Battle of Pawankhind

By Ritesh Shirpurkar

(Baji Prabhu’s defence at Pawankhind to let Shivaji reach Vishalgad-1660 C.E. # )

His Master was in a fix,

In the midst of a daring retreat,

The enemy doggedly on his heels,

Reaching Vishalgad + still quite a deal.

Baji** too read the scene,

As clear as a river stream.

To his Master he tried to convince,

Give me 300 and I will hold the enemy still.

His Master said it is madness,

A few hundred against thousands is not at all a done deal.

There will be a loss of lots of lives,

And you will be able to hold them, but for a while.

‘Like the throat of a tiger is this gorge’- said Baji,

A few are enough to hold an army.

The Master finally agreed reluctantly,

Moved by Baji’s words for a ‘nation’s destiny’.

And off he sped with a few to Vishalgad,

With the single aim to fire a cannon to signal his arrival.

The 300 now stood at the mouth of the gorge,

The tiger ready to strike with its paws.

The enemy laughed at the sight of a few hundred,

And confident of victory, they pressed ahead.

But stuck at the gorge, the enemy stumbled,

Like a victim in tiger’s throat, they could hardly mumble.

The enemy wave paused at this unexpected turn,

A few hundred halting back the enemy’s run.

Boulders fell from all sides,

And crushed the enemy left and right.

Turn by turn a few Marathas went in front,

To defend at any cost, the gorge’s entrance.

And when the few fell defending it,

Another few went ahead to defend it.

What a sight to behold it was,

Baji cutting down with two swords held fast.

It was as if Durga with her sword,

Cutting down Mahishasur into pieces apart.

What gave him this immense strength,

It was as if Bhavani herself in his veins.

The enemy had no answer to his sword,

And at length they retreated apart.

Bruised, injured, bleeding with many wounds,

Baji still carried for hours waiting for the cannon’s boom.

A bullet finally struck him down,

But LO, he heard the cannon aloud.

Baji died a happy man,

Pleased that his Master was beyond the enemy’s hand.

The Master mourned Baji’s death,

And erected a cenotaph at Vishalgad’s base.

As if to signal his arrival,

Or the dawn of a nation’s revival.

*Originally known as Ghodkhind, due to the shape of the gorge resembling that of a horse, Shivaji

renamed it Pawankhind to honour Baji Prabhu’s sacrifice.

** Baji - Baji Prabhu Deshpande, Shivaji’s general in this expedition

# The battle of Pawankhind happened during Shivaji’s daring escape from Panhala, where he was

trapped by Bijapuri forces (numbering up to 12,000) for last six months. Panhala is situated in the

western ghats in Kolhapur district of Maharashtra.

+ Vishalgad is located further west from Panhala in the same western ghats, the distance between

the two forts being 60 kms. The path however passes through multiple mountains and gorges that

made this journey difficult especially with heavy rains. Ghodkhind was one such gorge along the

route.

By Ritesh Shirpurkar