The Military System of the Marathas, with a Brief Account of Their Maritime Activities c9.6

c9.6

Shivaji’s forts therefore were defended by a stout stone wall. The hill side was rendered more inaccessible by the usual bush of thorny opuntia cactus that forms the common feature of the country. Besides the barracks for men and officers every fort was provided with a *Darukhana* or powder house; an *Ambarkhana* or granary and a storeroom for oil and *ghi*, a necessary ingredient for the daily food of a Maratha. The water supply was not forgotten, and even a small fort like Satara can boast of more than one tank and well that yield excellent drinking water even today after a century of neglect. Raigad had quite a number of tanks, and Grose was told that it was ‘the most completely impregnable place in the universe, for the enclosure of it is large enough, independent of the stores accumulated there, to grow grain sufficient for the maintenance of its garrison, which, were it but a handful of men, could with pleasure defend it against the greatest armies that could be brought to take it’.² The *Ambarkhana* of Panhala with its three enormous stone and cement granaries, named after the three life-giving holy streams, Ganga, Yamuna, and Saraswati, was designed to hold 25,000 *Khandis* of grain.³ If the material needs of the garrison were thus provided for, supernatural aid, in which soldiers and civilians equally believed in that age, was not overlooked. The main gateway was defended by a miniature figure of Hanuman, the valiant monkey general, and inside the ramparts were built a temple and a mosque, and Mr. C. A. Kincaid says that below the foundation of the walls of Lohagad were found some skeletons, whose unfortunate owners were probably sacrificed to render that fortress invincible.¹ The defensive value of these forts had been amply demonstrated during Aurangzib's invasion. Each fort cost the Mughal Emperor an enormous loss of men, money and time.