Maratha-Baji Prabhu Deshpande

Baji Prabhu Deshpande (1615-1660) was a general and commander for Shivaji, the founder of the Marathi empire. The well celebrated legend of Baji Prabhu is intricately linked with an important rear guard battle enabling Shivaji's escape from Panhala fort; he was the hero who sacrificed his life for his king. Baji Prabhu had mastered the art of using a weapon called "Dand Patta".

        Baji Prabhu Deshpande was one of the famous general of Great king Shivaji Maharaj. He was command in Charge of famous battle of Pawankhind. The battle of Pawankhind is very similar to 300 Spartan fought against thousand of Persians. Baji Prabhu and his men blocked the Sultan's army cheasing king Shivaji at Pawankhind mountain pass. The battle was completely unmatched, the ratio of strength is 1:40, with one side army of 12,000, well prepared heavy armored infantry and other side 300 Shivaji’s light infantry. The battle was last man stand battle and lasted about 15 hours. The outcome of battle was all 300 soldiers died at battlefield and sultan lost 4,000 of his infantry and 8000 deadly injured. After shivaji reached at Vishalgad he counter attack on sultan’s army and forced them to retreat. After this decisive battle the Vazir of Sultan Siddi Jauhar get frustrated  ordered his army to withdraw from shivaji’s kingdom.

        Baji Prabhu Deshpande was one of the famous general of Great king Shivaji Maharaj. He was command in Charge of famous battle of Pawankhind. The battle of Pawankhind is very similar to 300 Spartan fought with thousand of Persians. Baji Prabhu and his men blocked the Sultan,s army cheasing king Shivaji at Pawankhind mountain pass. The battle was completely unmatched, the ratio of strength is 1:40, with one side army of 12,000, well prepared heavy armored infantry and other side 300 Shivaji’s light infantry. The battle was last man stand battle and lasted about 15 hours. The outcome of battle was all 300 soldiers died at battlefield and sultan lost 4,000 of his infantry and 8000 deadly injured. After shivaji reached at Vishalgad he counter attack in sultan’s army and forced them to retreat. After this decisive battle the Vazir of Sultan Siddi Jauhar get frustrated  ordered his army to withdraw from shivaji’s kingdom.This is the story of a military officer who started his career in the service of ChandraRao More, a feudal lord  that was a lifelong enemy of the Bhosale family and ended it as a captain who saved Shivaji and his vision of Hindavi Swarajya.

     When Shivaji defeated ChandraRao More and his clan at Jawali (near RaiGad), Baji Prabhu was a defending officer! Shivaji convinced Baji to join the cause of Hindavi Swarajya and thus gained a powerful ally. This is a credit to Shivaji’s powers of persuasion as well as to Baji’s acceptance of righteousness of the cause. Baji and his ancestors had been DeshPande’s (feudal lords) for many generations whereas Shivaji was a relative commoner. Indeed, throughout his career, Shivaji had to fight many feudal lords of Marathi origin (DeshPande, DeshMukh, Inamdar, etc.) as fiercely as he fought the dictators of Vijapur or Delhi because Shivaji was a commoner to these entrenched feudal lords. Baji was a notable exception  just like Kanhoji Jedhe  DeshMukh.
     Baji was Shivaji’s officer in the fight against AfzulKhan and in the many victorious battles after the defeat and death of that Khan. He was with Shivaji at Panhala and thus was, one of the officers defending Panhala against the siege by Siddi Jowhar, a brave and expert General from Vijapur. When it became clear that Shivaji and a select few must escape Panhala siege, Baji was the chief officer in charge of the escape attempt. With his 600 trusted soldiers, and with Shiva Kashid as a decoy, Baji led Shivaji out of Panhala in the darkness of a rainy night.
     Despite their best attempts at a quiet getaway, Siddi Jowhar’s soldiers became aware of the escape attempt, and despite the heroic martyrdom of Shiva Kashid, more time had to be purchased to enable Shivaji and his party to reach VishalGad safely. Unfortunately, that fort was also under siege by a Marathi officer  loyal to Vijapur! Shivaji needed time not only to reach VishalGad but to force his way into that fort. Baji Prabhu dispatched half of his 600 soldiers with Shivaji and stood ready to fight Siddi Masood with the other half at the entrance to GhodeKhind, a narrow mountain pass that the 12,000 army under Siddi Masood  must cross if they were to recapture Shivaji. Despite these 40-to-1 odds as well as the fact that they were already tired due to the stress of the secret escape attempt during a dark and rainy night, Baji Prabhu and his brave troops defended the mountain pass till they heard 3 consecutive shots of a cannon from VishalGad  the much anticipated signal that Shiavji had reached safely in that fort. Baji Prabhu and his loyal soldiers had blockaded Siddi Masood’s progress for over 15 hours! Though seriously wounded, Baji was holding on to life almost purely by his will power and died when he heard the cannon shots. Now that their goal was achieved, the rest of the Baji soldiers  left the mountain pass. 

          That mountain pass has since been renamed Pawan Khind  meaning a holy mountain pass. There Baji enabled Shivaji & the Hindavi Swarajya to survive and prosper against heavy odds