Machindragad Fort is a fort located 20 km from

Karad Karad is a city in Satara district of Indian States and territories of India, state of Maharashtra. It is located 302 km (180.19 miles) from Mumbai, 74 km from Sangli and 162 km from Pune. It lies at the confluence of Koyna R ...

. Though it is close to karad town it is in Walawa taluka, Sangli district, 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 ...

. The fort is situated on a solitary round topped hill east of the base village.

History

This fort was built by

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 ...

in 1676. Though it is called a fort there are no such fortification or bastions to be seen on the top of the hill except for few cannons and rock cut cisterns. The fort was garrisoned by the Pratinidhi till it was taken by Bapu Gokhale of

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 ...

s in 1810. The fort was managed by Bapu Gokhale until it was surrendered to

British Army The British Army is the principal Army, land warfare force of the United Kingdom. the British Army comprises 73,847 regular full-time personnel, 4,127 Brigade of Gurkhas, Gurkhas, 25,742 Army Reserve (United Kingdom), volunteer reserve perso ...

headed by Colonel Hewiti without resistance.

References

{{MarathaEmpire Buildings and structures of the Maratha Empire Forts in Sangli district 16th-century forts in India Former populated places in India

History

See also

References