#longthread
Sangram Durg is a small land fort in the town of Chakan some 35 kms away from the city of Pune. Babasaheb Purandare describes the fort thus.
Chakan fort can barely be called a fort. He describes it as गढी. With its expanse covering barely +

3 acres land, only 400 people could live in that fort. The fort is square in shape with grand and strong watch towers at four different corners plus one at the centre. Ramparts are about 8 hands (old way of measurement) thick and 30 hands tall. Babasaheb compares it's strength +

... with that of the legendary Bhima. The fort was as strong and as unmovable as Bhim. A deep moat surrounded the fort and beyond the there were mud walls that protected it. There were cannons on each of the watch towers and a tall bhagwa(flag)fluttered at the entrance+

The story of Chakan fort is as touching as it's fascinating. It is a story of reckless bravery and sheer determination of a handful of Marathas in face of Shahista Khan's huge and superiorly armed army. One Firangoji Narsale aged 70 at that time, defended the fort for 56 days +

... hoping that backup would come. He kept defending until he was forced to surrender. And even then he refused to bow down. The reckless bravery of this one man and his fellow soldiers made such an impression on Shahista Khan's mind that he refrained from engaging with any of +

... the Maratha forts after Chakan.
Khan was the viceroy of Deccan at the time. He opened his campaign against Shivaji Maharaj in early 1660. On 25th February, 1660, Khan started for Pune from Ahmednagar, which was a Mughal stronghold. Instead of taking the most direct +

... route to Pune, he took a roundabout route. His prime motive was to occupy as much of Swarajya as he could and intimidate the enemy. He also wanted to bait them into engaging with him. But the Marathas didn't take the bait. They retreated with Khan's approach and engaged +

... only when he neared Pune. While Khan was approaching Pune, Shivaji Maharaj was trapped at Panhalgad. (This warrants a seperate thread). When Khan reached Pune, he found that most of the population had fled to the safety of the hills after having destroyed all grain and +

... fodder. Also he had to fight small batches of Marathas, all intent in making Khan and his troops lives very difficult. Monsoon also meant that all the rivers had flooded making it difficult for him to obtain provisions. Tired with the constant skirmishes, Khan decided +

... to fall back to Chakan and decided to use months of monsoon to capture fort at Chakan. He laid siege to Sangram Durg. But for a fort of that size, Sangram Durg proved to be a tough nut to crack. One Firangoji Narsale and a handful of Marathas defended the fort with all they +

... had. Despite the heavy rains and Shahista Khan's huge army, these brave men kept up the pressure and kept Khan's army at bay. They did this for 54 days straight. These 54 days were marked with heavy day time firing and night raids whenever possible. A handful of them kept +

... the vast Mughal army at bay. When the Mughal camp would be sleeping, tired out by the day's skirmishes and firing, these night-time warriors would sally out of the fort and attack the sleeping Mughal camp and by the time the camp became aware of the attack, the Marathas +

... would disappear inside the fort like ghosts leaving behind destruction and a visibly shaken and confused camp. On the 55th day, a mine filled with explosives was carried from Khan's side to the north-eastern tower and at around 3 PM it was ignited on Khan's command. +

The was a huge blast and the tower and the defenders standing atop collapsed. The Mughals stormed the fort but couldn't enter it. The explosion had created a huge pile of debris and the Marathas used that as a shield and showered the Mughals with stones, arrows and bullets. +

Mughals could not advance any further that day but they managed to cling to their position. Next day they attacked with renewed vigour and the Marathas had to fall back to the citadel. The Mughals advanced and a bitter fight ensued with the Mughal side suffering heavy losses. +

The Marathas eventually surrendered after a long and bitter fight. Shahista Khan was so impressed by the bravery of Firangoji that he offered him a place with Mughals with high payment which Firangoji refused. Shahista Khan allowed him and his remaining men a safe passage. +

Such was the fear and impression that these brave men made on Shahista Khan and his army that he didn't try to capture any more Marathas forts while he was in Pune. Shahista Khan lost his 268 soldiers while 600 were wounded. Considering the size of the fort and estimated Maratha+

... strength, these numbers are significant. One can just imagine the kind of bloodbath that must have followed the explosion. Maratha strength was not more than a few hundred out of which many were killed and many others wounded. +

Sources:
Shivaji and His Times by Sir Jadunath Sarkar
A Short History of Aurangzeb by Sir Jadunath Sarkar
Shivaji His Life and Times by G B Mehendale
Raja Shiv Chatrapati by Babasaheb Purandare

Additional notes-
G B Mehendale mentions that only Shiv Bharat mentions the name Sangram Durg. No other contemporary source calls the fort by this name.

Sir Jadunath Sarkar says that when the tower was blown, the Mughals couldn't advance further because the Marathas had +

... constructed an embankment beyond the breach and they mounted an attack by using that as a shield. Whereas G B Mehendale mentions that the Marathas climbed up the heap of debris and continued to fight. I am inclined to go with G B Mehendale's assertion. +

Shahista Khan commanded an army of 77,000 cavalry, an excellent infantry and elephants when he started his campaign. At Chakan his strength was estimated at least a few thousands while the Marathas were barely a few hundred.
I have tried to stick as closely +

... to the historic sources as possible without making the thread sound like a textbook chapter. But if one really wants to read a poetic narration of this episode complete with lofty words and decorative terms, one must read Babasaheb's description. One will seldom find a +

... writer with such a flair for words and description. I will include a narration of this incident in this thread. Do give it a read if you can.

@you_know_meAV a virtual tour of Sangram Durg.