Mahuli Fort, Monument of national importance in Thane district, India.

Mahuli Fort is a hill fort in Thane district, Maharashtra, whose highest point reaches 2,815 feet (858 m). It is a durg-trikut: three connected hill sections — Mahuli in the centre, Palasgad to the north and Bhandargad to the south — built of igneous rock. The photograph shows dark, rounded rock summits above wooded slopes, with a thin detached pinnacle on the far left.

Malik Ahmad Nizam Shah captured Mahuli in 1485 for the Bahmani Kingdom. In 1635–36 Shahaji moved to Mahuli with Jijabai and Shivaji; he surrendered after Khan Jaman attacked and the Portuguese refused help. Shivaji took the fort on 8 January 1658, lost it in 1661, regained it, lost it again by the 1665 Treaty of Purandar, and failed to retake it in February 1670. Moropant Trimbak Pingle finally conquered it on 16 June 1670, and it remained with Shivaji's dynasty until 1817.

The name Mahuli derives from the Sanskrit Madhu-palli, recorded in the 15th-17th century Marathi text Mahikavatichi Bakhar, where palli was a Shilahara-era suffix for a small village. At the base, a ten-minute walk from Mahuli village to the fort's foot passes four historic temples: a Maruti temple with an old idol, the Mahuleshwar Shiva temple restored in 1982-83, a goddess temple whose idol is said to date from Shivaji's time, and a Ganesh temple restored in 1978-79.

The fort is about 5 km from Asangaon railway station, the nearest station; from Mahuli village a path leads past four old temples to the base. The final climb uses an iron ladder roughly 8–9 feet high on the cliff, the one difficult spot on the route. The main Maha Darwaja approach is overgrown with kevada, and locals describe the Kalyan Darwaja route from Bhandargad as very hard.

The fort is a durg-trikut: three linked hill sections, with Mahuli in the middle, Palasgad to the north and Bhandargad to the south. Trekkers call Palasgad "small Mahuli", and from it the Tansa lake reservoir comes into view.