Gingee: Shivaji’s invincible fort in Tamil Nadu

The fort of Gingee rises out of the surrounding lush green fields, just on the outskirts of the town of Gingee in Tamil Nadu. This place is merely 80 km from Pondicherry but is as important to Maratha, nay the nation’s history, as the forts of Rajgad, Panhala or Raigad! When Mughal armies were capturing fort after fort in the Sahyadris, it was this fort in far away Tamil Nadu that provided refuge to the young Chhatrapati Rajaram. It breathed new life into a struggle which seemed all but lost for the Marathas!

You might be wondering, how did this fort in Tamil Nadu end up with the Marathas in the first place? The answer lies in a long victorious campaign to south India, led by Chhatrapati Shivaji himself in 1676. It is popularly known as “Dakshin Digvijay”. Taking advantage of a political crisis in Bijapur’s Adilshahi kingdom, he brokered a quick truce with the Mughal governor at Aurangabad and set off south on a grand campaign, which granted the Marathas various places such as Koppal, Vellore, Gingee etc. Chhatrapati Shivaji actually allied with the Qutubshah of Golconda, allowing him easy passage through Hyderabad and into the Adil Shahi-ruled regions of Vellore and Gingee!

In fact, historical records speak of a grand reception accorded to the great king by Qutub Shah. Thus, by the end of 1676, an almost unbroken chain of forts running from Raigad to Gingee had been created. It is one of the best examples of how Shivaji was a visionary par excellence. He recognised that while Swarajya in the Sahyadris was strong, it was still territorially very limited. The southern conquests expanded it over a much wider area. The real importance of this “Dakshin Digvijay” became apparent only a decade after his demise.

In 1682, the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb invaded the Deccan with one of the largest armies ever to be assembled. The Marathas, under Chhatrapati Sambhaji, fought bravely for seven long years, but in early 1689 he was caught and cruelly put to death. Then the Maratha capital of Raigad was surrounded by Mughal forces. What indeed could the Marathas do in this difficult situation? Many forts had fallen. It would only be a matter of time before the Marathas too suffered the fate of Bijapur and Golconda — utterly defeated and wiped off the map by Mughal armies. And this is when the fort of Gingee and the chain of forts leading to it offered a glimmer of hope! A council of ministers at Raigad reached the difficult and brave decision that the best route forward was for Rajaram, Shivaji’s second son, to escape the Sahyadris where the Mughals roved like the maws of death. He would make way to the fortress of Gingee, many miles away in a land speaking an unfamiliar language!

Reaching the far away place had multiple advantages, which eventually decided the fate of the war which lasted a whole generation! The immediate effect was to divide Mughal armies and Aurangzeb’s attention between the hill forts of Maharashtra and this outpost where Rajaram had taken refuge. Then it stretched Mughal supply lines all over the Deccan, causing immense losses to Aurangzeb in both men and money.

Chhatrapati Rajaram escaped to Gingee by giving Mughal armies the slip as many as four times during his arduous journey. Aurangzeb responded by sending twenty five thousand soldiers under Zulfiqar Khan to besiege the fort.

The Mughal emperor reckoned it would be only a matter of a few months before the fort capitulated. But the fort had been called invincible by Chhatrapati Shivaji himself, and he had strengthened it further by adding bastions and other structures. The tall granite walls of Gingee and the brave soldiers who fought the siege enabled Gingee to stand for eight long years and turn the tide in the long war. Rajaram’s ministers and warriors who had been left to continue the struggle against the Mughals in Sahyadris were not sitting idle either. This period saw Santaji Ghorpade and Dhanaji Jadhav rise to prominence and become immortal for their exploits. Santaji had in fact fought his first few battles as young soldier, barely out of his teens, during Shivaji’s great campaign to the south! With Mughal lines stretched thin all over the Deccan, these warriors, along with others harassed them with their swift movements and sudden strikes. They also carried out stunning attacks on Zulfiqar Khan’s armies and routed Mughals in Kanchipuram and Madurai! The end result being that the Mughals were trapped in a long war spread over a huge area that completely drained their resources. Their siege warfare depended heavily on supplies and communication over long distances, and it was this that Santaji and Dhanaji attacked relentlessly as they galloped swiftly across the Deccan.

By 1699 Chhatrapati Rajaram returned to the Sahyadris — where Ramchandrapant Amatya, among others, had ably led the struggle against Aurangzeb. The face of the war had changed. The Marathas now had the upper hand in many places. The Hindavi Swarajya had survived in face of all odds, and Gingee had been central to that success.

The writer is the author of Brahmaputra — Story of Lachit Barphukan and Sahyadris to Hindukush — Maratha Conquest of Lahore and Attock