Maratha Military Landscapes of India

Why this place matters

UNESCO’s assessment of its heritage significance, adapted in formatting from the source dataset.

Brief synthesis

The Maratha Military Landscapes of India, is a serial property, consisting of twelve component parts, which are an unparalleled representation of the Maratha Kingdom’s envisaged military strategy. Conceived by the Maratha rulers between the 17th and 19th centuries CE, this defence system located in the states of Maharashtra and Tamil Nadu represents an extraordinary network of forts. These forts vary in hierarchies, scales, and typological features, and integrate the landscape, terrain, and physiographic characteristics into an innovatively unified operational defence system. The Maratha military ideology developed during the reign of the Maratha king, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, in the mid-17th century CE and continued through subsequent reigns until the Maratha rule ended in 1818 CE.

This serial property is composed of twelve anchor forts within the military network and together symbolise the Marathas’ strategic vision for territorial control, obtained through harnessing geographical diversity, nuanced understanding of the terrain, innovative military design, defence planning, social inclusiveness, and the deployment of military tactics, all of which tangibly reflect Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj’s military cleverness (or sagacity). These component parts are the best surviving examples of the Maratha Military Landscape Defence System. This defence system, distinctive to the Sahyadri mountain ranges, the Konkan coast, the Deccan Plateau, and the Eastern Ghats in the Indian peninsula, represent the largest concentration of forts integrated within diverse landscapes. Collectively, they narrate a compelling military saga, showcasing the relationship between the expanding Maratha Kingdom and the simultaneous development of Maratha community ideologies, culture, and social structure during an important phase in the history of the Indian subcontinent.

The Maratha Military Landscapes reflect a living legacy associated with enduring ideas of self-rule (Swarajya, a term coined by Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj) along with Good Governance being the desired outcome as specifically mentioned in his Rajmudra (Royal Seal) during his coronation in 1674 CE in the words ‘Mudra Bhadraya Rajate’ (Shine only for the well-being of the people), that profoundly shaped the evolution of Indian political consciousness, anti-colonial movements and freedom struggle in the 19th and 20th centuries CE.

Criterion (iv):

Maratha Military Landscapes of India exemplifies an ingenious large-scale fortification system, the innovation of which lies in building and reinforcing forts and strongholds, and connecting them into a single, integrated, and hierarchised defence system that exploits topography and geomorphology. Achieved through military and governance strategies and application of military architecture planning and design, they provided territorial control and protection of trade through the Ghats and along the Konkan coast. This military network gave the Marathas the advantage they needed to consolidate and expand their rule, in a period of global and regional changes, with progressive colonial expansion in India and South-Asia, modifications of power relationships, weapons technology development, and socio-economic changes that also influenced the Marathas’ rise, expansion and subsequent fall.

Criterion (vi):

The twelve forts of the Maratha Military Landscapes of India are tangible expressions of enduring ideas of self-rule (Swarajya) for Good governance (Mudra Bhadraya Rajate) and resistance associated with the Marathas. Forged in a specific historical context and based on the welfare of the people at large, subsequently, this self-rule and good governance ideology profoundly shaped the evolution of Indian political consciousness and anti-colonial movements in the 19th and 20th centuries, including the Indian freedom struggle.

Integrity

The twelve forts constituting the serial property are exceptional examples of the complex system of military and defence planning and mechanisms developed and manifested by the Marathas between the 1600s and the early 1800s. Collectively, the property covers the extent of the Maratha Defence System within the Maratha territory (Swarajya) that was developed as a network across three axes along the Sahyadri mountains, the Konkan coast and across the Deccan peninsula. The twelve component parts include all essential natural and man-made defence attributes that demonstrate the execution of the key Maratha military operations within this defence system. The boundary of each individual component part ensures the inclusion of essential attributes of Maratha fort planning in its natural terrain, military design and innovations, alongside demonstrating their interlinkages and operationality and their contribution to the development of Maratha strategy for territorial control.

Each component part includes a primary fort and its essential attributes, which are all protected by respective buffer zones. The latter also include related supportive secondary and tertiary forts.

Authenticity

The archaeological and architectural remains of these forts spanning across the west coast of Maharashtra, the Konkan coast, and the Eastern Ghats are largely authentic and retain their original location, design, technology of construction, motifs, and details and materials of the respective historic period. In terms of spirit and feeling, each of the twelve component parts are associated with Maratha valour and traditions celebrated by the Maratha community across India. These twelve component parts constitute the most authentic, best conserved, and most representative sites of the Maratha Military Landscapes of India.

Protection and management requirements

The twelve component parts of the Maratha Military Landscapes are protected under the Central or State government notifications. The protected status grants the forts importance at the national and state level. Besides this, the conservation and management frameworks follow National Conservation Policy and State-level regulations to carry out conservation, management, monitoring, and site development works as per the site management plans. In the conservation works carried out in these forts, utmost care is taken to use similar materials and techniques and preserve the authenticity of materials and techniques.

Regular upkeep and maintenance of the fort structures to delay the need for extensive and complex conservation interventions and to ensure recent interventions last longer should be undertaken. The secondary and tertiary forts located in the buffer zones of the component parts should also be protected with cultural-heritage-specific designations. All twelve component parts of the serial property are jointly managed by Central and State authorities under established legal frameworks. Eight component parts (Shivneri Fort, Lohagad, Raigad, Suvarnadurg, Panhala Fort, Vijaydurg, Sindhudurg and Gingee Fort) are protected by the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) under national laws like Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1958 and the Antiquities and Art Treasures Act, 1972, with conservation overseen by the ASI, guided by the National Conservation Policy, 2014.

The remaining four (Salher Fort, Rajgad, Khanderi Fort, Pratapgad) are protected under the Maharashtra Ancient Monuments and Archaeological Sites and Remains Act, 1960 and managed by the Directorate of Archaeology and Museums. Overall management is overseen by the State-Level Apex Advisory Committee, chaired by Maharashtra’s Chief Secretary, including key department heads, ASI officials, district collectors, heritage NGOs, and specialists. The Apex Advisory Committee also has the authority to co-opt any additional departmental representative/expert member, as required. The Committee meets quarterly to coordinate management, research, conservation, and interpretation across all component parts.

This Apex Level Advisory Committee is further supported by a District Level committee for each component part, chaired by the District Collector, with representation from the Superintending Archaeologist of ASI/ Deputy Director/Assistant Director of the Directorate of State Archaeology and other local experts/NGOs. Action Plans for each component part are outlined as per the overarching management framework and adopted policies that reference the Outstanding Universal Value and include indicators for management quality assurance during implementation. The effective and long-term sustenance of the Outstanding Universal Value and its underpinning attributes requires communication and coordination among all responsible actors, as well as the attentive management of the immediate and wider settings of the forts, particularly for those located in dynamic and evolving environments or still under use.