A Fort Won But A Lion Lost

By Ritesh Shirpurkar

(A story of sacrifice for friendship) (Battle at Sinhagad* – year 1670 C.E.)

On the many peaks of Sahyadri,

Are the forts built by Maratha chivalry.

Each fort a witness to their bravery,

One such is the Sinhagad, on a high crest of the Sahyadri.

Guarding the entrance to Poona from south,

It was a jewel to be had In any King’s crown.

Handed to the Mughals in a treaty,

The loss hurt Shivaji’s mother, Jijabai deeply.

Gazing at the distant fort through her window in Rajgad,

She implored Shivaji to had it conquered.

The task was no mean,

And Kondhana at it was known then, seemed a distant dream.

Perched on a high peak,

How would anyone scale the steep slopes of the hill!!

So wondered Shivaji,

When he received a visit from his friend Tanaji.

Always the best friends since their childhood days,

Tanaji instantly grasped something amiss on his friend’s face.

Shivaji avoided telling him the reason,

For Tanaji had come with his son’s wedding invitation.

The cause of his anguish was revealed by Jijabai after great persuasion,

And Tanaji asked Shivaji to hand him the mission.

Shivaji refused since he had a marriage to conduct,

Tanaji however argued to the counter.

Shivaji finally relented with a heavy heart,

Knowing very well how difficult was the task.

Tanaji bowed at Jijabai’s feet,

“First Kondhana’s marriage and then my son’s” he pledged at the saintly lady’s feet.

Sending his brother back to fetch a few hundred soldiers,

He himself went to the base of Sinhagad.

Here he stayed in a village for few days,

The loyal village headman helped him to find a way.

A few nights they reconnoitred the base of the fort hill,

To find a shortest way to climb up the steep vertical hill.

They finally found one such point,

And Suryaji, his brother reached there in the meantime.

A night was then fixed to scale the hill,

With 300 soldiers skilled in scaling such hills.

The first to go up was a monitor lizard,

Trained specifically for such a task.

With a rope tied to its body,

“Yashwanti” the lizard scaled the steep side swiftly.

On reaching the top the lizard stayed put,

It’s steely grip on rock allowing a single soldier to use the rope to climb good.

This soldier on reaching the top,

Threw down the many ropes he carried fast!

The few hundred then started climbing up by the many ropes,

A challenge of a thousands of enemy soldiers, however awaited them upwards!

The fort was manned by Uday Bhan,

A Rajput appointed by Aurangzeb to the task.

He had taken charge a few months back,

Along with the five thousand Mughal soldiers following in his tracks.

Uday Bhan was an expert swordsman,

And he had ensured that the fort was thoroughly manned.

Tanaji was the among the first few to reach atop,

Avoiding the guards in the night pitch dark.

His men disposed off the guards few at a time,

Till they secured a good position on their side.

The few hundred marathas then dashed to the fort’s Kalyan gate,

Outside which waited Suryaji with his few hundred.

The fort’s guards however were now fully awake,

And all rushed to defend the gate.

Although outnumbered, the element of surprise worked,

And they cut down more of the ‘half ready’ enemy numbers.

Uday Bhan soon joined the fight,

A deadly battle ensued between him and Tanaji outright.

The fight between the two was intense

None ready to yield even a few inches.

Both generals took up many a wound,

Oh! What a sight it was to behold this blood duel.

Somewhere Tanaji lost his shield,

And Uday Bhan cut down his right hand with steel.

Tanaji bled profusely from that,

And tying his bleeding hand with a cloth,

He fought with one hand at last.

A fatal blow however stuck Tanaji,

And the bleeding general embraced a martyr’s death for his childhood buddy.

Tanaji’s uncle however stepped ahead,

The old man matched Uday Bhan step to step.

A blow from him finally brought Uday Bhan down,

And he fell instantly in the ground.

The leaderless soldiers surrendered at the sight of his death,

For at that very instance the Marathas manged to open the Kalyan gate!

Shivaji reached the fort soon,

But instead of happy faces, was greeted by a gloom

.His heart may have missed a beat at that sight,

For it foreboded something not at all right.

At hand he learned of his friend’s demise,

And lamented at his death as a price too high!“

I have won the fort, but I’ve lost my lion”, said he,

And got erected a cenotaph of Tanaji.

The valour of this lion hearted general, rewrote the old fort’s history,

And the fort was rechristened “The Lion Fort” for his bravery.

A friend thus full filled his promise,

At the big cost of his own life.

Blessed is this motherland which produced such sons,

Who sacrificed everything to secure her future.

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*Sinhagad is to the west of Pune city, on one of the high peaks of western ghats

By Ritesh Shirpurkar