Ajinkyatara Fort

Ajinkyatara Fort crowns one of the seven hills around Satara, at about 3,300 feet, and looks out over the city. Raja Bhoj of the Shilahara dynasty built it in the 12th century. Shivaji took it from Bijapur in 1673, and its keeper Manaji Sable later held off an assault led by Aurangzeb's son Muazzam. The Mughals occupied it from 1700 to 1706, but the regent Tarabai won it back and named it Ajinkyatara, the invincible star. Shahu I took it in 1708, and it stayed with the Marathas until the British annexed it in 1818.

Thick walls about 4 metres high with bastions enclose the fort, entered by a main gate in the northwest and a smaller one in the southeast. Inside are water tanks, lakes, the remains of Tara Rani's palace and temples to Mangalai Devi, Shiva and Hanuman. The climb is an easy trek, and a motor road also reaches the top, where the city's TV towers stand.