Ahivant Fort is a fort located 55km from

Nashik Nashik, formerly Nasik, is a city in the northern region of the Indian state of Maharashtra situated on the banks of the river Godavari, about northeast of the state capital Mumbai. Nashik is one of the Hindu pilgrimage sites of the Kumbh ...

, in

Nashik district Nashik district,(Marathi: Help:IPA/Marathi, ̪ɑɕɪk formerly known as Nasik district, is a district in Maharashtra, India. The city of Nashik is the administrative headquarters of the district. Nashik is well known for the production of win ...

, of

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 ...

. This fort is an important fort in Nashik district. The three forts Achala, Ahivant, and Mohandar are very close by. The other two forts were constructed to guard the Ahivant fort.

History

In 1636 this fort was under the control of

Adilshah The Sultanate of Bijapur was an early modern kingdom in the western Deccan and South India, ruled by the Muslim Adil Shahi (or Adilshahi) dynasty. Bijapur had been a ''taraf'' (province) of the Bahmani Kingdom prior to its independence in 149 ...

. The

Moghul Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * ...

Emperor

Shahjahan Shah Jahan I, (Shahab-ud-Din Muhammad Khurram; 5 January 1592 – 22 January 1666), also called Shah Jahan the Magnificent, was the Emperor of Hindustan from 1628 until his deposition in 1658. As the fifth Mughal emperor, his reign marked th ...

sent one of his generals,

Shaista Khan Mirza Abu Talib (b. 22 November 1600 – d. 1694), better known as Shaista Khan, was a general and the Subahdar of Mughal Bengal. He was maternal uncle to the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb, and acted as a key figure during his reign. Shaista Khan ini ...

, and instructed him to win all the forts in Nashik region.

Alivardi Khan Alivardi Khan (1671 – 9 April 1756) was the fourth Nawab of Bengal from 1740 to 1756. He toppled the Nasiri dynasty of Nawabs by defeating Sarfaraz Khan in 1740 and assumed power himself. During much of his reign Alivardi encountered frequen ...

was a cavalier of

who won the fort. In 1670, the

Maratha The Marathi people (; Marathi: , ''Marāṭhī lōk'') or Marathis (Marathi: मराठी, ''Marāṭhī'') are an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group who are native to Maharashtra in western India. They natively speak Marathi, an Indo-A ...

King

Shivaji Shivaji I (Shivaji Shahaji Bhonsale, ; 19 February 1630 – 3 April 1680) was an Indian ruler and a member of the Bhonsle dynasty. Shivaji carved out his own independent kingdom from the Sultanate of Bijapur that formed the genesis of the ...

won the fort from the Moghuls. The

Mughal Mughal or Moghul may refer to: Related to the Mughal Empire * Mughal Empire of South Asia between the 16th and 19th centuries * Mughal dynasty * Mughal emperors * Mughal people, a social group of Central and South Asia * Mughal architecture * Mug ...

Emperor,

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 ...

, sent his chieftain

Mahabat Khan Mahabat Khan () (full title ''Mahabat Khan Khan-e-Khanan Sipah-Salar Zamana Beg Kabuli)'', born Zamana Beg (died October 1634), was a prominent Mughal general and statesman, perhaps best known for his coup against the Mughal Emperor Jahangir i ...

to win the fort. Mahabat Khan and

Diler Khan Diler Khan Daudzai was a Mughal general who served under Aurangzeb and was the governor of Awadh. He is known for engaging in battle and killing Murarbaji, the military general of Shivaji and the in-charge of Purandar Forts. His brother's name wa ...

opened a battle front from either side of the fort. The attack was so fierce that the fort was surrendered to Moghuls. In 1818, the fort was captured by British Colonel Prother.

How to reach

The nearest town is

Vani Vani ( ka, ვანი ) is a town in Imereti region of a western Georgia (country), Georgia, at the Sulori river (a tributary of the Rioni river), 41 km southwest from the regional capital Kutaisi. The town, with a population of 3,744 as of 201 ...

which is 44 km from

. The base village of the fort is Daregaonwani which is 13km from Vani. There are good hotels at Vani. The trekking path starts from the hillock north of the Daregoanwani. The route is very safe and wide. There are no trees on the trekking route. It takes about two hours to reach the entrance gate of the fort. The night stay on the fort cannot be made due to lack of potable water on the fort. The villagers from the local village make night stay and food arrangements at a reasonable cost. The other route is from Village ahiwantwadi. This route is the shortest and safe. The motorable road from Daregaon towards Bilawadi helps to reach the col easily and from there a small climb for 1hr can reach the top of the fort.

Places to see

The Ahivant fort is occupied on a large flat plateau. All the structures are in ruined state. The ruins of store houses and arches can be seen on the fort. There are some bastions and water cisterns on the fort to be seen. There is a large pond in the middle of the fort. It takes about one hour to encircle the fort.

References

{{MarathaEmpire Buildings and structures of the Maratha Empire Forts in Nashik district 16th-century forts in India Tourist attractions in Nashik district Rock-cut architecture of India Former populated places in India Hiking trails in India Forts in Maharashtra

History

How to reach

Places to see

See also

References