{{more footnotes, date=November 2021 Rangnath Narayan Orpe, historically mentioned as ‘Rango Narayan’, was a warrior and administrative officer on Fort

Vishalgad Vishalgad (also called Vishalgarh, Khelna or Khilna) was a jagir during the Maratha Empire and then later part of the Deccan States Agency of the British Raj. It was governed by Deshastha Brahmins, who were feudatories of Kolhapur State. Fort ...

, under the regime of Shivaji, founder of the Maratha Empire and his son Sambhaji in the 17th century India. He is mainly known for defeating the

Bijapur Bijapur, officially known as Vijayapura, is the district headquarters of Bijapur district of the Karnataka state of India. It is also the headquarters for Bijapur Taluk. Bijapur city is well known for its historical monuments of architectural ...

army in the battle of Vishalgad in July, 1660.

Background

Rango Narayan was born in the historical Sarpotdar family of Karhade Brahmin, settled in Vishalgad since late 16th century. His father Naropant was the chief of ''Kothi and Ambarkhana'' i.e. Food Stocks & Treasure in the regime of

Mohammed Adil Shah, Sultan of Bijapur Mohammed Adil Shah was the seventh ruler of Bijapur, ascending the throne in 1627. During his reign, he assisted the Mughals with their campaigns against the Ahmednagar Sultanate and signed a peace treaty with them in 1636. He died in 1656 and ...

Early life

It seems during 1659, Rango Narayan was the 'In charge' of the fort

as Adilshahi General

Afzalkhan Afzal Khan (died 20 November 1659) was a general who served the Adil Shahi dynasty of Bijapur Sultanate in India. He played an important role in the southern expansion of the Bijapur Sultanate by subjugating the Nayaka chiefs who had taken cont ...

sent a letter to him asking him to join his hands in the campaign against Shivaji. He has also given certain promises. However, Rango Narayan did not respond. Probably, he had already conspired with Shivaji, because immediately after Afzal Khan's defeat and death, Shivaji attached the fort to the proposed Maratha Empire on November, 1659. In the same year, Shivaji wrote a letter to Udhaji Ahir Rao, the then ''Killedar'' of the fort Vishalgad, ordering him to hand over the charge of ''Karkhanisi'' to Rango Narayan. The sequence of incidents proves that Rango Narayan helped Shivaji in capturing the fort.

Battle of Vishalgad

On July 1660, when Shivaji escaped from Panhala fort and reached

after the Battle of Pavan Khind, he ordered Rango Narayan to attack the Adilshahi troops by camping around the fort. Rango Narayan did the job up to complete satisfaction of Shivaji. Adilshahi troops headed by Siddhi Masood, Suryarao Surve and Jaswantrao Dalavi were attacked from a hill called ''Gonimooth'', fiercely beaten and turned back to fort Panhala by the Marathas, headed by Rango Narayan. He was handsomely rewarded by Shivaji for his great performance. Later, during his coronation ceremony in June 1674, Shivaji conferred on him the honor of ‘ Palkhi’ and doubled his remuneration.

Later life and inheritance

After Shivaji’s death in 1680, he continued working for Chhatrapati Sambhaji as his officer in confidence on

. References indicate that he was rewarded by Sambhaji for discharging his responsibilities successfully while constructing the fortresses of fort

during 1683–1684. There is no mention as to the year of his death, however, several sources are available about the battles fought and diplomacy shown from time to time by his sons Kashi Rangnath and Shamji Rangnath in the regimes of Chhatrapati Rajaram and Tarabai. His heirs include the eminent historian

Datto Vaman Potdar Dattatray Vaman Potdar (5 August 1890 – 6 October 1979), better known as Datto Vaman Potdar, was an Indian historian, writer, and orator. He was the Vice-Chancellor of University of Pune during 1961 - 1964. The British colonial Government of ...

References

*'Kille Vishalgad' (

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

) by P.B.Shirwalkar *'Pant Pratinidhi' Bakhar (

) *'Datto Vaman' by Shubhalaxmi Potdar (

)