Firangoji Narsala was a

Maratha The Marathi people (Marathi: मराठी लोक) or Marathis are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are indigenous to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-Aryan language. Maharashtra was formed as a M ...

warrior and military leader in the army of

Shivaji Shivaji Bhonsale I (; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680), also referred to as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle Maratha clan. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the declining Adils ...

, in 17th century India. He is famous for his defence of

Sangram Durg Sangram Durga is a land fort situated at Chakan, Pune, Maharashtra, India. Original area of fort was 65 acres, currently only 5.5 acres. The Fort was attacked by Mughal general, Shaista Khan with force of 20,000 men with artillery on 23 June 166 ...

, a fort, against a Mughal army led by

Shaista Khan Mirza Abu Talib (22 November 1600 – 1694), better known as Shaista Khan, was a general and the subahdar of Mughal Bengal. A maternal uncle to the emperor Aurangzeb, he acted as a key figure during his reign. Shaista Khan initially governed ...

in 1660 . Firangoji was a 'Killedar' (fortress commander) of this

fort A fortification is a military construction or building designed for the defense of territories in warfare, and is also used to establish rule in a region during peacetime. The term is derived from Latin ''fortis'' ("strong") and ''facere'' ...

in Chakan (

Pune Pune (; ; also known as Poona, (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million ...

). When Shaista Khan invaded Pune with a

lakh A lakh (; abbreviated L; sometimes written lac) is a unit in the Indian numbering system equal to one hundred thousand (100,000; scientific notation: 105). In the Indian 2,2,3 convention of digit grouping, it is written as 1,00,000. For ex ...

of soldiers, he selected Sangram Durga as the first target. He attacked the fort with 20,000 soldiers on 23 June 1660. Firangoji Narasala was prepared for this attack, however, even though he had only 320 soldiers. Just before this attack Shivaji had asked his commander to leave the fort. However, Firangoji decided not to abandon the fort and instead started a fierce

guerrilla war Guerrilla warfare is a form of irregular warfare in which small groups of combatants, such as paramilitary personnel, armed civilians, or irregulars, use military tactics including ambushes, sabotage, raids, petty warfare, hit-and-run tactic ...

against the Mughals and defended the fort in this way for 56 days. War ended on 14 August 1660. The Mughals tried another way of taking the fort. They dug a tunnel up to the fort; which was a challenge because of the water around it. They filled this tunnel with

explosive An explosive (or explosive material) is a reactive substance that contains a great amount of potential energy that can produce an explosion if released suddenly, usually accompanied by the production of light, heat, sound, and pressure. An expl ...

s and blew up the wall of the fort. This was a major setback for Firangoji and his soldiers; 75 soldiers died in this attack. The Mughal army rushed into the fort; fierce fighting ensued and many Maratha soldiers were killed. Shaista Khan was astonished by Firangoji's bravery, and offered him Mughal

Sardar Sardar, also spelled as Sardaar/Sirdar ( fa, سردار, , 'commander', literally 'headmaster'), is a title of royalty and nobility that was originally used to denote princes, noblemen, chiefs, kings and other aristocrats. It has also been u ...

i. But Firangoji refused to accept it; instead Shaista Khan gave him and his soldiers safe passage. Firangoji came to meet Shivaji and apologised for surrendering the fort. But Shivaji was very happy with him as he had defended a small fort for almost 2 months. He said "if it took 60 days for Shaista Khan to take a small fort, imagine how many days will be required to capture an entire swarajya (kingdom). Shaista Khan will be here for few days, he is not going to take Sangram Durg with him. Whatever you have done is praiseworthy". Shivaji rewarded Firangoji and made him Killedar of the Bhupalgad (Bhupal fort).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Narsala, Firangoji Indian military leaders People of the Maratha Empire Marathi people People from Maharashtra