हिंदीOn this day
Ruined

Shaniwar Wada, Pune

The palace-fort of the Peshwas, from which the Maratha confederacy was run for nearly ninety years. A fire in 1828 left only the walls and gates.

Built: 1730–1732, Peshwa Bajirao IWhere: Maharashtra18.52° N, 73.86° E
  1. 10 January 1730
  2. 30 August 1773
  3. 17 November 1817
  4. February 1828
Photo: Kshitij Charania · CC BY-SA 4.0

01Seat of the Peshwas

Bajirao I laid the foundation on a Saturday, 10 January 1730, hence the name, and moved in in 1732. Its main gate, the Delhi Darwaza, faces north towards the Mughal capital, and its doors carry iron spikes against elephants. From here Bajirao, Nanasaheb and Madhavrao ran a state whose armies reached Attock, Bengal and Tanjore. Inside stood a seven-storey palace, halls of mirrors and painted wood, and the Hazari Karanje, a fountain of a thousand jets.

02Murder, surrender, fire

On 30 August 1773 the young Peshwa Narayanrao was killed inside the palace by guards in a plot linked to his uncle Raghunathrao. On 17 November 1817, after the battle of Khadki, the British raised their flag over the Wada, and the Peshwa’s rule ended the next year. In February 1828 a fire broke out and burned for about a week, destroying the palace within. What stands now are the fortified walls, the five gates and the stone plinths of the halls.

The life of this place

  1. 10 January 1730Bajirao I lays the foundation.
  2. 30 August 1773Peshwa Narayanrao is murdered inside the palace.
  3. 17 November 1817The British flag is raised over the Wada.
  4. February 1828A week-long fire destroys the palace buildings.
Visiting

In the old city of Pune near Kasba Peth. A sound-and-light show is held in the evening.

People

Peshwa Bajirao IWarrior
18 Aug 1700 – 28 Apr 1740; Peshwa from 1720

Peshwa Bajirao I

Peshwa who carried Maratha power north

Sadashivrao BhauWarrior
1730 – 14 Jan 1761

Sadashivrao Bhau

Commander of the Maratha army at Panipat

Nana PhadnavisRuler
12 Feb 1742 – 13 Mar 1800

Nana Phadnavis

Minister who held the Peshwa state together

Peshwa Madhavrao IRuler
14 Feb 1745 – 18 Nov 1772; Peshwa from 1761

Peshwa Madhavrao I

Peshwa who rebuilt Maratha power after Panipat

Nearby

PuneStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Pune

The town where Shivaji grew up under Jijabai’s eye, and for nearly a century the seat of the Peshwas, from which Maratha armies rode to Attock and Bengal. Later it became the workshop of Tilak, Agarkar and the Deccan Education Society.

Nana Wada, PuneStanding
Maratha ascendancy and the Sikh empire

Nana Wada, Pune

The town house that Nana Phadnavis built for himself in 1780, a few steps from Shaniwar Wada, from which the Peshwa’s chief minister ran the Maratha state for a quarter of a century.

Lal Mahal, PuneRebuilt
The Mughal era and the resistance

Lal Mahal, Pune

The red house Shahaji built in Pune for Jijabai and the boy Shivaji, where Shivaji grew up and where, on the night of 5 April 1663, he fell upon the Mughal general Shaista Khan in his own bedchamber.

Kasba Ganpati, PuneStanding
The Mughal era and the resistance

Kasba Ganpati, Pune

The guardian Ganapati of Pune, whose temple Jijabai built when she came to resettle the ruined town with the boy Shivaji. In the immersion procession of Ganeshotsav he always goes first.