SINHAGAD FORT

Sinhagad, the Lion's Fort, rises 1,312 metres above the rolling Bhuleshwar range, roughly 30 km southwest of Pune. Once known as Kondhana, the citadel has guarded the western approaches to the Deccan for more than two thousand years, changing hands between the Yadavas, the Bahmanis, the Mughals, and the Marathas. Its name was rewritten on a single February night in 1670, when Tanaji Malusare scaled the western cliff with a monitor lizard and a band of Mavalas to recapture it from Udaybhan Rathod for Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Tanaji fell in the assault, prompting Shivaji's lament that gave the fort its present name. Today the ramparts open onto sweeping views of Khadakwasla and Panshet reservoirs, the tomb of Tanaji, the samadhi of Rajaram Maharaj, and a constellation of bastions, dargahs and granaries quietly braided into the basalt. The trek begins at Atkarwadi or Donje village and climbs through laterite steps shaded by karvy and bamboo. Monsoon turns the slopes emerald, winter clears the horizon to the Western Ghats' last ridge, and weekend mornings draw Punekars up for kanda bhaji, pithla bhakri and clay-pot curd at the summit stalls.