Umberkhind Memorial

India / Maharashtra / Khopoli /
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Here at Umberkhind Shivaji's small army of 1,000 soldiers had trapped and defeated a well-equipped Kartalab Khan's army of 20,000 soldiers.
Kartalab Khan was the "right hand" of Shahiste Khan, the General who was sent by Emperor Aurangazeb specifically to decimate the budding nation of Shivaji and his followers.Kartalab's command was reinforced with 20,000 troops, artillery pieces, horses and numerous elephants.
His plan was to descend into Tungaranya (a dense forest with hills on both sides), ascend some distance to Umbar Khind (pass) and then descend into Kokan.
Unknown to Kartalab Khan, Shivaji and his army were already in the hills that surrounded the UmbarKhind – ready and waiting for Khan and his army to descend to the base of the pass. They were equipped with rocks and boulders in addition to the usual rifles, bow & arrows as well as sabers. How large was this army? About 1,000 strong. This entire pass was covered with dense forest and so, Shivaji's army was not visible to Khan and his army. The trap was now set for Khan. Khan and his army climbed down to the base in about 4 hours and met no resistance whatsoever. As his army moved down, Shivaji and some of his men reached the top of the pass. In short, unknown to him, Khan was now completely trapped. As soon as Khan reached the base of the pass, Shivaji's army began the battle with the help of rolling boulders! Since Shivaji's army was on top of the hills, Khan and his army were in effect fighting an invisible army. Nor could they retreat as a portion of Shivaji's army and Shivaji himself were waiting at the top of the mountain pass. In 2-3 hours at most, the battle was over!
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Coordinates:   18°43'8"N   73°19'15"E

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  • 18 july 12am i was here
This article was last modified 16 years ago