The city of Pune used to be the political hub of the Maratha Empire.
Most of us may have read about the History of the Maratha Empire during
our school days. During my early days in Pune, my friends and I planned
a day out visiting all of Pune’s historical monuments. One of those
remarkable monuments we visited was the Shaniwar wada fort.
The
Shaniwar Wada Fort is a palace fort situated in the heart of Pune city.
Shaniwar Wada in Marathi means a Saturday residential complex, mainly
because the foundation ceremony for this fort was carried out on an
auspicious Saturday by Peshwa Bajirao I on 10th January, 1730. Baji Rao
I was a noted General of Emperor Chhatrapati Shahu. This fort is open
to general public all through the year between 9 am and 6 pm. The
entrance fee is minimal and there are tour guides available who try
their best to tell you the tragedies the walls of this fort have
witnessed. The magnificent Dilli Darwaza, stone walls, manicured green
lawns, the Nagarkhana, 9 towers, Mastani Darwaja,…all lie still…mute
witnesses of 4 generations of Peshwas and the gory history behind each.
I had heard tales from the locals that the Shaniwar wada is
haunted. Many plays in Marathi theatre have been based on this same
folk lore and we were inquisitive to know more. On asking our tour
guide about it, he took us to one a particular section of the fort. It
appeared as an ordinary fort section, a kind of a Darwaza (door) with
passages adjacent to both sides leading to stairways. History has it
that, after the death of Madhav Rao Peshwa, his younger brother Narayan
Rao succeeded him who was only thirteen years old. Since Narayan Rao
was still a minor his uncle Raghunathrao became his guardian and
started acting as the regent. As days passed by Raghunathrao became
greedy and ambitious to become the Peshwa himself. He plotted along
with his scheming and cunning wife Anandibai.
In 1773, when
Narayan Rao was only fourteen years old, his uncle sent his guards to
catch Narayan Rao and bring him. Legend has it that, the Uncle had sent
a message to his guards ‘Narayan Rao la dharaa’ (which means in marathi
- capture Narayan Rao) but his wily wife changed the message to
‘Narayan Rao la maaraa’ (which means – kill Narayan Rao). Thus
Anandibai went down in history for changing ‘dha’ to ‘maa’ and abetting
the killing of the young prince. On seeing the guards coming after him
the young prince fled inside the fort towards his Uncle’s place Badami
Mahal crying “Kaka! Mala vachva!” (Uncle! Please save me!) But no one
came to his rescue. His uncle stood and watched Narayan Rao being
killed. Narayan Rao was hacked into so many pieces that it had to be
carried in a vessel through the door.
Raghunathrao was awarded
the Death sentence for abetting this gruesome crime. Locals say that on
specific nights of the year you can still hear Narayan Rao’s cry for
help “Kaka! Mala vachva!” They think it is his distressed soul still
seeking help. We left the fort with our minds still imagining these
historical incidents. The present day tranquility of this place is only
marred with couples hobnobbing in hidden passages of the fort who are
shooed off by the guards at regular intervals, “Raju loves Pinki” and
other lovelorn graffiti scribbled unjustly into the walls of this
historical beauty. The distressed soul of Narayan Rao Peshwa is
certainly the last thing on their minds for sure. Even though all these
tales built upon the actual historical events could be just a farce but
no one can deny the actual history of any place.
