In 1659 Shivaji met and killed the Bijapur general Afzal Khan, leading to a Maratha victory at Pratapgad. The event became central to Maratha political memory and resistance against larger imperial powers. It strengthened Shivaji's reputation as a daring regional leader.

Pratapgad lived powerfully in powada ballads and oral heroic performance. These songs preserved political emotion, local identity and popular memory in a form often left out of court chronicles.