The Battle of Sinhagad took place during the night on 4 February 1670 on the fort

of Sinhagad (then known as Kondhana after the sage Kaundinya[2]), near the city
of Pune, Maharashtra, India.[3]
The battle was fought between Tanaji Malusare, a Maratha commander from
the Koli community[4] Commander of Maratha Empire under Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj[5] and
Udaybhan Rathore, a Rajput fortkeeper under [[Jai Singh I] who worked for the Mughal
emperor Aurangzeb].
During the siege, Malusare scaled a steep cliff that led to the fort through the assistance of a
monitor lizard called Yashwanti (also referred to as ghorpad in marathi).[6] This type of lizard was
tamed since the 15th century and Yashwanti was trained to pull the rope for Malusare around the
fort's bastion.[7] Climbing the fort, the Marathas were intercepted by the garrison and combat
ensued between the guards and the few infiltrators that had managed to climb up by this time.
Udaybhan and Tanaji engaged in single combat following which both were killed in the battle but
the overwhelmed Maratha forces managed to capture the fort after the reinforcements
penetrated the gateway of the fort from another route.
A bust of Tanaji Malusare was established on the fort in the memory of his contribution to the
battle.[8] The fort was also renamed Sinhagad to honor his memory.[2