HIRA lived at the foot of the hill on which the Raigad fort stood. She delivered milk to the fort every morning and evening. One day, she lingered to watch the colourful Kojagiri festival being celebrated. Suddenly, a gong sounded and guards began to close the massive fort gates. “Stop!” shouted Hira, rushing towards the gates. But it was too late. The gates had closed and the soldiers refused to open them.
“I must return home to my child,” pleaded Hira. “He and his grandmother are waiting for me!”
“Once closed, the gates are not to be opened — these are Shivaji Maharaja’s orders,” the guards replied. “Stay inside the fort tonight with some family.” But Hira was determined to go home. She began to walk along the high walls, which had now become her prison. She stopped at the eastern wall. It seemed possible to scale it. Leaving her pot behind, she clambered to the top. Below her, the hill fell away in one dizzying drop.
But all she saw were the lights of her village and her child waiting for her there. She climbed down the wall and down the steep slope, slipping, sliding some distance, losing one handhold but quickly finding another, till at last she was at the foot of the hill. Without pausing for breath, Hira ran home to her child. Shivaji later built a watchtower to guard the eastern wall, which Hira’s feat had proved was vulnerable. He named the tower after Hira and it stands to this day.