Possible UPSC Questions
- Explain the cultural and military significance of the “Maratha Military Landscapes” recently inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List (2025).
- How did the geography of the Western Ghats shape Chhatrapati Shivaji’s fort-centred warfare?
- Discuss the constitutional process of World Heritage nomination in India and its impact on heritage conservation.
Quick Outline of Key Facts
| Item | Details |
| UNESCO decision (2025) | 47th WHC session, Paris – India’s 44ᵗʰ World Heritage property |
| Components | 12 hill & coastal forts: Salher, Shivneri, Lohgad, Khanderi, Raigad, Rajgad, Pratapgad, Suvarnadurg, Panhala, Vijaydurg, Sindhudurg (MH) & Gingee (TN) |
| Period & Builder | 17ᵗʰ-century Maratha state under Chhatrapati Shivaji (1630-80) |
| Outstanding Universal Value (OUV) | Innovative hill-fort engineering adapted to Western Ghats & Konkan coast; integrated water-management & military architecture; symbol of anti-colonial resistance |
| Strategic features | Steep approaches, multiple gateways, concealed stairways, rock-cut cisterns; network gave Marathas surveillance of trade routes & rapid troop movement |
| Major battles linked | Purandar (1665), Salher (1672), Sangamner (1679) etc. |
| UNESCO criteria met | (iii) unique testimony to cultural tradition; (iv) outstanding example of military-architectural ensemble; (v) interaction of humans & environment |
| Conservation agencies | ASI, Maharashtra & Tamil Nadu state archaeology depts; community participation plans mandatory |
Summary
The World Heritage Committee at its 47ᵗʰ session (Paris, July 2025) inscribed the “Maratha Military Landscapes” on UNESCO’s prestigious World Heritage List, recognising twelve forts constructed or remodelled by Chhatrapati Shivaji and later Maratha rulers. Spread from Salher in north-western Maharashtra to the granite bastions of Gingee in Tamil Nadu, the serial property encapsulates a distinctive military response to the rugged Western Ghats, the Konkan littoral and the Deccan plateau.
Unlike the symmetrical Mughal citadels of the plains, Maratha forts exploit precipitous hilltops and island outcrops, using the terrain itself as defence. Features such as tortuous zig-zag ascents (Pratapgad), multi-layered gateways (Raigad), concealed entrances (Lohgad) and rock-hewn water-cisterns allowed small garrisons to withstand large imperial armies. Coastal forts like Vijaydurg and Sindhudurg extended this defensive grid to the Arabian Sea, protecting maritime commerce and enabling naval forays. Shivaji’s famed guerrilla tactics—ganimi kava—depended on these strongholds for refuge, regrouping and launch pads for counter-attack, ultimately laying the foundation of an empire that challenged both Deccan sultanates and the Mughals.
The committee acknowledged the ensemble’s Outstanding Universal Value under criteria (iii), (iv) and (v): they bear exceptional testimony to Maratha statecraft, illustrate an ingenious hill-fort typology and demonstrate sustainable adaptation—rain-water harvesting, terraced agriculture and forest buffers—to a fragile mountain ecology. The listing obliges India to implement integrated management plans: structural conservation by the Archaeological Survey, buffer-zone regulation by state governments, and local-community stewardship for traditional festivals, intangible heritage and eco-tourism.
For UNESCO, the inscription diversifies the global narrative of military heritage, often dominated by European castles, by foregrounding a non-colonial resistance landscape. For India, it is the 44ᵗʰ World Heritage property and the second Maratha-era listing after the Western Ghats (natural) segments; it adds impetus to regional tourism circuits—Shivneri–Raigad–Pratapgad in Maharashtra and Gingee–Tiruvannamalai in Tamil Nadu—and encourages trans-state collaboration.
Significance to UPSC Exam
- History & Culture (GS I): Showcases indigenous military architecture, Maratha polity, guerrilla warfare, regional identities.
- Heritage Conservation (GS I / GS III): Highlights UNESCO criteria, nomination dossier process, community-based conservation, sustainable tourism.
- Geography & Environment: Demonstrates human-environment interaction in the Western Ghats’ sensitive eco-system, relevant for questions on sustainable mountain development.
Security & Strategy (GS III): Provides case study of terrain-based defence strategy; parallels with modern mountain warfare and coastal security.
Understanding these facets equips aspirants to tackle interdisciplinary questions linking heritage, environmental stewardship and strategic studies.
