World Heritage Identification Number: 1739
World Heritage since: 2025
Category: Cultural Heritage
WHE Type: Buildings & Architectural Ensembles
Transboundary Heritage: No
Endangered Heritage: No
Country: 🇮🇳 India
Continent: Asia
UNESCO World Region: Asia and the Pacific
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Maratha Military Landscapes of India: A Testament to the Maratha Empire's Military Might
The Maratha Military Landscapes of India, inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 2025, offer a captivating glimpse into the strategic military prowess of the Maratha Empire. Comprising twelve significant fortifications, primarily situated within Maharashtra State but extending to Tamil Nadu, this collection of historical sites serves as a tangible testament to the Marathas' rise as a formidable political and military power.
More to come…UNESCO Description of the World Heritage Site
The property includes twelve major fortifications, mostly in Maharashtra State, with one in Tamil Nadu. These forts, such as Raigad, Shivneri, and Sindhudurg, were built, adapted, or expanded by the Marathas between the late 17th and early 19th centuries. Strategically located on coastal and mountainous terrain, they formed a complex defence system supporting Maratha military dominance, trade protection, and territorial control. This network played a key role in the Marathas’ rise as a major political and military force.
UNESCO Justification of the World Heritage Site
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.
Encyclopedia Record: Maratha Military Landscapes of India
The Maratha Military Landscapes of India are a group of 12 forts that were occupied and developed by the Maratha rulers between the 17th and 19th-century. These include Salher, Shivneri Fort, Lohagad, Khanderi, Raigad Fort, Rajgad Fort, Pratapgad, Suvarnadurg, Panhala Fort, Vijaydurg Fort, Sindhudurg Fort, all located in Maharashtra and Gingee Fort in Tamil Nadu. Spread across various geographical terrains, these forts showcase the military prowess of Maratha rule. It was declared as a World Heritage Site in 2025.Additional Site Details
Area: 1,577.63 hectares
Number of Components: 12
(vi) — Directly associated with events or living traditions
Coordinates: 20.7225 , 73.9425
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© DRONAH. Used with permission.
World Heritage Research
Discover scientific research and academic studies that deepen our understanding of Maratha Military Landscapes of India from its history and significance to its conservation, management, and contemporary challenges.
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Vedaji Bhaskar Pant
Vedaji Bhaskar Pant emerges as a pivotal figure in the Maratha Military Landscapes of India, bridging the transition from the Bijapur Sultanate to Shivaji's southern expansion. This biographical study reconstructs his career through Arni family traditions, historical accounts, and doctoral theses, revealing his role in key regions like Mysore, Srirangapatna, and Gingee Fort. An appendix applies an Arthashastra-style framework to analyze his strategic positioning within the complex political order of the Deccan and South India (c. 1635–1667). The research integrates diverse sources—from community narratives to modern references—to offer a nuanced understanding of Maratha administrative and military dynamics during this transformative period.
Ananth, D. (2026). Vedaji Bhaskar Pant. Zenodo. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.20692034
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The Development and Characteristics of Forts in Maharashtra with Special Reference to Raigad
Maharashtra's forts, including Raigad, represent a significant architectural and historical landscape shaped by geography, political dynamics, and martial traditions. This study reveals that these forts evolved strategically across diverse ecological zones—coastal belts, forested highlands, and the rugged Sahyadri mountains—reflecting their adaptive design to environmental and defensive needs. Raigad Fort emerges as a pivotal case study, showcasing advanced planning, robust defensive systems, and socio-administrative structures that underpinned Maratha sovereignty under Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. The research categorizes forts by architectural and functional characteristics over time, demonstrating how ecological conditions influenced their construction and strategic significance.
Gaikwad, S. A. (2024). The Development and Characteristics of Forts in Maharashtra with Special Reference to Raigad. EduPub. https://doi.org/10.5281/ZENODO.17769058
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