The Maratha Empire was a large confederation of states established in 1674 in the center of present-day India.<\/p>\n
When its first emperor, Shivaji, died around 1680, the Maratha Empire was protected by some 300 forts<\/strong> and an army of 90,000 soldiers. Many of these fortifications were located on mountains, which served as excellent observation posts. In the present-day state of Maharashtra in western India, there were once 264 forts<\/strong>. In some cases, the history of these ancient military positions has been virtually forgotten.<\/p>\n One such position was the triangular Gadgada Fort (also called Ghargad)<\/strong>, located almost 10 kilometers east of Trimbak, about whose past very little is known. It is known to have been a lookout position located on a plateau 961 meters above sea level<\/strong>. Maratha soldiers had their own water reserves there, the ponds of which are still preserved today.<\/p>\n In 1818, the year of the fall of the Maratha Empire, Gadgada Fort was captured by a British Army force<\/strong> under Captain John Briggs after the fall of Trimbak. The fort had an easily accessible lower section and a wall with two gates at the top, as well as garrison houses. Today, hardly anything remains of its old buildings. This fort is rarely visited due to its difficult access<\/strong>, as you can see in this video posted by Aniruddha Patil<\/a> a few months ago (if your Hindi language skills are as good as mine, I recommend turning on the English subtitles in the bottom bar of the player):<\/p>\n
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