Pune, which was once called Poona, was used to be the capital of the Maratha Empire. Right in the middle of the city there is a fort named Shaniwar Wada, which once upon a time used to be the official residence of the Peshwa (Prime Minister of the Chhatrapati). Shaniwarwada, which was the seat of power of an entire Maratha empire from where the entire Maratha empire was controlled. Fort is located in the Shaniwar Peth area, just 3.5 km from Swargate.
The most interesting thing about this fort is that when you enter, you cannot go straight; you have to either go left or right due to a small wall in front of you. This was a defensive mechanism made by the builder in case a large army tried to enter the fort; they couldn’t directly attack.
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Naming of the Fort.
The fort was built by the Bajirao Peshwa I in 1723. He was the 7th appointed peshwa at that time. The reason for naming the palace as Shaniwar Wada was because on the day the foundation of this building was laid on Saturday, when the Peshwa Bajirao came to stay there during that time, it was also a Saturday. In Marathi, “Saturday” means Shaniwar, and Wada means where people come to stay. So this is how the name was given to the fort.
Shaniwar Wada timings and entry Ticket
The palace is open every day of the week. The timings for visiting the Shaniwar Wada are between 9:30 AM and 5:30 PM. The entry ticket for an Indian citizen is Rs 25, and for a foreign national, it is Rs 300 per person. You can either book the ticket from the counter, or you can scan the barcode outside the fort and fill out the form and make the payment to generate your e-ticket. You will need to put the e-ticket under the scan to get the entry to the fort.
Shaniwarwada Architecture
It is said that when the Shaniwar Wada was getting built, the original intention was that the entire fort would be built with stones, and in fact the first floor, which is the ground floor, was built with stones. The construction workers raised objections that “how can you make the entire palace with stones?”. The floors, which were built later, were made from bricks.
Every place inside the fort has markings specifying the significance of this place. For example, Nayaran Rao room, the courtroom, Ganpati temple, and fountain. At present the fort is of only 1 floor, but at its peak it had 7 floors. You will notice there will be holes in some of the important walls; some will be rectangular, circular, or square. Their purpose was that whenever any army attacked, the defending army, which was inside the fort, would be able to see them. They could also fire arrows or spill hot oil and put out a fire.
The steps inside the fort are very steep; if you are bringing an old person with you, then you will have to support him. At that time there were 1000 people who used to stay inside Shaniwar Wada. There were a total of 6 big gates. The main gateway is Dilli Darwaja, which was the main entrance, and Mastani Darwaja, which is right next to Dilli Darwaja, and apart from these two, there was Ganesh Darwaja (Gate). These 3 were the big gates that had required guarding to protect the fort from foes.
A path is made around the walls to cover the entire perimeter; by just walking on this path, you can keep an eye on all sides of the fort. This was to look out for any army trying to invade the fort. During that time one could see over 10 to 15 km.
History of Shaniwar Wada
Peshwa Bajirao I Family
The Peshwa position at early time it was appointed by the Chhatrapati but as the time passed this position started becoming hereditary, meaning the son of the Peshwa will become the next Peshwa, so among all the Peshwa the who is well know in the Maratha empire was Bajirao I. He had two wife Kashibai and Mastani. Kashibai had two sons, BalaJi Bajirao aka Nana Saheb and Raghunath Rao aka Raghoba where as Mastani had only one son name Shamsher Bahadur. After Bajirao death as the tradition his elder son who was Nana Saheb became the new Peshwa.
Peshwa Nana Saheb and battle of Panipat
After becoming Peshwa a new challenge arose were Ahemd Shah Durrani was coming from Afghanistan to attack the Delhi. To stop this invasion Maratha people decided to send an Army. Nana Saheb called his court and ask who will lead the army. The best choice for this operation was Raghunath Rao who was his younger brother because he had lots of knowledge about the Maratha stations army in Northern region. Raghunath Rao agreed to lead the force but he said he will be needing certain amount of soldiers and certain amount of money. On hearing the need for these resources Nana Saheb was worried because currently there was not much fund available.
Nana Saheb said he can’t provide that much of resources to stop their foe. The cousin of Peshwa, Sadashiv Rao said he can lead the campaign and with little resources. So while travelling to Delhi from Pune there will be smaller friendly kingdom whose force we can recruited to fight against Ahemd Shah Durani. So it was decided that Sadashiv Rao will lead the operation but Raghunath Rao who is the center of this story didn’t went.
Nana Saheb’s Wife said that this is an important campaign and you yourself is not taking part in it also you are not sending Raghunath Rao. What if Sadashiv Rao win the battle and then he starts calling him self a king. Then she said in state of leading army by Sadashiv Rao why not make Vishwas Rao to lead the army, who was son of Peshwa Nana Saheb. So this way Nana Saheb officially made his elder son Vishwas Rao to lead an army.
The three most important members of Peshwa family had gone to stop the invasion, Sadashiv Rao, Vishwas Rao and Peshwa’s half brother Shamsher Bahadur. Now in year 1761 the third battle of Panipat where Maratha were defeated and these 3 people were killed in this battle. After the loss in Panipat there was a challenge Infront of Nana Saheb because he had lots his elder most son and now who will be his successor. Many people were saying that his brother Raghunath Rao should be next Peshwa. Because they believed he was a promising warrior as he had lead many campaigns. There were other groups who were saying his son must be his successor.
Peshwa Madhav Rao
Finally before dying Nana Saheb had name his 2nd son Madhav Rao as his successor. Raghunath Rao was very disappointed with this decision, so he had very hostile towards Madhav Rao. Once Raghunath Rao allied with Hyderabad to attacked Madhav Rao where he was defeated and later placed under house arrest. After sometime again Madhav Rao was unwell and he had to name the successor. He called his Uncle Raghunath Rao and his younger brother Narayan Rao and said that his successor will be Narayan Rao. Raghunath Rao felt very insulted and humiliated because he was a very important family member and had a lot of respect among the warriors.
Peshwa Narayan Rao knew that Raghunath Rao had a greed for the throne and he also placed him under house arrest. He had tried lot of time to escape but failed. RaghunathRao’s wife Anandibai took the matter into her hands. She wanted her husband to become the Peshwa. Anandibai made a plot with Shaniwarwada’s guards. During that time the guards of Shaniwarwada were called Gardis. Gardis were not Maratha. They were a north side of India and they were only working for Money. Their protection squadron had a good reputation so they were kept here for protection.
Plotting of Assassination of Narayan Rao
Anandibai knew that Peshwa had not paid the salary to Gardis for a very long time. The reason was that time Peshwa’s financial condition was not stable. She took advantage of this and called the leader of Gardis name Sumer Singh and told him that “You have to do one work for me. I will give you a written order and if you follow the order you will get all your salaries and lots of rewards. The next Peshwa who will give you an important position in Maratha court.” Sumer Singh agreed. Then Anandibai gave a letter to Sumer Singh which had a stamp of Raghunath Rao.
Day of Assassination
One day during a day time around 2.00 PM the Gardis sealed the entire Shaniwar wada fort when the Peshwa Narayan Rao was inside the fort. They started killing people, Narayan Rao heard something was not right so he came out of his room. He saw the guards are attacking people inside the fort. He understood that this is happening to capture him, he ran directly into the room of Parvati Bai, she was the widow of Sadashiv Rao. He said to her to help him as people are coming to kill him. She said the only person who can save you inside Shaniwar wada at present is Raghunath Rao.
Narayan Rao directly went into the room of Raghunath Rao and said to him “Kaka mala vachva” which means Uncle help me. Raghunath Rao quickly draw his sword out and said that no one can touch you in my presence. When Sumer Singh and his companion reached Raghunath Rao room and saw him took his sword out and saying above words, they were little confuse as Raghunath Rao had given them the order to kill Narayan Rao. The order letter which was given by Raghunath Rao was initially to capture Narayan Rao and not to kill him.
Alteration in the letter
The letter which was written by Raghunath Rao was in Marathi “Narayan Rao la Dharava” (capture Narayan Rao) but his wife made a small modification changing Dharava to Marava (to kill) before giving to Sumer Singh. When the Raghunath Rao took out his sword some say that his wife came forward and explain her husband that “These are the same people who are placing you in a house arrest. They are not letting you become a Peshwa, they are repeatedly insulting you inside the court room and you are protecting them?” Raghunath Rao realized this and put his sward down. In front of Raghunath Rao, Sumer Singh and his companion killed a seating Peshwa Narayan Rao.
Narayan Gate
One of the gate in Shaniwar Wada is called as Narayan Gate because it is said that it was clearly visible from this door when Narayan Rao was killed. This gate is the only closest gate to the quarter of Raghunath Rao. After the assassination, now the question was who will become the next Peshwa. Outside the Shaniwar Wada the loyal people of Peshwa came to know that there is so much commotion inside, so they said we want to see inside. One minister was given permission to enter the fort. When he went and saw inside Raghunath Rao quarter Raghunath Rao is un harm and safe but Narayan Rao’s body was lying in front of him.
Investigation done by Chief Justice
The minister felt something is fishy. If Gardis killed Peshwa Narayan Rao but how did they left Raghunath Rao who will become the next Peshwa. How in front of him they killed only the seating Peshwa? From here the doubts on Raghunath Rao begin. When all these were happening the current Chief Justice of Maratha whose name was Justice Ram Shastri Prabhune. People considered him the epitome of justice, he was a very unbiased Chief Justice. He started investigating as a seating Peshwa was brutally murdered inside an officially residence. He continued his work for around 6 weeks.
Mean while Raghunath Rao wanted to take power in his hand. There were two groups among the Maratha one who opposed Raghunath Rao to be next Peshwa due whispers spreading that Raghunath Rao assassinated Narayan Rao and other group who were in favor to see him as a next Peshwa. Very few people knew that Narayan Rao’s wife was pregnant and if she give a birth to a boy then he will become the next Peshwa or Bajirao’s second wife Mastani who had a son Shamsher Bahadur who had died in battle of Panipat had a son Ali Bahadur but no Raghunath Rao was the choice of some people.
Found guilty
When the Investigation completed by Justice Ram Shastri Prabhune and came to know that Raghunath Rao had made a plot in assassination of Narayan Rao. On the day when Raghunath Rao was about to swan, Ram Shastri went to court room and In front of all told Raghunath Rao that you have murdered and you will be punished with death. At first he denied the allegations on him but when the Justice shown the proof, the same letter wrote by Raghunath Rao. The letter was with Sumer Singh, it was stolen by the maid of Narayan Rao. After that he didn’t couldn’t deny it. He said that “I only gave order to capture. Killing order was not my”.
Seize of Power by Raghunath Rao
The Maratha people officially accepted the fact that Raghunath Rao who was going to become next Peshwa had assassinated Narayan Rao. Such things used to happened in Mughals where sons used to kill their father or brother used to kill other to take the throne but in Maratha this things never happened before that someone had killed someone for a throne. People didn’t accepted Peshwai of Raghunath Rao but still he took the power in his hands and Ram Shastri Prabhune had to leave.
The Baarbhaai Conspiracy
After a sometime, the people who opposed Raghunath Rao created a group lead by Nana Phadnavis and went to the Chhatrapati and said, You need to do something about it. The Chhatrapati decided that Raghunath Rao Peshwai is invalid, and now the new Peshwa will be the son of Narayan Rao, who was in the womb of his mother. So she gave birth to a boy named Sawai Madhav Rao, and he became the next Peshwa. In his childhood, he was given the position; all the work related to the office was handled by the cabinet ministers till he grew to a certain age.
East India Company and 3rd Anglo-Maratha War
As the East India Company was taking the Indian territory. They went to war with Maratha between 1817 and 1819, and the result was that Maratha was defeated in it. This resulted in the dethroning of the last Peshwa, Baji Rao II, and annexed large portions of their territory. This way, Shaniwar Wada was now under the East India Company and later the British Empire. They used the fort for a variety of purposes, including a prison, a hospital, and even a mental asylum. After 10 years there was an accident that resulted in the fire over Shaniwar Wada. The fire lasted for 7 days. Everything was burnt except strong gateways and buried foundations.
Shaniwar Wada haunted story
People living near by says they had heard strange voices from inside of the Shaniwar Wada fort. This usually happens during the full moon time. Most people have claimed that a voice is of a child pleading for help saying “Kaka mala vachava” (Uncle, save me) the same words which was said by Narayan Rao to his uncle Raghoba. It is strictly prohibited to enter Shaniwar Wada after 6.30 PM. This was the story of one of the must visit place in Pune Shaniwar Wada. You can also read about one of important fort just outside of Pune named as Sinhagad Fort Pune and Bravery of Tanaji Malusare.