Bahadurgad (, "Bahadur Fort") is a fort in the Pedgaon village of

Ahmednagar district Ahmednagar district (Marathi pronunciation: �ɦ(ə)məd̪nəɡəɾ, officially Ahilyanagar district, is the largest district of Maharashtra state in western India. The historical city of Ahmednagar is the headquarters of the district. Ahmednagar ...

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Location

The fort is located about 100 km from

Pune Pune ( ; , ISO 15919, ISO: ), previously spelled in English as Poona (List of renamed Indian cities and states#Maharashtra, the official name until 1978), is a city in the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan Plateau, Deccan plateau in Western ...

. The nearest town is Daund. This fort lay about 15 km East of the Daund town on northern banks of River

Bhima Bhima (, ), also known as Bhimasena (, ), is a hero and one of the most prominent characters in the Hindu epic ''Mahabharata''. As the second of the five Pandava brothers, Bhima was born to Kunti—the wife of King Pandu—fathered by Vayu, the ...

. The Fort is situated in the village Pedgaon.

Places to see

The fort is rectangular in shape with two entrance gates. The gate towards the village is in good condition while that towards the river is in ruined state. There is a 5 feet tall Maruti/

Hanuman Hanuman (; , ), also known as Maruti, Bajrangabali, and Anjaneya, is a deity in Hinduism, revered as a divine ''vanara'', and a devoted companion of the deity Rama. Central to the ''Ramayana'', Hanuman is celebrated for his unwavering devotio ...

statue inside the fort along with group of 5 temples which were constructed during Yadav period. The Hemadpanti architecture temples are of Baleshwar, Lakshmi-Narayan, Mallikarjun, Rameshwar and Bhairavnath. There are many heroic stones, Satigal, cannon balls, Deepmal and a statue of Shiva in front of the Bhairavnath temple.

History

Very little is known of the history of the fort. During the

Mughal Empire The Mughal Empire was an Early modern period, early modern empire in South Asia. At its peak, the empire stretched from the outer fringes of the Indus River Basin in the west, northern Afghanistan in the northwest, and Kashmir in the north, to ...

, Pedgaon was one of the chief stores and a frontier post of the Moghul Army. In 1672, the then Deccan Viceroy, Khan Jahan, camped here and tried to pursue the Maratha army headed by Shivaji I. Khan Jahan built water channels in order to bring water from the river Bhima. The Mot and the Persian wheel are well preserved till now. Khan Jahan renamed Pedgaon as Bahadurgad. This fort was captured by Shivaji by fooling the Moghul Chief. There is a 2 storied palace of

Aurangzeb Alamgir I (Muhi al-Din Muhammad; 3 November 1618 – 3 March 1707), commonly known by the title Aurangzeb, also called Aurangzeb the Conqueror, was the sixth Mughal emperors, Mughal emperor, reigning from 1658 until his death in 1707, becomi ...

inside the fort. This the fort where Sambhaji Raje and Kavi Kalash were subjected to a horrific torture when they did not accept to be converted to Islam. Bahadurgad has been renamed as Dharmaveergad in the memory of Sambhaji raje. In 1759 Pedgaon was captured by Sadashivrao Bhau

Peshwa The Peshwa was the second highest office in the Maratha Empire, next in rank and prestige only to that of the Chhatrapati. Initially serving as the appointed prime minister in the Maratha Kingdom, the office became hereditary when Shahu gave t ...

, and remained with the Marathas till 1818.

References

External links

* {{Maratha Empire Buildings and structures of the Maratha Empire Forts in Ahmednagar district 16th-century forts in India