Gawilghur (also, Gavalgadh, Gawilgarh or Gawilgad, Pronunciation: �aːʋilɡəɖ was a well-fortified mountain stronghold of the

Maratha Empire The Maratha Empire, also referred to as the Maratha Confederacy, was an early modern Indian confederation that came to dominate much of the Indian subcontinent in the 18th century. Maratha rule formally began in 1674 with the coronation of Sh ...

north of the

Deccan The large Deccan Plateau in southern India is located between the Western Ghats and the Eastern Ghats, and is loosely defined as the peninsular region between these ranges that is south of the Narmada river. To the north, it is bounded by the ...

Plateau, in the vicinity of

Melghat Tiger Reserve Melghat was among the first nine tiger reserves of India to be notified in 1973 under Project Tiger. It is located at in the northern part of Amravati District of Maharashtra. Melghat Wildlife Sanctuary was declared as in 1985. The Tapti ...

, Amravati District, Maharashtra. It was successfully assaulted by an Anglo-Indian force commanded by Arthur Wellesley on 15 December 1803 during the

Second Anglo-Maratha War } The Second Anglo-Maratha War (1803–1805) was the second conflict between the British East India Company and the Maratha Empire in India. Background The British had supported the "fugitive" Peshwa Raghunathrao in the First Anglo-Maratha War ...

. The campaign to take Gawilghur is portrayed in the novel ''

Sharpe's Fortress ''Sharpe's Fortress'' is the third historical novel of the Richard Sharpe series, by Bernard Cornwell, first published in 1998. It is the last of the Sharpe India trilogy. It tells the story of Ensign Sharpe, during the battle of Argaum and th ...

'' by

Bernard Cornwell Bernard Cornwell (born 23 February 1944) is an English-American author of historical novels and a history of the Waterloo Campaign. He is best known for his novels about Napoleonic Wars rifleman Richard Sharpe. He has also written ''The Saxon ...

, the third in a series of books covering Richard Sharpe's service in the British army in India during the

Napoleonic era The Napoleonic era is a period in the history of France and Europe. It is generally classified as including the fourth and final stage of the French Revolution, the first being the National Assembly, the second being the Legislativ ...

History

The fort takes its name from the

Gawli Ahir Gavli or Yadav Gawli is a subcaste of the Yadav community, found in the Indian states of Maharashtra and Madhya pradesh. They are referred as Golla in Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Karnataka. Yadava, Konar, Manyani Nair, Golla and Ahir ...

(cow herds) who inhabited the Berar (modern day Amravati) for centuries. Earlier the fort was likely just made of mud as were several such areas in the region. The exact date of construction is not known but the Persian historian,

Firishta Firishta or Ferešte ( fa, ), full name Muhammad Qasim Hindu Shah Astarabadi ( fa, مُحَمَّد قاسِم هِندو شاہ), was a Persian historian, who later settled in India and served the Deccan Sultans as their court historian. He was ...

, records that Ahmed Shah Wali, the ninth king of the Bahamani dynasty built Gawilgarh when he was encamped at Ellichpur in 1425. Likely this was the date when major fortification was carried out. In 1803 during the 2nd Maratha War the fort was besieged by Arthur Wellesley (later

Duke of Wellington Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, (1 May 1769 – 14 September 1852) was an Anglo-Irish people, Anglo-Irish soldier and Tories (British political party), Tory statesman who was one of the leading military and political figures of Uni ...

). After two failed attempts at the main gate by British and Sepoy companies, and many casualties, Captain Campbell led the 94th Highlanders (light company) up the ravine dividing the inner and outer forts and into the inner fort by

escalade {{Unreferenced, date=May 2007 Escalade is the act of scaling defensive walls or ramparts with the aid of ladders. Escalade was a prominent feature of sieges in ancient and medieval warfare, and though it is no longer common in modern warfare ...

. The Scots then forced the northern gatehouse and opened the many gates, allowing the remaining British forces entry. The British suffered few casualties in the final assault (approx. 150). The fortress was returned to the Marathas after making peace with the British but they abandoned it.

Major features

The fort has several inscriptions in Persian recording the date of building of each of its seven gates. It has two water tanks (''Devtalav'' and ''Khantalav''), which would have been the main water source in case the fort was besieged. Within the fort the ruins of a mosque are the most conspicuous. It stands at the highest point in the inner fort and is built in the

Pathan Pashtuns (, , ; ps, پښتانه, ), also known as Pakhtuns or Pathans, are an Iranian ethnic group who are native to the geographic region of Pashtunistan in the present-day countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan. They were historically re ...

style of architecture. The mosque has a square canopy with intricate stone lattice work and a seven arched façade. The mosque originally had two minarets, only one of which is intact today. Gafur Ahmed, a jaglia (tenant) of the

Narnala Narnala Fort or Narnala Killa Sarkar, also known as Shahnoor Fort, is a hill fortress in the Satpura Range of Vidarbh, Maharashtra, India, named after the Rajput Solanki Chaulukya Ruler, Raja Narnal Singh, also known as Narnal Singh Swami. ...

fort, tried to determine whether the chambers built into the fort of

had any use by driving 20 sheep into them. One of the sheep turned up at Gawilgarh which is more than 20 miles away. So, probably there is a tunnel connecting the two forts. There are several unrepaired breaches made by British guns, which remain to this day. The gun that killed five attackers with a single shot still stands, although now with graffiti running the length of the barrel.

References

{{Berar Berar Forts in Maharashtra Archaeological sites in Maharashtra Amravati district Forts in Vidarbha Historical places Vidarbha

History

Major features

See also

References