by
(ISBN:CCRT/CP-XLVIII ~ Pub Year: 2000 ~ Pages:N/A ~ Binding: Paperback ~ Publisher: Centre for Cultural Resources and Training)
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The forts played a paramount role in the foundation, expansion and preservation of Maratha power. They have been classified into three types: Sthaladurg (Ground fort), Giridurga (Hill fort), Jayadurga (Marine fort).
Maharashtra is a land of forts. Nowhere in the country one would encounter such a profusion and variety of forts. The network of forts throughout its territory has shaped the character of its people. Maj. Graham in his Kolhapur Report says, a stronghold upon every hill as if inviting the inhabitants to depend upon themselves instead do upon the sovereign’s support and encouraging in each petty chieftain that spirit of independence, which is so striking a characteristic of the natives of the southern Maratha country.
Similar view is expressed by Sir Jadunath Sarkar in his monumental work Shivaji and his Times: The Maratha people’s inborn love of independence and isolation was greatly helped by nature, which provided them with many ready-made and easily defensible forts close at hand, where they could quickly flee for refuge and whence they could offer a tenacious resistance. Unlike the Gangetic plain, this country could not be conquered and annexed by one cavalry dash or even one year’s campaigning. Here the natives had the chance of making a long struggle against superior numbers and, as often happened, of reconverting their own when the invader was worn out.
The 350 odd forts of Maharashtra stand as silent sentinels to the history and success of the Marathas, particularly during the 17th century. The forts played a paramount role in the foundation, expansion and preservation of Maratha power. They served as strategic posts and their peculiar constructional features as weapons of warfare. Grant duff (1789-1858), the first comprehensive historian of the Marathas, wrote: There is probably no stronger country in the world than the Deccan from the Military defence point of view.
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