Pratapgad

This fort was initially recognised as the Bhorpya hill until Shivaji Maharaj completely reconstructed it, which was later recognised as ‘PRATAPGAD’. The construction of this fort was done under supervision of Shivaji Maharaj’s Prime Minister, Moropant Trimbak Pingle. (Prime Minister was recognised as “Peshwe” during those days. Peshwe was used as ‘Title’ then).

This fort has got significant historic importance due to the the famous temple of “Bhavani Mata”, constructed by Shivaji Maharaj and the event of Assassination of Afzalkhan on it.

Assassination of Afzalkhan : The wife of Sultan of Vijapur, known as ‘Badi Sahebin’, used to efficiently handle all the operations of kingdom of Adilshah. She ordered Afzalkhan to attack Shivaji Maharaj. He was accompanied by infantry along with elephants & horses.
When Afzalkhan (henceforth referred as ‘Khan’) reached Wai, he instructed his lawyer, Krishnaji Bhaskar, to arrange a meeting with Shivaji Maharaj. However, Shivaji Maharaj, who was eventually at Pratapgad, had understood through his detectives that Khan, infact, had come with the intention of killing him. Knowing the strength of armed-forces that Khan had along with him, Maharaj fixed the meeting with Khan at Pratapgad. As a proactive step towards war, Maharaj stationed Netaji Palkar in the forest of Jawali, Moropant Peshwe in Ghats, Shamrao Nilkanth & Trimbak Bhaskar in Konkan region and Haibatrao and Balaji Shilmakar in Bacheghodi Ghat. Their respective troops of soldiers were instructed to come ahead only in the event of war.

A ‘SHAMIYANA’, the tent, was built for the meeting on the plateau of the fort. It was well decorated with gold, silver and diamonds. Maharaj was accompanied by two body guards, namely, Jiva Mahala and Sambhaji Kawji, whereas Khan had Sayyed Banda and other two of his officials with him.

The meeting between Shivaji Maharaj and Afzalkhan took the following itinerary:
When Afzalkhan and Maharaj came in front of each other, Khan spread out his hands in a gesture to embrace Shivaji Maharaj. Khan had a sturdy and stout built as against Maharaj. After hugging Maharaj, Khan cunningly held Maharaj’s neck firmly in his armpit; took out a dagger and attempted to stab Maharaj on his back. Maharaj was very well aware of Khan’s intentions and hence was wearing body-armor. In addition to it, Maharaj was equally prepared and had ‘Wagh Nakha’, the tiger nails hid in his waist-belt. Soon after the brutal attempt of Khan, Maharaj thronged those tiger nails in Khan’s belly and tore his muscles apart. Khan groaned and shouted for help. Hearing his call, Khan’s men rushed ahead with a palaquin, put Khan in it and started to flee away. At the very moment Sambhaji Kawji arrived at the scene and cut off the legs of those palanquin-bearers carrying Khan; slit Khan’s neck as well. Khan’s body guard, Sayyed Banda, too, rushed at the scene with his powerful weapon, “Patta”, however, it was in vain because Jiva Mahala sliced out his hand which was equipped with weapon.

A signal was given by shooting of cannon-balls to Maharaj’s troops, stationed at various positions (as explained earlier) to move at the warfront. A tough war was fought between the duos which ultimately resulted in the defeat of Khan.

Khan’s troops had to pay a very heavy price as against defeat. His top officers, prime ministers, along with soldiers were slaughtered in the war. Khan had to also loose quite a substantial number of elephants, horses, cattle and other animals in the battle.

Maharaj, on the contrary, gained a lot during the battle. On his account were registered, about 65 elephants, 4000 horses, 1200 Camels, 2000 cloth-bundles, artillery, jewellery and gold coins.
(Courtesy : Sabhasad Bakhar).