Satara

Satara stands beneath a hill fort in the Sahyadri country of western India. The fort, later known as Ajinkyatara, overlooks the town and the routes through the surrounding hills. Its position made it a natural stronghold for the Maratha rulers during their long struggle with the Mughal Empire. The town below the fort grew into a royal seat, associated especially with Chhatrapati Shahu.

Rajaram established his government at Satara in 1698 after years of war and flight. Aurangzeb besieged the fort and captured it in 1700, but the Marathas later recovered it. Following Aurangzeb’s death, Shahu emerged from Mughal captivity and contested the Maratha succession. He obtained Satara and was crowned there in 1708. His court became the centre of a growing confederacy, though the Peshwas gradually acquired greater political authority from their seat at Pune. After Shahu’s death in 1749 the balance shifted further towards the Peshwa, and Satara ceased to be the effective capital. In 1818 the British defeated the Peshwa and established a principality at Satara under Pratap Singh, leaving a Maratha royal court in the town beneath the old fortress.