Singarh

Singarh, or Sinhagad, is a steep hill fort southwest of Pune, formerly known as Kondhana. Its rocky slopes and fortified gates made it an important defence for the surrounding country. Long before the rise of Maratha power, a local Koli chief held the fort against Muhammad Tughluq. It later passed into the hands of the Ahmadnagar sultanate and its commanders.

Shivaji gained the fortress in the seventeenth century but ceded it to the Mughals under the Treaty of Purandar in 1665. In 1670 his commander Tanaji Malusare led an assault to recover it. Tanaji was killed in the fighting, but his brother Suryaji continued the attack and the Marathas captured the fort. Aurangzeb took Sinhagad in 1703, and it changed hands again during the long Mughal-Maratha wars. In 1818 British forces captured it from the Peshwas.