years until Aurangzeb increased activities in the north. Later, Jai Singh died at Burhanpur, and a weaker prince, Muazzam, became governor of the Deccan. Shivaji then felt that this was a good opportunity to reclaim what had belonged to the Swarajya. He broke the treaty and started recapturing the forts that he had previously given the Mughals under the treaty.[ citation needed ]
Sinhagad was one of the first forts which Shivaji recaptured from the Mughals. The capture was made possible by scaling the walls at night with rope ladders. Tanaji Malusare was martyred and Udaybhan was killed, but the fort was captured by the Marathas. The battle and Tanaji's exploits are the basis of a popular Marathi ballad. [2]
When Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was informed about the victory and the loss of Tanaji's life during the battle, he exclaimed "Gad aala pan sinh gela" (Devnagari: गड आला पण सिंह गेला) (English: "The fort has been captured but we lost the lion"). A bust of Tanaji Malusare was installed at the fort in memory of his contribution and sacrifice. [3] The fort was also renamed Sinhagad to honour his memory.[ citation needed ]
Shivaji I was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adilshahi Sultanate of Bijapur that formed the genesis of the Maratha Empire. In 1674, he was formally crowned the Chhatrapati of his realm at Raigad Fort.
Sambhaji, also known as Shambhuraje was the second Chhatrapati of the Maratha Empire, ruling from 1681 to 1689. He was the eldest son of Shivaji, the founder of the Maratha Empire. Sambhaji's rule was largely shaped by the ongoing wars between the Maratha Empire and the Mughal Empire, as well as other neighbouring powers such as the Abyssinians of Janjira, Wadiyars of Mysore and the Portuguese Empire in Goa. After Sambhaji's execution by Aurangzeb, his brother Rajaram I succeeded him as the next Chhatrapati and continued the Mughal–Maratha Wars.
Tanhaji Malusare was a warrior and commander of Shivaji. A local poet Tulsidas, wrote a powada describing Subhedar Tanhaji's heroics and sacrifice of life in the Battle of Sinhagad, which has since made him a popular figure in Indian folklore.
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Sinhagad is an ancient hill fortress located at around 49 km southwest of the city of Pune, India.
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Savitribai Deshmukh, better known by her title Rai Bagan or Raibagan, was a female Mughal general under the Emperor Aurangzeb. She was the widow of the Mughal sardar Raje Udaram Deshmukh of Mahur jagir in Deccan. After her son's death in Battle of Samugarh, she led her forces aiding the then prince Aurangzeb in the battle, which paved his way to become the emperor. The emperor conferred upon her the royal title. She aided Aurangzeb's uncle Shaista Khan in the Mughal campaign against the Maratha empire's founder Shivaji.
Shri Shivraj Ashtak is an Indian Marathi-language historical drama film series created by Digpal Lanjekar. The franchise started off with an eight-part film series written and directed by Lanjekar based on Maratha Empire. The first film Farzand released on 1 June 2018 and was followed by 6 films: Fatteshikast (2019), Pawankhind (2022), Sher Shivraj (2022), Subhedar (2023), Shivrayancha Chhava (2024).
The first and most spectacular success was the capture of Sinhagad fort. It was taken by scaling very difficult walls by the means of rope ladders in a night raid which culminated in a hand to hand combat inside the fort. The raid was led by Tanhaji Malsure, who was killed in the battle.
