The Battle of Sinhagad, also known as Battle of Kondhana, involved an attack by

Marathas 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 ...

during the night of 4 February 1670 on 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 ...

fort of

Sinhagad Sinhagad (''Lion's Fort'') is an ancient hill fortress located at around 28 km southwest of the city of Pune, India. Previously known as ''Kondhana'', the fort had been the site of many battles, most notably the Battle of Sinhagad in 1 ...

(then Kondhana), near the city of

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 ...

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 ...

. The Marathas captured the fort.

Battle

Sinhagad was one of the first forts which Shivaji recaptured from the Mughals following the treaty of Purandar. The capture was made possible by scaling the walls at night with rope ladders.

Tanaji Malusare Tanaji Kaloji Malusare or Subedar Tanaji Malusare was a military commander of the Maratha kingdom and a companion of Shivaji Maharaj. local poet Tulsidas, wrote a powada describing Subhedar Tanaji's heroics and sacrifice of life in the Batt ...

was killed, but the fort was captured by the Marathas. The battle and Tanaji's exploits are the basis of a popular Marathi ballad.

Aftermath

When Shivaji was informed about the victory and the loss of Tanaji's life during the battle, he is said to have exclaimed "''गड आला पण सिंह गेला''" (

IAST The International Alphabet of Sanskrit Transliteration (IAST) is a transliteration scheme that allows the lossless romanisation of Brahmic family, Indic scripts as employed by Sanskrit and related Indic languages. It is based on a scheme that ...

: ''Gaḍa ālā paṇa siṃha gela''

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Culture, language and peoples * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England * ''English'', an Amish ter ...

: ''The fort has been captured but we lost the lion''). A bust of Tanaji Malusare was installed at the fort in memory of his contribution and sacrifice.

In popular culture

* ''

Tanhaji ''Tanhaji: The Unsung Warrior'' is a 2020 Indian Hindi-language epic historical action film, co-written and directed by Om Raut and produced by Bhushan Kumar, Krishan Kumar and Ajay Devgn under T-Series Films and Ajay Devgn FFilms. Tracing t ...

'' - a Hindi movie of 2020, starring

Ajay Devgan Vishal Veeru Devgan (born 2 April 1969), known professionally as Ajay Devgn, is an Indian actor, film director, and producer. One of the most prolific actors of Hindi cinema, Devgn has appeared in over 100 films and has won numerous accola ...

, depicted the battle of Kondhana. * ''

Raja Shivchatrapati ''Raja Shivchhatrapati'' is an Indian Marathi language historical drama television series based on Shivaji, Shivaji Maharaj, founder of the Maratha Kingdom which aired on Star Pravah. The serial was re-telecast in April 2020 during the COVID-19 ...

'' - a Marathi TV serial of

Star Pravah Star Pravah is an Indian Marathi language general entertainment pay television channel owned by JioStar, a joint venture between Viacom18 and Disney India. It primarily telecasts family dramas, comedies, reality shows and films. History ...

had episodes about this battle. * ''

Subhedar ''Subhedar'' is a 2023 Indian Marathi-language historical drama film written and directed by Digpal Lanjekar, a fifth installment of '' Shivraj Ashtak'' tracing the life of Subedar Tanaji Malusare starring Chinmay Mandlekar, Mrinal Kulkarni, Ajay ...

'' - a Marathi movie of 2023, starring

Chinmay Mandlekar Chinmay Mandlekar (born 2 February 1979) is an Indian actor, writer and stage director, mostly active in the Marathi entertainment industry. He is known for his work in Zenda, Morya, ''Farzand'' (2018), '' Fatteshikast'' (2019), ''The Kashmir ...

, depicted the battle of Kondhana

References

{{coord missing, Maharashtra 1670 in India Sinhgad 1670

1670s in the Mughal Empire