Shivneri Fort

Shivneri is a hill fort near Junnar in Pune district, best known as the birthplace of Chhatrapati Shivaji, founder of the Maratha kingdom. It guarded the old trade route from the Desh plateau to the port of Kalyan and passed from the Yadavas of Devagiri to the Bahmani and then the Ahmadnagar sultans. In 1595 the sultan granted it to Maloji Bhosale, Shivaji's grandfather, and Shivaji was born here on 19 February 1630 and spent his early childhood within its walls.

The fort is triangular, entered from the south-west through a series of seven defended gates, with a second approach known as the chain gate, where climbers pull themselves up on chains. A small temple to the goddess Shivai, after whom Shivaji was named, stands inside. An English visitor in 1673 judged it impregnable and stocked for years. The British took it in 1819.