As the city of Pimpri Chinchwad developed, many historic villages in its periphery joined the development and these villages have now turned into a city. Chikhli situated on the banks of Indrayani River on the Alandi-Dehu route is one of them. The historical landmarks of this village are now fading away or have been erased. But a building in this village is still standing and tells the historical heritage of this village. That is Jadhav Gadhi. Today known as Jadhav Fortress, this building was once built by Peshwa Sardar Tapkir but later on it was transferred to Jadhav. At present, the possession of this fortress is the relative of Tapkir. Amarsingh Jadhavrao has preserved this historical heritage properly. It is very important to visit and collect information about these historical buildings before they are destroyed. In order to do my part, I have visited these forts and tried to present their information on our website. ... As Pimpri-Chinchwad is under Municipal Corporation limits, private as well as public transport options are available to visit this fortress and the nearest railway station to visit this fort is Pimpri. The distance from Pimpri railway station to Chikhli is eight kilometers. As Jadhav Fort is famous in the village, we can easily reach this fort. This square shaped fort is spread over about half an acre and there are four bastions at the four ends of the fort. The main gate of the fort faces north. On the facade of the gate of the fort, there are two sculptures carved on two sides and three lotus flowers are carved on the upper part. The construction of the fort up to the ramparts is made of stone and the decorations and other constructions on it are made of bricks. The main wooden door of the fort is still in good condition with a small sub-Door. Inside the door there are guard’s rooms on both sides. After entering through this door, steps are built to go to the top on both sides as well as to the upper deck. New rooms have been built on both the bastions in the facade. The structures in the center of the fort are completely destroyed today. One of the structures is the basement inside the mansion and the other is the secret route under here. Earlier this path must have been used to bring water from the river and to escape on difficult occasions. This must have been possible as the river was only 400 feet away from the fort. As there are no remains in the inner part of the fort, this trek is completed in 15 minutes. Fortress like mansion at Chikhli was built by Sahdevji alias Devji Patil Tapkir around 1731 AD. His brother Barwaji Patil Tapkir used to live in this mansion. Satwaji Jadhavrao, the son of Chhatrapati Shahumharaja's Sardar Subhedar Pilaji Jadhavrao, was married to the daughter of Devji Patil Tapkir in AD 1753 in this mansion. As the mansion was not maintained properly, it went to Sardar Jadhav of Gwalior in 1845 AD. Further neglect of it led to the collapse of the buildings. Carved pillars, and other woodwork items disappeared from it in no time. Implicit use of the mansion was done. Tapkeer’s relative Dr. Amarsingh Jadhavrao has a love for historical architecture and has himself conserved his ancestral structure here at Jadhav wadi. As Sardar Jadhav of Gwalior was his close relative, he bought this fort from him in 1995 AD.
© Suresh Nimbalkar