Shivaji The Grand Rebel

by Dennis Kincaid

Of all his fortresses it was on Raigad, his capital, that Shivaji expended the most anxious care; desiring to make it impregnable. But when at last he flattered himself that the fortification was complete and that no human being could enter or leave the town except by the narrow gates of the single approach, a peasant woman showed him that his satisfaction was premature. She was called Hirakani and she used to visit Raigad daily to sell milk to the garrison. She lived in a village below the towering walls and she would return home at nightfall. But one evening she lingered later than usual in the fortress and when she reached the gates she found them closed. In spite of her entreaties the sentries refused to let her out. At home she had a young child and the thought of leaving him alone and hungry all night nerved her to a feat of desperate courage. In the dark she climbed down the sheer face of the walls that Shivaji’s practised eye had pronounced unscalable; and she reached home safely. When Shivaji heard of this he sent for the woman and rewarded her; and then built a tower to guard that sector of the battlements. In honour of the milk-women’s courage he called it after her, the Hirakani Tower. Its ruins still bear the name.