Let us do yet another exploration into the history via the ruins of Maratha Empire. Isn’t it said that the British didn’t leave a single fort in the state of Maharashtra without destroying. All of these fascinating forts are the victims of British governance. The ruins are still standing here and there just to remind you the torture they went through during British regime in India. Some of them are more than 300 years old. Visapur fort which is also called Visapoor Fort is one of these forts still standing tall and strong. Just like other forts in the region this fort was also built on a high hill near the village of Visapur thus it has got its name Visapur Fort. This fort comes under the Pune district in the state of Maharashtra. The Malavli railway station is just 2.5 kilometres away from here. It is actually kind of twin forts as the Lohagad Fort is also on the same plateau on which Visapur fort is situated. I said kind of twin forts because both the forts share the same place but built not at the same time or by the same person. The Lohagad Fort was built quite earlier than Visapur Fort.About the Fort Visapur This fort is built on a height of 4000 feet or 1084 meters above the sea level. No one knows the exact date of its inception but it is said that it was constructed during 1713 – 1720 by the first Peshwa of Marathas named Balaji Vishwanath. If we compare the twin forts we can find that Visapur Fort is bigger in size while Lohagad Fort is a little smaller. The other difference is that Visapur Fort is built on higher elevation than Lohagad Fort. Though Visapur Fort was built much later in time as compared to Lohagad Fort but the history has many stories hidden in time that connects both of them. Even though Visapur Fort is larger than its twin fort but Lohagad fort is more famous than the earlier. May be it is because of its easy accessibility.In Visapur Fort there are many structures that are still intact like various caves in the fort, water reservoirs, carved doorways, beautiful arch, homes of that time, open spaces, verandas, peshwa’s palace, etc. apart from these you will also find two buildings without roofs that are said to be government offices at one time and you also notice one large structure made of stones that seems to be a palace of Peshwa. In this fort there are many ruins of temples of Hindu deity like one of God Hanuman whose image is carved on the wall looks very impressive. In other temples also you will find idol of Hanuman and that gives us an indication that he was the main God worshiped in Visapur Fort. Apart from Hanuman temples there is one temple having idol of Mahadev but is almost in ruins. A well of water is also there in the premises and is said to be older than the fort itself because the mythological story tellers say that it was built by Pandvas (From Mahabharata).There is something more interesting things like huge iron guns one can see here. It is set near the North wall of the fort. It was a ten feet long gun but in a broken condition like other guns that was intentionally broken and disabled. This gun was supposed to be manufactured in Britain as it has words marked on it saying Tudor Rose and Crown and letters E. R. (Elizabeth’s Reign). The outer walls are still look strong and intact without any harm. This wall is about three feet thick at some places. There towers which are working as a strengthening pillars for the high walls of Fort. There are platforms on the boundary as well as two major citadels. I can imagine very well how magnificent it would have looked when it was in its glory years.What history has in store for these Forts?It was a difficult task for British to capture these twin forts. They tried hard and first they attacked and took the Visapur Fort under their command and then took advantage of its higher elevation and proximity to Lohagad Fort for capturing the later. In the year 1818 on 4th March British Government took Visapur fort under their Power. In the same year they occupied Lohagad Fort too and due to strategic advantage of the sight they bombarded both the directions North and South that includes Konkan region and Deccan getaways and destroyed almost everything except a few huts here and there. All efforts are made to make Marathas vacate the region. It was an example of mass destruction by British in India.It is really a good place to visit and worth learning about the history and architecture of that time along with good spot for trekking and spending time in exploring splendours structure.After monsoon the hills are covered with green carpet make it even more inviting and spectacular. After monsoon is the best time to visit. Summer should be avoided to visit as it is difficult to trek in hot days.Ruchi Mahajan