Sinhagad Fort

Sinhagad ('Lion's Fort') sits on a 1,312-metre Sahyadri hilltop 35 km south-west of Pune. Its earliest history is misty — possibly built by the Kaundinya dynasty around 2,000 years ago — but it became famous in 1670 when Tanaji Malusare, a senior commander under Chhatrapati Shivaji, recaptured it from the Mughal-aligned Udaybhan Singh Rathod in a night assault that has become a foundational story of Maratha military tradition. Tanaji's commando force scaled the eastern cliff — the Donagiri rock face — using a trained monitor lizard ('ghorpad') as a climbing aid. He killed Udaybhan in single combat but died of his wounds before dawn. Shivaji's grief-stricken response — 'gad ala pan sinha gela' ('the fort is taken but the lion is gone') — gave the fort its modern name (it had been called Kondhana before). The fort still has its main bastions, the Tanaji and Rajaram samadhis, the Amrit Eshwar Mahadev temple, and the kalyan and pune darwaza gates. It's a popular trek and weekend hangout — local hawkers serve pithla-bhakri and kanda-bhajiya at the summit. Drive up the back road or trek up the front. Pre-monsoon haze can spoil views; post-monsoon (October) is best.