Pratapgarh Fort – A living legend

Come to the land of Pratapgarh in Maharashtra and get enchanted by the history it gives you. Stand on top of the hill over which the fort lies and experience the beauty of the surroundings. The place is around 24 kilometers from Mahabaleshwar and is a mountain fort which was built by Shivaji in the year 1656 to 1658 AD. This is the main strategic place where Shivaji won the battle against Afzal Khan who was the commander of the Bijapur Adishahi army.

Pratapgarh fort is one fort to be visited while you are at Pratapgarh and the other is the lower fort. The upper fort is the one on top and the lower fort is the one at the base from where you can get a complete view of the countryside. Tehre are around 450 steps that we have to climb to reach the fort. This seems to be difficult but is not so, because after the long climb when you get to see the beautiful scenery around and the Konkan coast below, you would forget the tiredness for having climbed up. Feel the breeze here, it completely relaxes you. Ensure that you wear proper footwear as the land here is very rugged. Make sure you have a good pair of shoes. There are many ponds, walkways and chambers here and many of them even lead to trap doors. This is the beauty of the intelligence that Shivaji Maharaj had. He had all the arrangements needed.

While at Pratapgarh, there are many places you could eat. The fort is open all the year around and there are buses which bring you her. Private cabs are also not a bad idea.

The fort is at a height of around 900 m above the sea level. The fort looks like a round topped hill. The wall of the lower fort is alike a crown on the brow only.

Built in the year 1656, the fort is an absolute collection of chambers, ponds and beautiful long lanes. The paths often even lead to trap door. The doors of the trapdoor have a 100 meter fall.

Here is where there was a great battle between Afzal Khan and the Maratha leader Shivaji. The forces of both the leaders also fought here. Afzal Khan was commanding the soldiers of Sultan Adil Shah of Bijapur. Shivaji was having a lesser strength in army yet he defeated Afzal Khan. Even today Afzal Khan’s body remains buried in the bottom of the hill and there is a monument here which was constructed by Shivaji. This was in those days a great way of warning all of Shivaji enemies that if they dared to meddle with him, they would meet the same fate.

Poladpur lies around 15km from this fort and has been built on a spur .This overlooks the Par and the Kinesvar villages.

The story goes that Maratha king Shivaji told Moropant Trimbak Pingle who was his prime minister to supervise the construction of this great fort. He wanted to protect himself from attack from Nira river and koyna river. He also told Pingle to take care of the Par pass. The Par pass got completed in the year 1656.

The battle was fought and was a test to see how strong the kings’ army was. The battle took place on the November 10, 1659. In the meantime Pratapgad continued to be a part of the politics in the entire region. Then in the year 1818, the Third Anglo Maratha war was fought. Pratapgarh had to be surrendered. This was a great loss to the Maratha army. In the year 1957 the Public Works Department, constructed a road to the fort from Khumbhrosi. There is also a guest house and a beautiful national park inside the fort.

The upper fort has the Mahadev temple. It is on the northwestern side of the fort and there are lot of cliffs surrounding it. There are many bastions and towers protecting this fort. Then you have the Afzal tower which is found coming out of the fort and was built after the Marathas won the battle. Afzal Khan’s head is said to be cut, and is buried here.

In the year 1661 Shivaji wanted to visit the Bhavan temple but couldn’t as he was being watched. So he decided to build a temple in the fort itself. The temple is on the eastern portion of the fort. The hall here has wooden pillars and there is shrine here made of stone and also has a black stone image of the Goddess. The flat roof on top with a lead covering was incidentally the work of the Satara Raja Pratapsinh. There is small spire on top of the temple.

There is a dargah for Afzal Khan a little away.

Thus the Pratapgarh fort certainly is a must see for those interested in history.