Raigad fort

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About Raigad fort-

• It is a hill fort situated about 25 km from Mahad in the Raigad district of Maharashtra at 2,851 feet above sea level. 
• As per the British Gazette the fort was known to early Europeans as the ‘Gibraltar of the East’.
• Its decisive feature is a mile and a half flat top which has adequate room for buildings. 
• In its prime, the fort had 300 stone houses and a garrison of 2,000 men.
• The fort, which was earlier called Rairi, was the seat of the Maratha clan Shirke in the 12th century. 
• The fort also overlooks an artificial lake known as the ‘Ganga Sagar Lake’. 
• The only main pathway to the fort passes through the “Maha Darwaja” (Huge Door). 
• The King’s durbar inside the Raigad Fort has a replica of the original throne that faces the main doorway called the Nagarkhana Darwaja. 
• The fort has a famous bastion called “Hirakani Buruj” (Hirkani Bastion) constructed over a huge steep cliff.
• The fort changed hands a number of times from the dynasty of Bahaminis to the Nizam Shahis and then the Adil shahis.
• In 1656 Chhatrapati Shivaji captured it from the Mores of Javli who were under the suzerainty of the Adilshahi Sultanate. 
• In 1662, Shivaji formally changed the fort’s name to Raigad and added a number of structures to it. 
• On June 6, 1674, Shivaji was coronated at Raigad by Gagabhatt where he took on the title of Chhatrapati. 
• Six years later, Shivaji passed away in Raigad in 1680 and was cremated at the fort.
• On 9 May 1818, the fort was looted and destroyed by the British.

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