The oldest known reference to the existence of the Purandar fort dates back to the
Yadava dynasty in the 11th century. After the end of the Yadava dynasty, the territory surrounding the fort fell into the hands of the invaders who further fortified the Purandar Fort in 1350 A.D. During the early rule of the
Bijapur and
Ahmednagar kings, Purandar Fort was among the forts directly under the government rule and was never entrusted to
Jagirdars. Under the rule of the
Bahamani Sultanate, the fort was besieged several times. To prevent the Purandar Fort from ever falling again, a sacrificial ritual was performed where a man and a woman were buried alive under one of the fort bastions to appease its patron deity. Another ritual was soon performed where the king ordered a minister to bury a first-born son and his mother into the foundation of the bastion which was promptly done with a further offering of gold and bricks. When the bastion was finished, the minister, Yesaji Naik, was given possession of the Purandar Fort and the father of the sacrificed boy was rewarded with two villages. To protest Adilshahi commander Fatehkhan in 1649 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj took the charge of fort temporarily from Raje Mahadaji Neelkanthrao Sarnaik who was his father's friend and commander of Purandar for 4 generations. On the occasion of Diwali in 1656 after 2 years of death of Mahadajipant Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj took advantage of family disputes in Mahadajipant's 4 sons Neelkanth, Shankar, Tryambak/Pilaji and Vishwanath/Visaji and captured the fort. In 1596 A.D, the
Bahudar Shah of the
Ahmadnagar Sultanate granted the territory of "Pune" and "Supa" to
Malojiraje Bhosale, the grandfather of Shivaji. The Purandar Fort was included in the territory. In 1649 A.D, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, still in his youth, in one of his first victories for the
Maratha Empire, raided and established control of the fort. In 1665 A.D, the Purandar Fort was besieged by the forces of
Aurangzeb, under the command of
Jai Singh and assisted by
Diler Khan.
Murar Baji Deshpande of
Mahad, who was appointed as the
killedar (keeper of the fort), offered strong resistance against the Mughal forces ultimately giving up his life in a struggle to retain the fort. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, daunted at the prospect of the fall of his grandfather's fort, signed a treaty known as the
First Treaty of Purandar with
Aurangzeb in 1665. According to the treaty, Shivaji handed over twenty-three forts including Purandar, and a territory with a revenue of four lakh
hons and was made the
jagirdar of the territory. On 8th March 1670 the fort was recaptured by Neelakanth Sondev Bhadanekar, Amatya/Mazumdar of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj
. During the tenure of Chhatrapati Rajaram Maharaj (1689-1700) Mughal captured the fort once again but soon Marathas took the charge back under the leadership of Sachiv/Suranvis Shankaraji Narayan Gandekar.
Balaji Vishwanath's family took the shelter on this fort when Krishnarav Khatavkar attacked on Balajipant. Peshwa
Nanasaheb took the fort from Shankarajipant's descendants and gave it to Madahev Ambaji a.k.a. Baba Purandare. In 1674 A.D. old guardians Of purender named
Ramoshi and
Mahadev Koli people rebelled against Neelkanth Mahadev a.k.a. Aba Purandare and captured the fort. On the condition of deposing Aba Purandare and Shankar Ganesh a.k.a. Baba Sarnaik they return the fort to Peshwa. Under the
Peshwa rule, the Purandar Fort acted as a stronghold whenever their capital city of
Pune was under attack. In 1776 A.D, a treaty was signed between the
British Raj and the
Maratha States known as the
Second Treaty of Purandar. Its conditions were never fulfilled, being overruled by the subsequent
Treaty of Salbai in 1782 between the
Bombay Government and
Raghunathrao, at the close of the
First Anglo-Maratha War. In 1818, the Purandar Fort was invaded by a
British force under General Pritzler. On 14 March 1818, a British garrison marched into Vajragad (the smaller fort). As Vajragad commanded Purandar, the commandant had to accept terms and the British flag was hoisted at Purandar on 16 March 1818. During the
British Raj, the fort was used as a prison. During World War II, it was an internment camp for enemy-alien (i.e.
German) families. Jews from Germany were interned. A German prisoner,
Dr. H. Goetz was held here during
World War II. He studied the fort during his stay and later published a book on it. The fort's major use however, was as a
sanatorium for the British soldiers. The thousand-year-old
Narayaneshwar temple of the
Hemadpanthi architecture built by the
Yadavas still exists at the base village of the fort called
Narayanpur. It is believed that Purandar is the broken part of the
Dronagiri Parvat, which
Hanuman carried in the
Ramayana. == Structures ==