History of Shaniwar wada

The kings built their forts in ancient times in such a way that the fort should remain standing for centuries, as a sign of their rule and power over the region. They designed the walls to withstand any attack and keep the family of King and people of the kingdom safe. In most of the cases, these forts served their purpose. There is no king’s rule left anymore but these strong and silent walls of several forts all over our country still remind the rule of the kings who built them.

Shaniwar Wada(Shaniwarwada) fort which is located in the heart of Pune. It served as the ruling seat of the Maratha Empire until 1818 when the Peshwas were defeated and surrendered to the British. This fort in a way stands as a symbol of the rise and fall of Maratha Empire.

Construction :

Construction of Shaniwar Wada began when Peshwa Balaji Rao(Prime minister to King Chattrapati Shahu) laid foundation to it on January 10th, 1730. And the day happened to be Saturday and hence the name Shaniwarwada, Shaniwar meaning Saturday and Wada meaning residence in Marathi. Even the opening of the fort took place on a Saturday, on January 22, 1732. The construction was completed in 1745 at a total cost of 16 lakhs which was a huge sum in those days. Until the Maratha Army was defeated by John Malcolm of the British East India Company, this fort remained home to the ruling Peshwas for almost 70 years.

What happened in these 70 years from construction to destruction of Shaniwar Wada however is a very interesting tale portraying a perfect picture of how the Royal families did not hesitate to kill even their loved ones to seize throne. Somewhere in the history and story of Shaniwar Wada fort, one can also see the reason of why India eventually fell to the British rule and was invaded by foreign armies several times for centuries before that. At the time when Shaniwar Wada fort was built, the Maratha Empire was at its zenith. Mughals were busy fighting each other for the throne after death of Aurangzeb and it was a perfect opportunity for the Marathas to take control of the entire India which they did but could not hold for long. This was also the time when English came to our country and started to take over while all the kings of small kingdoms were trying to occupy each other. Chatrapatis(the Maratha kings) were only the nominal rulers and the Maratha Empire was mostly controlled by the Peshwas(the prime ministers of Chatrapatis).

In June 1818, then king Bajirao II, abdicated his throne to John Malcolm(British officer) and went into political exile at Bithoor, near Kanpur in present-day Uttar Pradesh. After the British took over the region, fort became the residence of British officers until a great fire started inside the palace on February 27, 1828. The reason caused this fire is still unknown but the entire fort was destroyed in it. It took seven days to extinguish the fire completely, only the huge walls and gates remained, everything else was destroyed in fire. The fort was abandoned after the fire.

The structure of the fort

1. Dilli Darwaza (Delhi Gate):

This is the main gate of the fort opens onto the north Delhi.The strongly built Dilli Darwaza gate has massive doors, large enough to admit elephants outfitted with howdahs (seating canopies). To discourage elephants charging the gates, each pane of the gate has 72 sharp 12 steel spikes arranged in a nine by eight grid, at the height of the forehead of a battle-elephant. Each pane was also fortified with steel cross members, and borders were bolted with steel bolts having sharpened cone heads. The bastions flanking the gatehouse has arrow-loops and machicolation chutes through which boiling oil could be poured onto offending raiders. The right pane has a small man-sized door for usual entries and exits, too small to allow an army to enter rapidly.

2. Mastani Darwaja (Mastani's Gate) or Alibahadur Darwaja:

This gate opens to the south. This gate was used by Bajirao I's wife Mastani while travelling out of the palace's perimeter wall. Hence its name Mastani Gate. Well its another name is Ali Bahadur Gate.

3. Khidki Darwaja (Window Gate):

This Gate opens to the east. It is named for an armoured window it contains.

4. Ganesh Darwaja (Ganesh Gate):

This is the south door and opens to the east. It is Named for the Ganesh Rang Mahal, which used to stand near this gate. It could be used by ladies at the fort to visit the nearby Kasba Ganapati temple..

5. Narayan Jambhul Darwaja or Narayan Darwaja (Narayan's Gate):

The Gate opens into the south. The Gate had served primarily maids. It obtained its second name after Narayanrao Peshwa's corpse was removed from the fort for cremation through this gate.

There were 3 main buildings in the Shaniwarwada complex and were destroyed in 1828 fire. It is said that the Shaniwarwada complex was seven storeys high. On the top floor was the residence of the Peshwa. It is said that the the pinnacle of the Temple of Saint Dnyaneshwar at Alandi, 17 km away, could be seen from there. This building was also destroyed in the fire.

Lotus Fountain:

The main attraction of this fort is lotus shaped fountain, Hazari Karanje (Fountain of a thousand jets). It was designed as a sixteen petal lotus; each petal had sixteen jets with an eighty-foot arch.