Qualla: Sinhagad

Sinhagad: Introduction

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Amit mitkar at English Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 3.0. They scaled the cliff in the dead of night using a tamed monitor lizard named Yashwanti. The year was 1670, the commander was Tanaji Malusare, and the fortress he was climbing to recapture had already passed between empires more times than anyone could easily count. When word of the victory reached Shivaji, the Maratha king did not celebrate. His general was dead. "Gad ala, pan Sinha gela," he reportedly said -- "The fort is conquered, but the Lion is lost." The fortress was renamed Sinhagad, the Lion's Fort, and the story became inseparable from the stone.

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Image: Amit mitkar at English Wikipedia | CC BY-SA 3.0

Sinhagad: A Cliff That Invites Conquest

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit DesiBoy101, CC BY-SA 4.0. Perched on an isolated cliff of the Bhuleswar range in the Sahyadri Mountains, Sinhagad sits about 760 meters above the surrounding ground and 1,317 meters above sea level. The location, roughly 28 kilometers southwest of Pune, was chosen for an obvious reason: the slopes are so ...

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Image: DesiBoy101 | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sinhagad: Centuries of Changing Flags

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Jaysheel Utekar, CC BY-SA 4.0. Originally called Kondhana, after the sage Kaundinya, the fort was held by the Koli chieftain Nag Naik until 1328, when forces of Muhammad bin Tughluq captured it after an eight-month siege. What followed was a relay of power: Delhi Sultanate, Bahmani Sultanate, Ahmadnagar Sultan...

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Image: Jaysheel Utekar | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sinhagad: The Night Raid That Named a Fort

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Niranjan Sitapure, CC BY-SA 4.0. Tanaji Malusare was a Koli Subedar in Shivaji's army, and the task he accepted was nearly suicidal. The cliff face was vertical. According to tradition, his men used a tamed Bengal monitor lizard -- called a ghorpad in Marathi -- to carry a rope to the top, its claws gripping the...

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Image: Niranjan Sitapure | CC BY-SA 4.0

Sinhagad: From Battleground to Retreat

Fri, 06 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Photo credit Lobodrl, CC BY-SA 3.0. The Marathas held Sinhagad from 1706 until 1817, using it alternately as a refuge from enemies threatening Pune and as a prison for political rebels. Rajaram I, the third Maratha Chhatrapati, took asylum here during a Mughal raid on Satara and died at the fort on 3 March 1700. Du...

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Image: Lobodrl | CC BY-SA 3.0