A History of the Mahrattas v2.c51.61

v2.c51.61

¹ [Pāvāgarh (Pawungurh) fort is now in the Pānch Mahāls District, Bombay, about twenty-eight miles east of Baroda. The hill on which it stands rises abruptly from the plain to a height of 2,500 feet. The fortifications include the lower fort, a massive stone structure with strong bastions stretching across the less precipitous parts of the eastern spur of the hill, and seven massive gates which are connected by strong walls sweeping up to the fortifications on the crest of the hill. The hill, which is named Pāvakgarh, or ‘fire-hill,’ in old inscriptions, is first referred to in the writings of a twelfth century bard. About A.D. 1300 it was seized by Chauhān Rājpūts; in 1484 Sultān Mahmūd Begara reduced it after a siege of nearly two years; in 1573 it fell into the hands of Akbar; in 1727 it was surprised by Krishnāji, who made it his headquarters; and Sindia took it about 1761. It was restored to Sindia in 1804 and came finally into British hands in 1853. (I.G. Bom., i. 304.)]