PUNE: At a time when a row has erupted over the contentious ‘wagh nakh’ or tiger claw dagger used by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj to kill Afzal Khan of Bijapur in 1659 at Pratapgad Fort in Wai taluka of Satara district in Maharashtra, a Pune-based history researcher has identified a second Pratapgad Fort located in the Thane district of Maharashtra.
Memane explained how he identified the other Pratapgad Fort from authentic Peshwa Daftar documents in the Modi script at the Pune Archives. “I am currently doing research on the forts of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, and there are hundreds of documents in the Modi script related to these forts, their construction details, what material was used, who built them and when etc. While going through these rare documents around a month ago, I came across one of the documents in which I found that between 1720 and 1750, this Pratapgad Fort might have been built. In several documents, four forts are mentioned, namely Mahuli, Palasgad, Bhandardurg and Pratapgad. Till now, the Mahuli range was believed to have three forts but now, one more fort named Pratapgad has been identified in this range.”
“There were various establishments on this Pratapgad Fort which include a gadhi also known as wada, one kacheri (office), and one buruj which was rebuilt when it became old. Also, the temple on this fort is mentioned as the Yedkai Devi Temple. Hence, the conclusion of this research is that certainly, Mahuli is a range of four and not three forts. We are now going to visit the fort to identify the exact location as our research is still underway,” Memane said.
{{/usCountry}}“There were various establishments on this Pratapgad Fort which include a gadhi also known as wada, one kacheri (office), and one buruj which was rebuilt when it became old. Also, the temple on this fort is mentioned as the Yedkai Devi Temple. Hence, the conclusion of this research is that certainly, Mahuli is a range of four and not three forts. We are now going to visit the fort to identify the exact location as our research is still underway,” Memane said.
{{/usCountry}}While Mandar Lawate, a prominent, city-based historian, said, “This is important research done by Memane as till today, the exact details of the Mahuli fort and this name of Pratapgad Fort was unknown to everyone. Memane, through his research, has brought it to light along with micro details of the establishments on this fort so it is important research.”