Vishalgad (also called Vishalgarh, Khelna or Khilna) was a

jagir A jagir (), ( Hindustani: जागीर/جاگیر, ''Jāgīr''), ( Marathi: जहागीर, ''Jahāgīrá'') also spelled as jageer, was a type of feudal land grant in the Indian subcontinent at the foundation of its Jagirdar ( Zamindar ...

during the

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern India, early modern polity in the Indian subcontinent. It comprised the realms of the Peshwa and four major independent List of Maratha dynasties and states, Ma ...

and then later part of the Deccan States Agency of the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

Fort

A fort had existed at Vishalgad for a long period. During the Bahmani rule it belonged to the Shirke clan. During that period it was known by the name , khelna. The Maratha emperor

Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj Chhatrapati is a royal title from Sanskrit used to denote a king. The word "Chhatrapati" is a Sanskrit language compound word of ''Chatra (umbrella), chhatra'' (''parasol'' or ''umbrella'') and ''Pati (title), pati'' (''master/lord/ruler''). T ...

had escaped to it after being besieged at

Panhala Fort Panhala fort (also known as Panhalgad and Panhalla ( literally "the home of serpents")), is located in Panhala, 20 kilometres northwest of Kolhapur in Maharashtra, India. It is strategically located looking over a pass in the Sahyadri mountain ...

in 1660 and in 1844 it was one of the forts of Kolhapur State that initiated a rebellion against a

regent In a monarchy, a regent () is a person appointed to govern a state because the actual monarch is a minor, absent, incapacitated or unable to discharge their powers and duties, or the throne is vacant and a new monarch has not yet been dete ...

called Daji Krishna Pandit who had been installed by the British to govern the state in 1843 at a time when the natural heir to the throne was underage. He took direction from a political agent of the

East India Company The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company that was founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to Indian Ocean trade, trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (South A ...

and among their actions were reforms to the tax of land. These reforms caused much resentment and, despite Kolhapur having refrained from involvement in the previous Anglo-Maratha Wars, a revolt against the British began in 1844. The rebellion began with soldiers locking themselves into hill-forts such as those as Panhala and Vishalgad, and then spread to Kolhapur itself.

References

{{Forts in Maharashtra Jagirs Forts in Maharashtra Tourist attractions in Kolhapur district

Fort

See also

References