Badal – The Raigad Horse King

This is a story of a glorious stallion ‘Badal, very famously known as ‘The

Raigad Horse King’. His journey started with the Bagal family which are
originally from Yalgud in the year 2007. Badal was a wonderful birthday
gift to 6 year old Miss Prajakta Sanjayrao Bagal presented by her uncle
Dr. Rajkumar Vishwasrao Bagal. She had a dream for horse riding ever
since she had seen old pictures of a horse her father owned in the past.
Badal was of Katewadi-Shamkaran breed and was bought from the holy
place of Narsobachi Wadi.

Prajakta started training with her new riding friend Badal soon after he
became a part of their family. She was been trained by her father Mr.
Sanjayrao Vishwasrao Bagal. He has 25 years of experience in giving
training to about 60 horse riders in Kolhapur.

As she continued her training, she also found a new interest of climbing
the most glorious fort in the history of India, the Raigad Fort. Being a
sincere admirer of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj, she started visiting
Raigad every year. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was coronated on
Raigad and crowned as the King of Maratha Empire. The fort is situated
at the height of 1,356 metres (4,400 ft) and was the Capital of Swarajya.

Once when Prajakta was climbing the huge steps towards the fort, she
saw some cattle’s climbing those steps alongside, that’s when she
thought of climbing the fort along with Badal.
They started training Badal for the great climb by giving him various
kinds of trainings. Prajakta used to practice for two hours along with
Badal on daily basis in 2011. After one year of practice, Badal climbed
the Raigad fort for the first time in 2012. As it was a new track for Badal
he took around 45 mins to reach the mighty throne of Chhatrapati
Shivaji Maharaj, which is situated on the fort. Raigad has approx 1737
huge stairs leading to the fort. Badal also had a very special connection
with Raigad, which was felt by many people who have seen him trotting
towards the fort.

After Badal got two years of experience in climbing Raigad, Prajakta

decided to ride Badal atop the fort in 2014. She used to run along with
Badal up till the main entrance (Maha Dwar), and then she used to ride
Badal towards the throne of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Once Badal
used to be in front of the throne, he used to present a salute to
Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj on his own, which came to him as his
natural instinct, he was never taught to do so. He used to climb the fort
in 30 mins.

Since then every year the duo continued to climb the fort during the
coronation ceremony which is being held on 6 th June every year. On the
5th of June, Badal used to ride atop the fort and used to be ready for the
Ashwa Poojan (Horse worshiping ceremony), this is an honor presented
to the Bagal family by MP of Rajya Sabha & Chairman of Raigad
Pradhikaran Hon. Yuvraj Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati of Kolhapur. After
this ceremony they used to attend the coronation ceremony on the
next day and used to climb down on the same day.
One of the miraculous events Badal used present on the fort was, he
used to crawl along with Prajakta on his back inside a 4.75 feet x 3 feet
entrance towards the tomb of the great King Chhatrapati Shivaji
Maharaj, where in Badals height was 6.5 feet. MP. Yuvraj Sambhajiraje
Chhatrapati was stunned with the horse’s will to perform such an
unbelievable thing.

This glorious journey was only possible because MP. Yuvraj

Sambhajiraje Chhatrapati supported Bagal family with whatever means
possible.

6th June 2018 was the year when Badal climbed the Raigad Fort for the
last time with the same energy and enthusiasm. After which he left us
all in sadness when he passed away due to sudden illness on 29
October 2018. This was a shocking event for everyone and the darkest
day for the Bagal family.

Badal had also been a part of Kolhapur Equestrian Association. Prajakta

had participated in the competitions in 2018. She had participated in
the hat race event along with Badal and had won the first position in
the same event.

Prajakta now plans to get a new horse and continue the journey to
climb the Raigad Fort with her new horse. But Badal will always remain
“Badal - The Raigad Horse King”, and will always be alive in all of our
memories.

- Manjiri Jayant Ghatge