Asirgarh is one of the important fortresses of Asirgarh. Set in the Satpura Hills at the altitude of 750 meters about 20 kms from Burhanpur. A victory over this fortress meant the kingdom of Khandesh, which in turn meant a smooth road to Deccan. What made it much more fun was that it was supposed to have been an impregnable fortress. Unfortunately, it's mostly ruins now and there is nothing much left of its colourful and glorious past. In better days it used to be called Baab-E-dakhan (the doorway to Deccan) a much sought-after prize back then. The details like who and when of the fort is not known, which of course leaves it wide open to be associated with the Mahabharata and Ramayana. In India attempts are made to link literally any and everything with the two epics. As far as this fort is concerned, myth associates it with the son of the legendary Guru of Mahabharata Dronacharya, Asawathama - at best a minor character in the epic and even then this is most probably mere wishful thinking. Interestingly, in Burhanpur, near the Gupteshwar Mandir is a tunnel, which links to Asirgarh. Tradition has it that during auspicious occasions Aswathama used to come to here to bathe in the Tapti river, pray in the temple and then disappear back to his fortress. After a lot of confusion the ownership of the fort becomes settled when it came into the hands of Adil Shah Farouqui. After him the fort passed on to his successor Bahadur Shah Faroqui. This Bahadur Shah had a reputation of not being a very farsighted king. and as soon as Akbar, that time the Mughal emperor of India, came to know of this he dispatched an army for here at a rare rate of knots. It is evidence of how well-stocked the fortress was that during that time the people inside had provision enough not to need anything from outside. Every attempt to take the fort was repulsed by the soldiers of the Shah. Finally sick of the battle, Akbar one day called Bahadir Shah to his camp for a meeting and there had him summarily dispatched to happy hunting grounds above. When the dying king accused Akbar of treachery, the emperor replied with that age-old lesson "Everything is fair in Politics and government." So all those who said Bahadur Shah lacked foresight were proved right after all.