Battle of Sinhagad

The Battle of Sinhagad, also known as Battle of Kondhana, took place during the night of 4 February 1670 at the fort of Sinhagad (then Kondhana), near the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India.

Background

In the 1650s, Aurangzeb sent Shahiste Khan to subdue Shivaji. Khan captured Poona (Now Pune) and took residence in Lal Mahal. Shivaji and his soldiers made a surprise attack on the Khan, wherein they wounded Khan, and killed one of his sons. However, Khan eventually escaped. Shivaji went on to loot and plunder the wealthy port city of Surat, which at that time was a centre of great riches and wealthy merchants. This greatly increased Aurangzeb's anger against the Marathas. He sent his General Mirza Rajah Jai Singh with a large army to subdue Shivaji. Jai Singh besieged Purandar fort, and blocked entry and exit points. The Maratha tried to break the siege but were not successful. In the meantime 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 whenever needed. He would be allowed to retain control of 12 forts. Later, he agreed to meet Aurangzeb at Agra.

Upon reaching Agra, Aurangzeb put him under house arrest, but Sivaji managed to escape. Shivaji then kept a low profile for some years until Aurangzeb increased activities in the north. Also, Jai Singh died at Burhanpur, and a weak prince, Muazzam, became governor of Deccan. Considering all these points, Shivaji felt that this was a good opportunity to reclaim what had belonged to the Swarajya. He broke the terms of the treaty and started recapturing the forts that he had previously given the Mughals under the treaty.

Battle

Sinhagad was one of the first forts which chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj recaptured from the Mughals. The capture was made possible by scaling the walls at night with rope ladders. In this battle both Udaybhan Rathore and Tanhaji were killed, but the fort was captured by the Marathas. The battle and Tanhaji's exploits are still a popular subject for Marathi ballads.

Attack on the garrison

Tanaji Malusare and 300 hand-picked Mavle infantry, assisted by some Koli guides who knew the place well, scaled the hillside one night using rope ladders. They advanced into the fort, slaying the sentinels. The alarm was given and the Mughals took some time to arm themselves and come out, but the Marathas secured their footing.

During the attack, Malusare scaled a steep cliff that led to the fort with the assistance of a monitor lizard called Yashwanti (also referred to as ghorpad in Marathi language). This type of lizard had been tamed since the 15th century, and Yashwanti was trained to pull the rope up the cliffs for Malusare and wind it around the fort's bastion.

Climbing up the fort, the Marathas were intercepted by the garrison and combat ensued between the guards and several infiltrators that had managed to climb up. Tanaji and his Mavala infantrymen climbed by Kalyan ''darwaza'' (), one of the two main gates of the fort. The garrison fought desperately, but the Maratha Mavales with their war cry of "Hara! Hara! Mahadev!" wreaked havoc in their ranks. Tanaji and Udaybhan fought each other intensely. The chiefs fought each other and fell dead after a singles combat. Tanaji's shield broke during the battle.

The Maratha soldiers set fire to the huts of cavalry lines, and the blaze informed Shivaji at Raigad that Kondhana has been captured.

Aftermath

It is said that when maharaj Shivaji got the information 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) (transl. "The fort has been captured but we lost the lion"). A bust of Tanaji Malusare was established on the fort in memory of his contribution and sacrifice. The fort was also renamed Sinhagad to honor his memory.

In popular culture

* Tanhaji - a Hindi movie of 2020, starring Ajay Devgan, depicted the battle of Kondhana.
* Raja Shivchatrapati - a Marathi TV serial of Star Pravah had episodes about this battle.

Bibliography

* Shivaji and His Times (1920), Authored by Jadunath Sarkar, New York, USA.

References

{{coord missing, Maharashtra

1670 in India
Sinhgad 1670
Sinhagad
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