TORNA

                                   

     TORNA. A well structured fort which gives hard time to trekkers even today. The fort is situated in the Sahyadri mountains near Pune ,Maharashtra .It is largely famous because of being the very first fort captured by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj at a tender age of 16 years. The foundation of maratha empire was laid with torna, thus it gained great political and military significance . 

    There is no precise information available about the origin of this fort. Although it is believed that it was contructed by a devotee of Lord Shiva named Siva Panth ,somewhere near the 13th century. In mid 14th century Torna was under the control of a Bahmani king named Malik Ahmed. Later, its control went to Nizamshahi and then to Adilshahi. In 1646 AD Shivaji Maharaj brought the fort under his charge. He added more to this great structure. The gateways and semicircular walls are in a good condition even today! After Shivaji Maharaj's demise the fort saw many changes in it's titleship.The Mughals took control of it after the assassination of Sambhaji Maharaj. But later under the leadership of Shankaraji Narayan Sachiv , the marathas regained Torna. In 1704 AD Aurangzeb recaptured Torna , and named it 'Futulgaib' ( A Great Victory ) because of the great difficulties faced by his men while capturing the fort.But the marathas recaptured Torna yet again, this time under the leadership of Sarnobat Nagoji Kokate. 

   

    Today , Torna is a centre of attraction for the  tourists near Pune. The temples in fort are fully functional and many devotees visit them. Torna is one of the many jewels of our history and we must know more about it and preserve it.