Original memorial of Tanaji Malusare discovered

In what comes as great news, the original memorial of legendary warrior Tanaji Malusare has been found in the Sinhagad Fort (Lion's Fort), 36 km from Pune, during the restoration work.

Dr Tejas Garge, director of the Directorate of Archaeology & Museums, Maharashtra and conservation architect Rahul Samel, confirmed the report at the sidelines of the recently-concluded Durg Parishad at the Raigad fort.

According to them, the stone was found buried under cement, concrete and layers of paint.
"While we were restoring a memorial of Tanaji, which was built in the 1940s and comprised of a base, bronze statue and a concrete canopy, we stumbled upon the original memorial stone below the current base," Garge said.

Samel said from historical references and a 1917 photo of the samadhi, his team could establish that it was Tanaji's original memorial.

The samadhi will now be restored in the original form in Sinhgad Fort.

The 1679 Battle of Sinhgad is one of the important chapters of Maratha history.
The battle was fought between Tanaji, a commander of legendary Maratha warrior Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj and Udaybhan Singh Rathod, the fort keeper under Jai Singh I, who was the chief of Mughal army.

On the night of February 4, 1670, Maratha forces led by Tanaji scaled the Kondana Fort using a trained monitor lizard. Tanaji laid down his life but his brother Suryaji was captured inside the fort.

When Shivaji heard Tanaji's death, he said, "gad aala pan sinh gela" (the fort is captured, but the lion is gone). Shivaji renamed the fort as Sinhgad.

The fort is located 760 metres above ground and 1,312 metres above mean sea level.
Heritage experts said that the discovery of the original memorial was very important.