08-10-2006, 06:13 AM
Kondaji Ravlekar was a brAhmaNa warrior who conquered the Panhala fort for the Maharatta king Shivaji, from the Moslems. This tale and the battles leading to it are described in a remarkable text parNAla-parvata-grahaNAkhyAna by a certain Jayaram Kavi. The Moslems of Bijapur had taken Panhala from the Maharattas in 1660 CE after the great battle of Pavankhind, where the deadly Black African warrior Siddi Jawhar had pressed hard on Shivaji. Finally in 1672 Shivaji scored a string of victories against both the Mogols of Delhi and the Adil Shahi Moslems, such as the great battle of Salher (This is described in the PPG as the sAleri parvata yuddha, where another brAhmaNa warrior of Shivaji, Moro Tryambak Pant lead the Maharatta army to rout the Mogols in a spectacular assault. 30 principal Moslem officers and several thousand troops of theirs were destroyed by the attack of the Maharattas, in addition to serious injuries to Ikhlas Khan the imperial commander of Awrangzeb). Realizing that the Moslems were on the defensive Shivaji decided to strike hard early next year, assembled a body of fierce Maharatta fighters near Rajapur and asked them to take Panhala. He entrusted their leadership to Anaji Datto and the Rigvedi brahmin warrior Kondaji Ravlekar. Kondaji first dressed as Moslem and spied the fort. Then having obtained good intelligence, he chose a steep un-guarded mountain cliff for the attack. On the pradoShaM day of March 6th 1673 in phAlguni, Kondaji secretly climbed the mountain cliff with 60 commandos and launched a surprise attack on the Moslems. He then opened the fort doors and Anaji Datto rushed in with the main army and attacked Baboo Khan the Islamic commander. In the intense fight that followed Baboo Khan was beheaded and a traitorous brahmin who helped him with accounts Nagoji Pandit was also killed. Thus Panhala was conquered.