Fort Shivneri

Birth Place of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj






Shivaneri is categorized as a  hillfort.

This is the  birth-place of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. 

Shivneri is situated near Junnar town

which is about 85 kilo meters  north of Pune. 

Shivneri is constructed on a 300 meter high hill which is

isolated and unique.

The Fort Shivneri is triangular in shape.

The wide base of the fort is towards the south and the narrow

point is towards the north.  


The ascending path to the fort is defended by seven gates.

Fifth one is armoured with anti-elephant spikes. 

The fort has several rock-hewn cisterns and ponds,

of which two large ones are known as Ganga and Jumuna. 

Today, there are only a few structures remaining in the fort.

At one end there is a ruined stable and at the other end

a mosque of the Mughal period.  An ancient temple of

Godess Shivai is situated on Shivneri. In fact, Chhatrapati

Shivaji Maharaj has been named after name of Godess Shivai.









Residence of Shivaji Maharaj



The house where shivaji was born (in February, 1630 AD)

has been recently restored and a temple with statues of

Shivaji and Jijabai called Shivakunja, has also been built. 

Sir Richard Temple in his book Shivaji and the Rise Marathas’

wrote about Shivaneri: “You will see what a rugged precipitous

place this is and what a fitting spot it was for a hero to be born in!”


The Shivaneri hill, on which the fort is built,

has a long back to the Satavahanas. 

There remains of rock caves on all the three faces of Shivaneri,

which show that it was a Buddhist centre during the

first three centuries AD.  After the Satavahanas,

the Shivaneri for was occupied by the Shilaharas,

the Yadavas, the Bahamanis and the Mughals. 

In 1599 AD the hill fort was granted to Shivaji’s grandfather,

Maloji Bhosale and passed down to Shahaji. 

Though Shivaji was born here, he had to surrender the

fort to the Mughals and could not take it back in his lifetime. 




Way down


The Shivaneri cluster forts, comprising Harishchandragarh,

Jumnar, Jivadhan, etc. was very important strategically,

because it controlled the ancient Name Ghat Pass.