Purandar Fort

Purandar Fort is a mountain fort in Pune district in Western Indian state of Maharashtra, India. The fort stands at 4,472 ft (1,390 m) above the sea level in the Western Ghats, 50 km to the southeast of Pune . The twin forts of Purandar and Vajragad (or Rudramal) of which the latter is the smaller of the two, is located on the eastern side of the main fort. The village of Purandar takes its name from this fort. It is the birthplace of Dharmaveer Chatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj. The oldest known reference to the Purandar dates back to the Yadava dynasty in the 11th century. After the defeat of the Yadavas by the foreign invaders, the territory surrounding the fort fell into the hands of the invaders who further fortified the Purandar Fort in 1350 A.D. During the early rule of the Bijapur and Ahmednagar kings, The Purandar Fort was among the forts directly under the Government rule and was never entrusted to Jagirdars. Under the rule of the Berar Sultanate, the fort was besieged several times. To prevent the Purandar Fort from ever falling again, a sacrificial ritual was performed where a man and a woman were buried alive under one of the fort bastions to appease its patron deity. Another ritual was soon performed where the king ordered a minister to bury a first-born son and his mother into the foundation of the bastion which was promptly done with a further offering of gold and bricks. When the bastion was finished, The minister, Yesaji Naik, was given possession of the Purandar Fort and the father of the sacrificed boy was rewarded with two villages. In 1596 A.D, the Bahudar Shah of the Ahmadnagar Sultanate granted the territory of "Pune" and "Supa" to Maloji Bhosale, the grandfather of Shivaji. The Purandar Fort was included in the territory. In 1646 A.D, Shivaji, still in his youth, in one of his first victories for the Maratha Empire, raided and established control of the fort. In 1665 A.D, the Purandar Fort was besieged by the forces of Aurangzeb, under the command of Jai Singh II and assisted by Diler Khan.