TORNA FORT
- Name -Torna Fort,
- Height - 4604 feet,
- Establishment - 1470 to 1486,
- Venue - Velhe Taluka, Pune District, Maharashtra, India,
- Dongarrang - Sahyadri,
- Type - Giridurg.
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Torna Fort (Prachandagad):
Torna Fort is one of the famous and popular forts in Maharashtra. The fort is 1400 meters high and is of Giridurg type. Torna is one of the forts conquered by Shivaji Maharaj in the early days. The name of the fort is Torana as it is a tree of many species. When the Maharaja inspected the fort, he changed the name of the fort to "Prachandagad" due to its huge expansion and very beautiful fort.
This fort is located in the Sahyadri range passing through Velha taluka of Pune district. To the south of the fort is the river Velvandi. The fort is 60 km from Pune.
History of the fort:
Mr. The first fort was taken by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the year 1647 AD when he was establishing Swarajya.
Shivaji Maharaj found some money on this fort and used it to build a fort. There is no evidence as to who built this fort. From the remains of caves and temples on the fort, it must have been an ashram of the Shaivite sect. Malik Ahmed conquered the fort for the Bahamani dynasty between 1470 and 1486 AD. Later, Shivaji Maharaj conquered this fort and it was renamed as Prachandagad. Some buildings were built on the fort. After coming from Agra, many forts were restored. In it, the Maharaja spent 5,000 hon on the fort of Torna.
After the assassination of Sambhaji Maharaj, the fort passed to the Mughals. Later, Secretary Shankaraji Narayan recaptured the fort and brought it under the control of the Marathas. Further, in 1404 AD, Aurangzeb besieged and won the battle and named it Futulgaib, meaning Divine Victory. But after four years, Sarnobat Nagoji climbed the fort and brought the fort back under the control of the Marathas. After that, it remained a permanent kingdom.
Shivaji Maharaj gave the Purandar to the Mughals, but the fort of Torana remained with Maharaj. What is special about it is that it was a fort of Marathas which was conquered by Aurangzeb.
- There is an ancient temple of Goddess Mengai on Torna fort.
- There is a temple of Toran Jai Devi on the Torana fort.
- Torna Gad has two Machis, Budhala Machi and Jhunjar Machi.
Budhala Machi
Jhunjar Machi
- There is also a flagpole on the fort.
Ways to reach Torna Fort:
Velhe village in Pune district is at the foot of Torna fort. The distance from Pune to Velhe is 60 kilometers.
- Nasrapur to Velhe, Pune to Panshet to Velhe, Pune to Khanapur to Pabe via Velhe can be reached at the foot of Torna fort.
- From the Velhe to Verge footpath of the Maharaja's time, one can reach Torna fort through Bini Darwaza for two hours. This route is much easier than other routes.
- The second route passes through Bhatti, a village 5 km from Velhe village. From the west side of the village, Valan goes to Budhala Machi through the Jai Jai gate.
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