Purandhar Hill - Revision history

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This article has been extracted from
THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908.
2015-03-29T08:38:54Z

Created page with "=Purandhar Hill, 1908= {| class="wikitable" |- |colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%"> This article has been extracted from <br/> THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908.<b..."

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=Purandhar Hill, 1908=

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|colspan="0"|<div style="font-size:100%">
This article has been extracted from <br/>

THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908.<br/>

OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS.
</div>
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[[Category:India|P]]
[[Category:Places|P]]
''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.