Purandhar Hill
Purandhar Hill, 1908
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts. Some units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Once a fortress, and now a sanitarium for European troops, in the Poona division of the Wesstern Command, in the Purandhar taluka of Poona District, Bombay. It really consists of two separate hill forts, Purandhar and vazirgarh, situated in 18 17' N. and 73° 59' E., 20 miles south-east of Poona city. Population (1901), 944. The income and expenditure of the cantonment fund in 1903-4 were each Rs. 1,800. The highest point of the mountain of Purandhar is upwards of 1,700 feet above the plaln, and 4,472 feet above sea-level. Purandhar is larger, higher, and more important than VazTrgarh. The summit of both hills is crowned with masonry ruins studded here and there with bastions. Purandhar is varied by two elevations, on the higher of which, the loftiest point in the range, is a temple to Siva. The hill on which this temple stands is part of the upper fort of Purandhar. On the northern face of the hill, 300 feet below the temple and upwards of 1,000 feet above the plaln, runs a level terrace on which stands the military cantonment, flanked on the east by the barracks, and on the west by the hospital. The northern edge of the terrace is defended by a low wall with several semicircular bastions and a gate flanked by two towers. This is called the Mchi or * terrace ' fort. At the foot of the hill is a well-built resthouse, from whfch the ascent leads by a wide, easy road. From the middle of the cantonment a winding road, 830 yards long, runs towards the upper fort, ending in a flight of rude stone steps which wind between a loop- holed wall of masonry and the basalt cjjflf on which the fort, stands. A sharp turn leads suddenly to the Delhi Gate, flanked by solid bastion towers. The defences, like most of the hill forts in this part of the country, are of perpendicular rock, weakened rather than strengthened by curtains and bastions of masonry.
The earliest known mention of Purandhar is in the reign of the first Bahmani king, Ala-ud-din Hasan Gangu (1347-58), who obtained pos- session of almost the whole of Maharashtra, from the Purandhar range to the Cauvery, and fortified Purandhar in 1350. During the early rule of the Sultans of Ahmadnagar Purandhar was among the forts which were reserved by the government and never entrusted to jagirdars or estate-holders. The fort of Purandhar passed to Maloji, the grand- father of Sivajf, when Bahadur Nizam Shah of Ahmadnagar (1596- 1600) granted him Poona and Supa. In 1665 it was invested by the forces of Aurangzeb,' under the command of Raja Jai Singh, the famous Rajput general, assisted by the Afghan Dilawar Khan.
Though the defence by Baji Prabhu, a Deshpande of Mahad, who was the commandant of the fort, was obstinate, Sivaji appears to have been so intimidated at the prospect of the fall of Purandhar that he surrendered it, together with Sinhgarh, and entered the service of Aurangzeb. He revolted, however, and recaptured Purandhar in 1670. After the power of the Peshwas at Poona had superseded that of the descendants of Sivajl, Purandhar was the usual stronghold to which the Peshwas retreated when unable to reMain in safety at their capital. Here, in 1776, was concluded a treaty between the British Government and the Maratha States ; but its conditions were never fulfilled, being overruled by the subsequent Treaty of Salbai in 1782 between the British Government and Sindhia, at the close of the second Maratha War. In 1818 Purandhar was invested by a British force under General liritzler. On Mareh 14 a mortar battery opened on it; and on the 1 5th vazirgarh adinitted a British garrison. As Vazirgarh com- manded Purandhar, the commandant had to accept the terms given to that garrison, and the British colours were hoisted at Purandhar on Mareh 16, 1818. The fort commands a passage through the hills, called the Purandhar ghat.