Vishalgad

2021-05-26T05:27:18Z

2409:4042:2808:7A55:D5A2:7962:DC9D:6495: /* Fort */

{{Infobox former subdivision
|conventional_long_name = Vishalgad
|common_name=Vishalgad
|nation = [[Maratha Empire]] and then [[British India]]
|subdivision = [[Jagir]]
|era =
|year_start = 1716<ref name="Vishalgad Jagir">{{cite book|title=Vishalgad Jagir|url=http://members.iinet.net.au/~royalty/ips/v/vishalgadh.html}}</ref>
|date_start =
|event_start=
|year_end = 1956<ref name="Vishalgad Jagir">{{cite book|title=Vishalgad Jagir|url=http://members.iinet.net.au/~royalty/ips/v/vishalgadh.html}}</ref>
|date_end =
|event_end= [[Independence of India]] (abolition of the estate)
|event1 =
|date_event1 =
|p1 =
|s1 = India
|flag_p1 =
|flag_s1 =
|image_flag =
|image_coat =
|image_map =
|image_map_caption =
|stat_area1 = 608.65
|stat_year1 = 1901
|stat_pop1 = 30807
|footnotes = '''Source:''' Solomon & Bond (1922)<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=47sfj8DUwNgC&pg=PA110|title=Indian States: A Biographical, Historical, and Administrative Survey|publisher=Asian Educational Services|year=1922|first1=R. V. |last1=Solomon |first2=J. W. |last2=Bond|page=110|isbn=9788120619654}}</ref>
}}
{{Infobox military installation
|name = Vishalgad
|native_name =
|partof =
|location = [[Kolhapur district]], Maharashtra, India
|image = Surviving Structure on Vishalgad.jpg
|image_size = 220px
|caption = One of the few surviving structures on Vishalgad
|map_type = India Maharashtra
|map_size =
|map_alt =
|map_caption = Vishalgad in Maharashtra
|type =
|coordinates = {{coord|16.906419|73.741683|type:landmark|display=inline}}
|code =
|built =
|builder =
|materials =
|height =
|used =
|demolished =
|condition =
|ownership = [[Government of India]]
|open_to_public =
|controlledby =
|garrison =
|current_commander =
|commanders =
|occupants =
|battles =
|events =
|image2 =
|caption2 =
}}

'''Vishalgad''' (also called Vishalgarh, Khelna or Khilna)<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.maharashtratourism.gov.in/treasures/fort/vishalgad |publisher=Maharashtra Tourism Development Corporation |title=Vishalgad |access-date=2017-07-14}}</ref> was a [[jagir]] during the [[Maratha Empire]] and then later part of the [[Deccan States Agency]] of the [[British Raj]]. It was governed by [[Deshastha Brahmin]]s,<ref name="Johnson">{{cite book |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4kaZV5CdzsAC&pg=PA102|title=Provincial Politics and Indian Nationalism: Bombay and the Indian National Congress 1880-1915|publisher=Cambridge University Press|year=2005|first=Gordon |last=Johnson|page=102|isbn=9780521619653}}</ref> who were [[feudatory|feudatories]] of [[Kolhapur State]].<ref>{{cite book |title=The Indian Princes and their States |first=Barbara N. |last=Ramusack |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2004 |isbn=978-1-13944-908-3 |page=146}}</ref>

[[Shahu of Kolhapur]] attempted to undermine the Brahmin princelings of Vishalgad jagir, as also those of [[Gaganbawada|Bavda]] and [[Ichalkaranji]], from around 1895. He had inherited the throne of Kolhapur in 1894 placed blame for the past weak government of his state on Brahmins, including those in its civil service, and claimed that there was justification for discriminating against them in order to improve the lot of his less privileged subjects. Aside from introducing policies of job reservation and education for the underprivileged in his state, he asked the British Raj provincial authorities of [[Bombay Presidency]] to allow a reduction in the privileges enjoyed by the feudatory chiefs, who he claimed had been harbouring Brahmin terrorists from [[Poona]]. Historian Gordon Johnson says that "The case, although plausible, was not entirely convincing, and the matter dragged on into the 1920s".<ref name="Johnson"/>

==Fort==
A fort had existed at Vishalgad long before it became a jagir. The Maratha emperor [[Shivaji]] had escaped to it after being besieged at [[Panhala Fort]] in 1660<ref>{{cite book |title=The Marathas 1600-1818 |first=Stewart |last=Gordon |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=1993 |page=68 |isbn=978-0-52126-883-7 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=iHK-BhVXOU4C&pg=PA68}}</ref> and in 1844 it was one of the forts of Kolhapur State that initiated a rebellion against a Brahmin [[regent]] called Daji Krishna Pandit who had [[Court of Wards (India)|been installed]] by the British to govern the state in 1843 at a time when the natural heir to the throne was underage. He took direction from a political agent of the [[East India Company]] and among their actions were reforms to the tax of land. These reforms caused much resentment and, despite Kolhapur having refrained from involvement in the previous [[Anglo-Maratha Wars]], a revolt against the British began in 1844. The rebellion began with soldiers locking themselves into hill-forts such as those as Panhala and Vishalgad, and then spread to Kolhapur itself.<ref>{{cite book |title=Britain's Empire: Resistance, Repression and Revolt |first=Richard |last=Gott |publisher=Verso Books |year=2011 |isbn=978-1-84467-738-2 |page=343 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=sNoz_F_wQPkC&pg=PA343}}</ref>

==See also==
*[[Pant Pratinidhi family]]
*[[Battle of Khelna]]
*[[List of forts in Maharashtra]]

==References==
{{Reflist}}

{{Commons category}}

{{Princely states of the Deccan States Agency}}
{{Forts in Maharashtra}}

[[Category:Jagirs]]
[[Category:Forts in Maharashtra]]
[[Category:Tourist attractions in Kolhapur district]]

Bharatpedia - User contributions [en]

Vishalgad