A History of the Mahrattas v2.c51.118

v2.c51.118

Imādshāhī dynasty. Repaired in 1577 by Murtaza Nizām Shāh of Ahmadnagar, it was captured in 1597–8 by the Mughals. In the second Marāthā War it was held by Beni Singh for Raghujī Bhoslē, and was stormed by General Wellesley on December 15, 1803. The fort was dismantled in 1853. Among the loot taken at Gāwīlgarh was a silver image of the god Bālāji (Vithoba) and his two wives, which is said to have belonged to Raghujī Bhoslē. It was eventually purchased by Edward Moor, and is depicted on Plate 12 of the original edition (1810) of his Hindu Pantheon. Another prize, seized at the same time, was a silver throne for various gods, which was carried to Poona and purchased by the Pēshwā for 40,000 rupees. (Moor, ibid., p. 33.) The Delhi gate of the fort has two bas-reliefs of a double-headed eagle holding an elephant in its beak and claws. This is the famous Ganda bherunda, the emblem of the Vijayanagar Empire, and is evidence that the gate was built by Fath-ullah Imād-ul-Mulk, who, according to Firishta, was a Vijayanagar Brahman captured in his youth and brought up as a Muhammadan. Imād-ul-Mulk was viceroy of the province under Mahmūd Shāh Bahmanī, and became independent in 1490. He repaired the fort in 1488. (I.G., xii. 193–4.)]