Uday Bhan

The Battle of Sinhagad took place during the night on 4 February 1670 on the fort of Sinhagad (then known as Kondhana after the sage Kaundinya), near the city of Pune, Maharashtra, India. The battle was fought between Tanaji Malusare, commander of the Maratha Empire under Shivaji. and UdayBhan Singh Rathore, a Rajput fortkeeper under Jai Singh I who worked for the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb. Sinhagad was one of the first forts which Chattrapati Shivaji re-captured from the Mughals. The capture was made possible by scaling the walls at night with ladders made of rope. A fight followed in which Tanhaji was killed but the fort was won. The battle and Tanhaji's exploits are still a popular subject for Marathi ballad. During the siege, Malusare scaled a steep cliff that led to the fort through the assistance of a monitor lizard called Yashwanti (also referred to as ghorpad in marathi). This type of lizard was tamed since the 15th century and Yashwanti was trained to pull the rope up the cliffs for Malusare and wind it around the fort's bastion. Climbing up the fort, the Marathas were intercepted by the garrison and combat ensued between the guards and the few infiltrators that had managed to climb up by this time. Udaybhan and Tanaji engaged in single combat. Udaybhan struck and broke Tanaji's shield to compensate for which he wrapped his turban cloth on his forearm and continued the battle, shortly afterwards Udaybhan cuts his forearm. But Tanaji fought him, which both were killed in the battle but the overwhelmed Maratha forces managed to capture the fort after the reinforcements penetrated the gateway of the fort from another route. It is said that when Shivaji got the information about the victory but Tanaji lost his life during the battle he exclaimed "Gad ala pan sinh gela" (The fort has been captured but we lost the lion). A bust of Tanaji Malusare was established on the fort in the memory of his contribution to the battle. The fort was also renamed Sinhagad to honor his memory.

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