Raigad Fort
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Raigad is a hill fortress situated in the Raigad District of Maharashtra, India. Chhatrapati Shivaji made the fort his capital after he constructed it between 1657 and 1670. In 1674, he was crowned King of Hindawi Swaraj in this fort, the formal name of what later developed into the Maratha Empire. The fort rises 869 metres above sea level and located on the Sahyadri range. There are around 1400-1450 steps leading to the fort, though today a rope-way exists to reach the fort.[1] Most of fort was destroyed by a major fire that spanned five days during a British siege of the fort.
History
Shivaji had seized the site, then the fortress of Rairi, from the royal house of the Mores, a junior or Cadet dynasty descended from the ancient Maurya imperial dynasty. The last More king ("Raja") was a feudatory of the Sultan of Bijapur. Shivaji renovated and expanded the Fortress of Rairi and renamed it Raigad, or the King's Fort, the name he gave it when he selected it for his capital when he was in the process of assuming the royal character. Rajgad, a hill fortress situated in Pune District of Maharashtra, India was capital of Shivaji's kingdom before it was moved to Raigad.
Structure
The fort ruins today consists of the queens quarters consisting of six chambers with each chamber having its own private commode with plumbing. The main palace was constructed using wood of which only the bases of pillars remain. Ruins of three watch towers can be seen directly in front of the palace grounds and overlooks an artificial lake was created next to the fort. It also has a view of the execution point called Takmak Tok, a cliff from where the sentenced prisoners were thrown off.
The king's public Durbar has a replica of the original throne that faces the main doorway called the Nagarkhana Darwaja. This enclosure had been acoustically designed to aid hearing from the doorway to the throne. A secondary entrance exists called the Mena Darwaja that was supposedly the private entrance of the royal ladies of the fort and lead to the queens quarters. The earstwhile main entrance to the fort is the imposing Maha Darwaja. The convoy of the king and king himself used the Palkhi Darwaja. To the right of Palkhi Darwaja, is a row of three dark and deep chambers. Historians believe that these were the granaries for the fort.[2]
A statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji is erected in front of the ruins of the main market avenue that eventually leads to the Rameshwar Mandir and his own Samadhi(tomb) and that of his dog Waghya.[1]
References
- ^ a b "A write-up on Raigad". Retrieved 1/13/2007.
{{cite web}}: Check date values in:|accessdate=(help) - ^ "Write-up from the Raigad ropeway webpage". Retrieved 2007-01-13.
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