Chandwad Fort (Chandor fort; चांदवड किल्ला) is located from Chandwad,

Nashik district Nashik district, also known as Nasik district, is a district in Maharashtra, India. The city of Nashik is the administrative headquarters of the district. Nashik is well known for the production of wine. Nashik is also known as Mini Maharashtra, ...

, of

Maharashtra Maharashtra (; , abbr. MH or Maha) is a states and union territories of India, state in the western India, western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. Maharashtra is the List of states and union te ...

History

Chandwad fort was positioned to overlook the trade route from

Khandesh Khandesh is a geographic region in Central India, which includes parts of the northwestern portion of Maharashtra as well as Burhanpur District of Madhya Pradesh. The use of Khandeshi Language (a.k.a. the Ahirani Language) is prevalent in ...

Nashik Nashik (, Marathi: aːʃik, also called as Nasik ) is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Situated on the banks of river Godavari, Nashik is the third largest city in Maharashtra, after Mumbai and Pune. Nashik ...

. It guarded the Chandor pass in the nearby hills. It was built about A.D. 801 by

Dridhaprahara Dridhaprahara (IAST: Dṛḍhaprahāra, r. c. 860-880) is the earliest historically attested ruler of the Seuna (Yadava) dynasty that ruled the western Deccan region in present-day India. Early life According to Jain tradition, Dridhaprahara wa ...

, the founder of the

Seuna (Yadava) dynasty The Seuna, Sevuna, or Yadavas of Devagiri (IAST: Seuṇa, –1317) was a Medieval Indian dynasty, which at its peak ruled a kingdom stretching from the Narmada river in the north to the Tungabhadra river in the south, in the western part of t ...

. King Bhoj established 52 temples in the nearby region. His daughter, Chandrakala, was married to King Vikram at this fort. The fort was under the control of the

Bahmani Sultanate The Bahmani Sultanate, or Deccan, was a Persianate Sunni Muslim Indian Kingdom located in the Deccan region. It was the first independent Muslim kingdom of the Deccan,

in 14th century. In 1635 the Moghul army took Chandor fort along with

Indrai fort Indrai Fort / Indragiri Fort is a fort located 75 km from Nashik, in Nashik district, of Maharashtra. This fort though is an important fort in Nashik district but, it is less visited by the trekkers. In Chandwad taluka, there are 4 fo ...

. In 1665 Chanwad fort was taken by the

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Shi ...

. It was later captured by the Moghul emperor,

Aurangzeb Muhi al-Din Muhammad (; – 3 March 1707), commonly known as ( fa, , lit=Ornament of the Throne) and by his regnal title Alamgir ( fa, , translit=ʿĀlamgīr, lit=Conqueror of the World), was the sixth emperor of the Mughal Empire, ruling ...

. Between 1754 and 1756,

Malharrao Holkar Malhar Rao Holkar (16 March 1693 – 20 May 1766) was a noble subedar of the Maratha Empire, in present-day India. He was one of the early officers along with Ranoji Scindia to help spread the Maratha rule to northern states and was given the es ...

induced craftsman to settle in the town by gifting some land. Chandwad then became famous for its brass-work. On 10 April 1818, after the surrender of

Ankai ~Anhui Ankai Automobile Co., Ltd. is a Chinese automotive manufacturing company headquartered in Hefei, Anhui which specialises in the production of buses and coaches. Ankai's products include urban buses, regular coaches, sleeping berth coaches ...

and

Tankai fort Tankai fort is a hill, part of the Satmala Range, with the ruins of a large Maratha hill fort on the peak. With Ankai Fort near this fort are known as Ankai-Tankai, the strongest hill fort in the Nashik district, rises about 900 feet above the p ...

s, the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

forces captured Chanwad fort under the detachment headed by Lieutenant-Colonel McDowell. In 1857, during the first war of independence (the rebellion), the 24th Maratha regiment initially took charge of the fort, but had to surrender it to British forces in 1859. After the opening of the G.I.P. Railway depot at

Manmad Manmad ( ənmaːɖ is one of the towns in Nashik district in the state of Maharashtra in India. It is the third largest city in Nashik district, with a population of approximately 80,000. Geographically it lies within Nandgaon Tehsil in Na ...

in 1861, the bulk of trade line traffic was diverted away from Chandwad.

Gallery

File:Chandwad 1.jpg, Ruins of the Mint building File:Chandwad4.jpg, Chandreshwar Mahadev temple File:Chandwad2.jpg, Rock cut steps

References

{{MarathaEmpire Buildings and structures of the Maratha Empire Forts in Nashik district 16th-century forts in India Tourist attractions in Nashik district Former populated places in India Hiking trails in India Hiking

History

Gallery

See also

References