Pratapgarh
The Pratapgarh Fort is the place from where the history of the Maratha Emperor Shivaji turned into a decisive course. This is here that Afzal Khan met his death.
The Pratapgarh Fort is 900 m above sea level. It is 24 km west of Mahabaleshwar. The fort from a distance gives the appearance of a round topped hill. The wall of the lower fort forms a sort of a crown round the brow. The western and northern sides of the fort are gigantic cliffs with an almost vertical drop in many places of seven or eight hundred feet. Both covered with huge masses and a vast precipice of trap rock. On the east and south the hills were more sloping and covered with a dense wood in contrast with the rocky west and north, and gradually descended to the valleys separating Mahabaleshwar and the Kineshvar range on the east and the
There are total four lakes on the fort, Rahat lake being the largest among them. On the eastern bastion lie the ponds known as ‘Naske Tale’ and ‘Gode Tale’.
Mahadarwaja :
Road on the left side of the Watch-tower takes us to the entrance steps of the fort. Mahadarwaja lies here in between the two bastions
Bhavani Mandir :
The stone from which Goddess Bhavani Mata’s idol is carved has been brought by Shivaji Maharaj with the help of King Leelasen.
Statue of Shivaji Maharaj :
As we go ahead from Kedareshwar temple, we comes across a huge statue of Shivaji Maharaj mounted on horse-back with sword in his right hand, raised up towards the sky, and bridle in left hand. This statue has been created by Shri. Kamat, a craftsman from Mumbai. This statue was unveiled by our Late Prime Minister Shri Jawaharlal Nehru.
Apart from above mentioned places, there are many other structures, viz., ‘Yeshwant Buruj’ to the east, ‘Surya Buruj’ near Hanuman Temple to the south and besides it lies a secret-doorway, ‘Rajpaharyachi Dindi’, a place to keep watch-on to the north of the fort.
Sahaydri Sangh
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