Shivaji Maharaj was born on February 19, 1630 A.D. at Shivneri Fort near the city of Poona (Pune) in the present-day Maharashtra region of Bharat. He was named after Goddess Shivai by his mother Jijabai. The name of Shivaji’s father was Shahaji Bhonsle, who fought many battles for the Sultan of Bijapur. His loyalty often shifted between the Mughal Emperor Shah Jahan and the Sultans of Ahmednagar or Bijapur. At the time of Shivaji’s birth, Ahmednagar was under Nizam Shah, Vijayapura was under Adil Shah and Golconda was under Qutb Shah.
Shivaji’s mother Jijabai was a great influence on him. His mother read stories from the great Hindu epics such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata. She instilled in him great and virtuous qualities such as exemplary character, humility, respect for women, compassion, bravery, patriotism and determination. Shivaji became a great devotee of Hindu Goddess Bhavani, a form of Goddess Parvati. Shivaji and his followers often used war cries of ‘Jai Bhavani’ and ‘Har Har Mahadev’. Thus, Shivaji was a great worshipper of Hindu gods.
Shivaji’s father Shahaji worked for the Sultan of Bijapur. Shivaji was not happy that his father worked for a foreign king. In 1632, the Mughals took away the Jagirs of Shahaji. Thereafter, Shahaji shifted loyalty to the Sultan of Bijapur. In 1634, the Mughal-Bijapur Peace Treaty was signed whereas Shahaji agreed to concede Mahuli and Jumar to the Mughals. The Jagir of Poona was given to Shahaji in 1637 but he was not allowed to stay there. Thereafter, he sent his wife, Jijabai and son, Shivaji to stay at Poona.
Jijabai was the one who developed Shivaji’s keen sense of morality and the distinction between right and wrong. She explained the distinction between fighting for one’s own people and fighting for a foreign ruler very effectively and clearly when Shivaji expressed his unhappiness over his father fighting on behalf of the Sultan of Bijapur rather than for his own people. She said that it was morally right to fight only for one’s own people. In other words, she expressed indirectly, her disapproval of the path chosen by her husband to fight on behalf of foreign rulers.
Shahaji placed Shivaji under the guidance of renowned teacher, Dadoji Kond-Deo. It was Dadoji Kond-Deo who taught Shivaji how to read and write. He also guided Shivaji in horse riding and shooting. Guru Ramdas was the spiritual guru of Shivaji. Guru Ramdas was an ascetic and did not seek any material comforts though he was the spiritual teacher of the king. This reminds one of Guru Chanakya or Koutilya, the Guru of King Chandragupta Maurya. Guru Ramdas taught Shivaji that the latter was only the custodian of his kingdom and not its owner.
When Shahaji was given the Jagir of Poona, he made Dadoji take Shivaji and Jijabai to Poona. Shivaji realised the true value of our blessed land as he travelled to Poona with his mother. He was deeply unhappy that his homeland had been taken over by foreign invaders. At Poona, Shivaji made friends with the boys of the Sahayadri mountains. He was a natural leader and the boys swore to not rest till they had won their freedom from the foreigners.
When Shivaji was around 14 years old, the Sultan of Bijapur, Muhammed Adil Shah’s health began to fail. Shivaji took the chance to conquer Toran Fort near Poona, which he did successfully. Toran Fort was the first fort that Shivaji conquered. Soon, there was a war-like situation between the Sultan of Bijapur and Shivaji.
Once as a young boy, Shivaji witnessed a butcher killing a calf. On seeing this, he cut off the arm of the butcher as he was against cow slaughter. In 1648, Bijapur Sultan, Adil Shah imprisoned Shahaji. Shivaji gave back Kondana fort to Adil Shah after which Shahaji was released.
Maval Sena
Chhatrapati Shivaji created the Maval Sena – a group of patriotic, religious/spiritual-minded army of patriotic men. Maharaj Shivaji along with his devoted Maval Sena conquered Purandar, Kondana, Supa, and Baramati among others. The Maval Sena were full of brave men, who were very talented and compassionate. His soldiers were disciplined and never dishonoured any women, even those belonging to the enemy camp.
Afzal Khan
Afzal Khan was the general of the Sultan of Bijapur, Adil Shah, the second. He wanted to kill Raja Shivaji. Afzal Khan came to meet Shivaji at the latter’s camp with evil intentions. He tried to stab Shivaji, whom he thought was unarmed. However, Shivaji had guessed the nefarious intentions of Afzal Khan and wore an iron vest and tiger claws, which he used to pierce Khan’s stomach. This meeting between Afzal Khan and Maharaj Shivaji took place in 1659. Afzal Khan wanted to take over the Fort of Pratapgarh.
After the death of Afzal Khan, Maharaj Shivaji’s army soon attacked Bijapur and killed 3000 of the soldiers of Sultan Adil Shah II. Maharaj Shivaji also defeated Rustum Jahan sent by Adil Shah II. Shivaji conquered Panhala Fort. Adil Shah II was repetitively defeated by Shivaji. So, the Sultan then took help from the Mughals. Aurangzeb sent his uncle, Shaistha Khan to the Deccan in 1660 to defeat Shivaji. Shaistha Khan had a huge army. Shivaji used guerilla warfare to defeat Shaistha Khan. He also cut off three fingers of Shaistha Khan, which rattled the latter. Shivaji and Shaistha Khan kept fighting intermittent battles over three years.
Honouring Women
Maharaj Shivaji respected women always. He deemed all women as his mothers. During his conquests, he would tell his army to treat the enemy womenfolk with respect.
Pro-Poor
Maharaj Shivaji was pro-poor and never harmed the poor during his conquests. He also gave instructions to his soldiers to be compassionate to the poor.
Multiple Enemies
Maharaj Shivaji had to fight against enemies on all sides; be it the Mughal Emperor, the Sultan of Bijapur, the Sultan of Ahmadnagar, the seafaring Portuguese, the cunning Englishmen or others like the sultans of Berar and Golconda. On the whole, the life of King Shivaji was one of unending and enormous struggles – upholding the righteous cause of self-rule rather than rule by foreigners and upholding the virtues of Bharat’s most ancient, original and indestructible religion, which is Hinduism.
Maharaj Shivaji would go on to be Chhatrapati Shivaji or Emperor Shivaji, upholding a righteous administration based on truth and justice creating a model of self-rule by Bharatiya people based on dharma.
Navy
Maharaj Shivaji built a most powerful naval fleet, which sent jitters down the spine of the Portuguese and the English imperialists.
Extremely Intelligent
Maharaj Shivaji always tried to keep all losses to the minimum. He was never interested in any blood bath. All he wanted was to take back the land of his forefathers. Maharaj Shivaji was full of admirable qualities such as intelligence, leadership, courageousness, intellectualism, determination, religiosity, spirituality, humility, patriotism and respectfulness. It is always remarkable when such magnificent qualities are part of a person’s character’s repertoire.
Gratitude
The grateful nature of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is proverbial. Shivaji faced a lot of difficult circumstances. He had to escape from the clutches of Aurangzeb at Agra. On his return from Agra, he had to cross a forest during which time, he was mortally wounded by a tiger. His life was saved by a poor Brahmin, who treated him for almost ten days without any expectations. The poor person was not aware of the fact that he had saved the life of the venerable Shivaji Maharaj.
Unfortunately, King Shivaji did not have money with him at the time to help his poor benefactor. Shivaji knew that he would have to cross the terrain of his enemies before reaching Poona. He was afraid that he would not be able to show his gratitude to the Brahmin in case the former were to fall into the hands of his enemies or be attacked by some wild animal in the forest.
Meanwhile, there was a public announcement that 10,000 gold coins would be given by Aurangzeb to anyone, who would provide information about Shivaji. So, Shivaji himself wrote a letter to Aurangzeb and sent the Brahmin, Vinayak Dev to get the prize money from Aurangzeb. When the Brahmin realised what he had done, he was sorrow-stricken but Shivaji assured him that he would return home safely by escaping from the hands of the enemies, again. Shivaji would risk his life to show his gratitude. What a remarkable personality.
There are other numerous points to be noted. Shivaji did not hate Muslims. He did not impose any religious tax on non-Hindus. He respected women greatly. It did not matter to him if a woman was Hindu or Muslim. He treated the women folk belonging to his enemy camp well. He told his army not to harass women, whether Hindus or Muslims. Shivaji Maharaj gave strict punishment to those who raped or molested women. Shivaji’s name has not been derived from Lord Shiva but from Shivai, a regional Hindu Goddess.
Shivaji was a great war strategist. He defeated multiple enemies with his small but smart and swift army. He captured many forts such as Kondan, Jawali, and Raigarh among others. Shivaji created a great army of Marathas. He was a highly intelligent and shrewd person and war strategist. He created a sound guerilla warfare technique – often taking down the enemy through surprise attacks in different spaces. Maharaj Shivaji inspired his soldiers to fight for their motherland. He was a great patriot like other great Hindu kings like Maharana Pratap, Prithviraj Chauhan, Lalithaditya and the Assam Hero, Lachit Borphukhan.
Maharaj Shivaji also promoted meritorious talent. He didn’t give opportunities to people for their surname but for their loyalty and talent. In this, he resembles the great Mongol conqueror, Genghis Khan. He was respected and feared by his enemies. Only great war heroes and great human beings get the kind of respect that Shivaji got during his lifetime.
Shivaji was a great archer. This information is given in ‘Shivabharat’ written by Poet Paramanand. Another lesser-known fact is that Shivaji was the 6th child of Shahaji. Sambhaji was the eldest sibling and Shivaji was the youngest. Shivaji knew how to use the enemy forces against the enemies. He took the help of two Portuguese naval experts and helped to resurrect a great Bharatiya naval force. Shivaji ordered the creation of a Maratha dictionary. He promoted Marathas such as Raghunath Narayan, Hanmante, Dhindiraj and Lakshman Vyas.
Forts
The first fort that Shivaji captured was Torna Fort. He kept capturing forts – Raigad, Javeli, Santana and many more. Shivaji was aggressive and to the extent needed. Shivaji was crowned king at an elaborate ceremony (which was marked by elaborate Hindu ritualism and blessed by all the people) at Raigad.
Aurangzeb and Maharaj Shivaji
Aurangzeb sent Raja Jai Singh, his most powerful noble to defeat Shivaji. Aurangzeb, the foreign plunderer-emperor of Mongol descent made use of Raja Jai Singh, a Rajput to fight against the leader of his own Hindu clan – Chhatrapati Shivaji. Raja Jai Singh was a formidable opponent to Raja Shivaji. Raja Jai Singh came to take over the heroic fort of Purandar. Shivaji had to sign up for temporary peace with Jai Singh. Shivaji realised the slave-like attitude of Raja Jai Singh toward Aurangzeb and he was greatly saddened and ashamed that an indigenous ruler belonging to Bharat should cower before a foreign ruler, who was the denigrator of many Hindu temples and who imposed Jizya tax on Hindus who were practising the ancient, original and indestructible religion of India. Raja Jai Singh recognised the bravery of Shivaji.
Raja Jai Singh spoke on behalf of Emperor Aurangzeb. He said that the Emperor wanted to meet Raja Shivaji and his son, Shambaji. Raja Jai Singh said that his son, Ram Singh would take care of Shivaji and his son at Agra. Shivaji and his son travelled for two months to Agra. Shivaji was invited to the darbar to meet Aurangzeb. Aurangzeb honoured the persons, whom Shivaji had defeated with gifts. Maharaj Shivaji felt that he had been disrespected by the Emperor. Shivaji was then confined to a place. Shivaji knew that he had to escape. His son, Sambhaji escaped in a bag of sweets. Shivaji dressed up as a seller of sweets. Thus, the duo escaped from Agra.
In 1664, Shivaji Maharaj attacked Surat city, which was full of riches and under Aurangzeb. Surat was like a Mughal treasury. Aurangzeb wanted to take revenge. In 1668, Shivaji and Aurangzeb signed a treaty mediated by Jaswant Singh. Sardeshmukhi and Chauthai rights were given to Shivaji. However, later, the treaty was transgressed by the Mughals.
Shivaji was thus, undefeatable even under very difficult circumstances. This was because he used a combination of different strategies such as friendship, marriage alliances, cunning, intelligence, guerilla warfare, powerful naval force, goodness, kindness, gratitude, unwavering loyalty to the nation and his faith, respect for women, compassion for animals and kindness to the poor.
Administration by Maharaj Shivaji
Shivaji ruled as Maharaj for only 5 years. However, he laid a solid foundation for the great Maratha Empire, which was undefeatable by the foreign Mughals and the British rulers. There was an administrative system, which was followed known as the Ashtapradhan. The Ashtapradhan consisted of 8 ministers. They included the peshwa or prime minister in charge of revenue matters and general administration, the senapati or commander, the amatya or the finance minister, the sachiv or the correspondent/preparer of Royal Edicts, the waqia-navis or interior minister, the sumant or foreign minister, the nyayadhish or chief justice, the panditrao or high priest in charge of religious and charitable affairs. Moropant Trimbak Pingle was the first peshwa. He was appointed by Chhatrapati Shivaji.
The reason why Chhatrapati Shivaji is and ought to be highly respected is because he stood up against many enemies from all sides in the service of his homeland and people. He fought for self-rule. His loyalty to Bharat and its original, ancient and indestructible way of life set him apart. His enemies were amongst the most dangerous – the British, the Portuguese, the Mughals, the different Sultans of the Deccan region and the Siddhi Johar and yet, it was they, who were afraid of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Dr. S Padmapriya, Ph.D, Author, Educator and Thinker, from Chennai. Views expressed in the above piece are personal and solely that of the author. They do not necessarily reflect News18’s views.
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