Shaniwar Wada


Shaniwarwada is a historical fortification in the city of Pune in Maharashtra, India. Built in 1732, it was the seat of the Peshwas of the Maratha Empire until 1818, when the Peshwas lost control to the British East India Company after the Third Anglo-Maratha War. Following the rise of the Maratha Empire, the palace became the center of Indian politics in the 18th century.
The fort itself was largely destroyed in 1828 by an unexplained fire, but the surviving structures are now maintained as a tourist site.

History

The Shaniwarwada was originally the seven-storey capital building of the Peshwas of the Maratha Empire. It was supposed to be made entirely of stone but after the completion of the base floor or the first storey, the people of Satara complained to the Shahu saying that a stone monument can be sanctioned and built only by the Shahu himself and not the Peshwas. Following this, an official letter was written to the Peshwas stating that the remaining building had to be made of brick and not stone. Even today if you visit and see the walls carefully, they are partly made of stone and partly by bricks. The Wada was then completed and upon being attacked by the British Artillery 90 years later, all the top six stories collapsed leaving only the stone base, which was immune to the British artillery. Hence only the stone base of the Shaniwar Wada remains and can be seen even today in the older parts of Pune.
By 1758, at least a thousand people lived in the fort.
In 1773, Narayanrao, who was the fifth and ruling Peshwa then, was murdered by guards on orders of his uncle Raghunathrao and aunt Anandibai. A popular legend has it that Narayanrao's ghost still calls for help on full moon nights. Various people, working around the area, have allegedly reported the cries of "Kaka mala vachava" by Narayanrao Peshwa after his death.
In June 1818, the Peshwa, Bajirao II, abdicated his Gaadi to Sir John Malcolm of the British East India Company and went into political exile at Bithoor, near Kanpur in present-day Uttar Pradesh, India.
On 27 February 1828, a great fire started inside the palace complex. The conflagration raged for seven days. Only the heavy granite ramparts, strong teak gateways and deep foundations and ruins of the buildings within the fort survived.
According to Haricharitramrutsagar, a biographical text of Bhagwan Swaminarayan, he had visited Shaniwarwada on the insistence of Bajirao II in 1799.

Construction

Peshwa Baji Rao I, prime minister to Chattrapati Shahu, laid the ceremonial foundation of his own residence on Saturday, 10 January 1730. It was named Shaniwarwada from the Marathi words Shaniwar and Wada. Teak was imported from the jungles of Junnar, stone was brought from the nearby quarries of Chinchwad, and Lime was brought from the lime-belts of Jejuri. Shaniwarwada was completed in 1732, at a total cost of Rs. 16,110, a very large sum at that time.
The opening ceremony was performed according to religious customs, on 22 January 1732, another Saturday chosen for being a particularly auspicious day.
Later the Peshwas made several additions, including the fortification walls, with bastions and gates; court halls and other buildings; fountains and reservoirs. Currently, the perimeter fortification wall has five gateways and nine bastion towers, enclosing a garden complex with the foundations of the original buildings.
It is situated near the Mula-Mutha River, in Kasba Peth.

Fort complex

Gates

Shaniwarwada has five gates:
The important buildings in the palace includes the Thorlya Rayancha Diwankhana, Naachacha Diwankhana, and Juna Arsa Mahal.
Since the buildings were destroyed in the fire of 1828, only descriptions of the living areas of the fort are available. All the state halls in the buildings are said to have doorways with exquisitely carved teak arches, with ornamental teardrop teak pillars shaped like Suru trunks supporting the ceilings, which were covered with beautiful teak tracery, carved creepers and flowers. Exquisite glass chandeliers hung from the ceilings. The floors were made of highly polished marble, arranged in a mosaic pattern and adorned with rich Persian rugs. The walls contained paintings with scenes from the Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata.
The buildings are said to have been designed and constructed by well-known artisans, including Shivaram Krishna, Devaji Sutar, Kondaji Sutar, Morarji Patharwat Bhojraja and Ragho.
It is said that the Shaniwarwada complex was seven storeys high. On the top floor was the residence of the Peshwa which was called Meghadambari. It is said that the spire of Jñāneśvar temple at Alandi, 17 km away, could be seen from there.

The Fountain

The complex had an impressive lotus-shaped fountain: the Hazari Karanje. It was constructed for the pleasure of the infant Peshwa Sawai Madhavrao. It was designed as a sixteen petal lotus; each petal had sixteen jets with an eighty-foot arch. It was the most complicated and intricate fountain of its time.
Shrimant Anandrao Rudrajirao Dhulap-More who visited the Shaniwarwada in 1791 described it as "very magnificent. A hundred dancers can dance here at a time. In one corner is a marble Ganapati statue and the palace is flanked by a fountain and a flower garden.".

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