Panhala Fort

Panhala fort (also known as Panhalgad and Panhalla (literally "the home of serpents")), is located in Panhala, 20 kilometres northwest of Kolhapur in Maharashtra, India. It is strategically located, looking over a pass in the Western Ghats which was a major trade route from Bijapur in the interior of Maharashtra to the coastal areas. Due to its strategic location, it was the centre of several skirmishes in the Deccan involving the Maratha Empire, Mughal Empire and British, the grandsons of Shivaji, East India Company, the most notable battle being the Battle of Pavan Khind. Here, the queen regent of Kolhapur, Tarabai, spent her formative years. Several parts of the fort and the structures within are still intact. It is also called as the 'Fort of Snakes' as it is zigzagged in shape.

Text adapted from “Panhala Fort” on Wikipedia, CC BY-SA 4.0.

Panhala Fort ranks #1,284 of 7,738 worldwide in the atlas's castle fame ranking, and #50 of the 172 mapped in India. Founded 1178, it is older than 80% of the atlas's dated landmarks — one of 544 atlas entries founded in the 12th century. Its Wikipedia articles were opened 5,921 times in the last 60 days, more than 87% of the atlas. See how India compares in the castle statistics.

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Read the full history on Wikipedia ↗