Siege of Panhala (1701)

01A fort of many sieges

Panhala, on a long plateau north-west of Kolhapur, had been besieged by Siddi Jauhar in 1660, when Shivaji escaped to Vishalgad and Baji Prabhu Deshpande held the pass at Ghod Khind. After Rajaram’s death in 1700, his widow Tarabai led the Maratha state in the name of her young son. Aurangzeb, having taken Satara and Parli, marched on Panhala in March 1701. His guns were dragged up the ghats, and the fort was surrounded.

02Surrender for gold

The siege made slow progress against the cliffs. Outside, Maratha horse under Dhanaji Jadhav harassed the Mughal camp and its supply lines. In May 1701 the garrison agreed to give up the fort in return for a payment, and marched out. The Mughal chroniclers and Khafi Khan both say that by now many Maratha forts were being sold rather than stormed. Panhala did not stay Mughal for long: the Marathas retook it in 1705, and Tarabai later made it her capital.

Person · d. 13 July 1660Baji Prabhu DeshpandeBaji Prabhu, deshpande of Hirdas Maval, held the narrow pass of Ghod Khind with a few hundred Bandal men against the pursuing Bijapuri army on 13 July 1660, so that Shivaji could reach Vishalgad. He kept fighting until the guns from the fort told him his king was safe. The pass has been called Pavan Khind, the holy pass, ever since.Read →