Parli Fort
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.
Parli Fort
(or Sajjangarh). Fort in the District and taluka of Satara, Bombay, situated in 17 40' N. and 73 55' E., on a detached pur of the Western Ghats, about 6 miles west of Satara town, and r,o45 f eet above the plain. Population (1901), 1,287. the fort was Duilt by one of the kings of Delhi in the thirteenth century. Parli was the favourite residence of Ramdas Swami (i 608-81), the spiritual guide or guru of Sivaji (1627-80), who gave it to the Swami in inam. The local tradition is that, if Sivaji in Satara required counsel from Ramdas, the Swami reached Satara through the air in a single stride. The temple of Ramdas is in the middle of the village, surrounded by .he dwellings of his disciples. The temple of basalt with a brick-and- nortar dome was built by Aka Bai and Divakar Gosavi, two disciples jf the Swami. A yearly fair, attended by about 6,000 people, is held in February. On the north-west of Parli village are two old Hemadpanti emples. The existence of these makes it probable that a fort had Deen constructed before Musalman times. It was subsequently occu- pied by them, and surprised by a detachment of Sivaji's Mavalis in May, 1673. A few days before his death in 1681 Ramdas Swami addressed from Parli a judicious letter to SambhajT, advising him for the future rather than upbraiding him for the past, and pointing out the example of his father, yet carefully abstaining from personal comparison. In 1699, when the Mughals were besieging Satara, Parshuram Trimbak E'ratinidhi prolonged the siege by furnishing supplies from Parli. After the capture of Satara in April, 1700, the Mughal army besieged Parli. The siege lasted till the beginning of June, when the garrison evacuated the fortress. Aurangzeb renamed it Naurastara. In a revenue state- ment of abOut 1790 Parli appears as the head-quarters of a pargana in the Nahisdurg sarkar, with a revenue of Rs. 22,500. In 1818 it was taken by a British regiment.
