SHIVNERI

Shree Chhatrapati
Shivaji Maharaj Bhosale

By birth, as well as by domicile Shivaji was a fort dweller. He was born at Shivneri and breathed his last at fort Raigad. The fort Shivneri which comparatively well preserved fortification is situated five kilometers from Junnar in Pune district, on a hill scarped all around for a considerable depth from the summit. Strong curtain wall, surrounding the hill, rises from the escarpment. The ascent across Lendi steam by winding sinuous path is defended by seven gates, all fortified by arches, minarets, towers loop holed or musketry and adjoining guard rooms. The doors of the fifth gate are armored with anti-elephant spikes, which means such a steep rough path was then climbed by elephants. At the center of the triangular top, rises the central hilltop, about 250 feet high. The fort is amply provided with water by about 30 cisterns and rock-hewn ponds of which two large Ganga and Jamuna and few small are on the upper fort.

The hill has four groups of caves, two on the east i.e. Junnar face, one on the south i.e. the fortified face and one on the west i.e. Nane Valley face. There are in all 135 caves and numerous inscriptions in and around Shivneri, which shows that it was a Buddhist centre during the first three centuries AD. Sir Richard Timple wrote of Shivneri in his ‘Shivaji and the Rise of Marathas’, ‘You will see what a rugged precipitous place this is and what a fitting spot it was for a hero to be born in !’

Nearest Railway Station : Pune

Distance : Mumbai-Pune-177 Kilometers, Pune-Shivneri-93 Kilometers