Ahmednagar Fort

Region:Pune

Height : 0 Mtr

Base Village:Ahemadnagar

No clearly defined route between the fort and the town of Bingar. There were many small pagodas and mosques round the pettah and the fort, but none exactly between, or between the fort and Bhingar, or nearer to the fort than those towns. The fort was built by Malik Shah Ahmed (after whom the city of Ahmednagar is named) in 1427 CE.  He was the first sultan of the Nizam Shahi dynasty and he built the fort to defend the city against invaders from neighbouring Idar. Initially it was made of mud but major fortification began in 1559 under Hussain Nizam Shah. 

It took four years and was finally finished in 1562. In 1596, Chand Bibi the queen regent                                                                                                                                                                                                  successfully repulsed the Mughal invasion but when Akbar attacked again in 1600 the fort went to the Mughals. Aurangzeb died at Ahmednagar fort at the age of 97 on February 21, 1707. After Aurangzeb's death the fort passed to the Marathas and later the Scindias. During the period of instability in the Maratha Empire following the death of Madhavrao II, Daulat Scindia had the fort and its surrounding region ceded to him. In 1797, he imprisoned Nana Phadanvis the Peshwa diplomat at Ahmednagar fort.

In 1803 during the Second Anglo-Maratha War, Arthur Wellesley defeated the Maratha forces and the East India  Company came into possession of the fort. It was used by the British Raj as a prison and this was were Jawaharlal Nehru,  Abul Kalam Azad, Sardar Patel and other members of Indian National Congress were jailed for almost three years after they passed the Quit India Resolution. Jawaharlal Nehru wrote his popular book -the Discovery of India- while he was imprisoned at Ahmednagar fort. Currently the fort is under the administration of the Armoured Corps of the Indian Army.

The Ahmednagar Fort is located in the heart of the city of Ahmednagar, Maharashtra. It was the headquarters of the Ahmednagar Sultanate. In 1803 it was taken by the British in during the Second Anglo-Maratha War. Later it was used by the British Raj as a prison. Currently the fort is under the administration of the Armoured Corps of the Indian Army.

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