Place · hill fort · India
Shivneri Fort
The hilltop Sahyadri fort at Shivneri in Pune district, Maharashtra, 90 kilometres from Pune — the birthplace tradition of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, born on 19 February 1630 at Shivneri Fort to Shahaji Bhonsle and Jijabai. The fort was held by the Nizam Shahi dynasty of Ahmednagar at the time of Shivaji's birth; Shahaji was in Nizam Shahi service. The 300-metre fort has seven gates (Mahadarwaza, Pir Darwaza, Hatti Darwaza, Shipai Darwaza, Phatak Darwaza, Kulambi Darwaza, Dindi Darwaza) and preserves the Shiv Mandir, the Badami Talav tank, and the Shivai temple (dedicated to the goddess Shivai after whom Shivaji was named by his mother Jijabai). The fort is a Maratha pilgrimage; the annual 19 February Shivaji Jayanti draws thousands. ASI protection since 1909.
- Function
- Military & resistance
- Patron dynasty
- Maratha
- Tradition
- Deccan archaeology and Maratha history
- Confidence
- Established / referenced
- Location
- 19.200, 73.850
Connections (1)
- Shivaji lifeRaigad
Shivaji was born at Shivneri in 1630 and crowned at Raigad in 1674 — forty-four years and two hundred kilometres apart, and the distance between a Bijapuri jagirdar's son and a Chhatrapati crowned with Vedic rites. The coronation was a deliberate and expensive act of legitimation: the Maharashtrian Brahmins doubted his claim to Kshatriya status, so Gaga Bhatt was brought from Banaras to certify a genealogy and perform the rite.
On these journeys
Sources
Wikipedia, “Shivneri Fort”. The Maratha bakhar literature and Peshwa Daftar records; Stewart Gordon, The Marathas 1600–1818.
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