Shivaji was an Indian ruler and popularly known as Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. He was born on 19 February 1630. He was a legend who fought bravely for Swaraj.
Background:
In the year 1647 AD India was almost under the Mughal Empire of the Islamic occupation. The various parts of India were under the Mughal Empire.
In the north the Mughal Emperor Shahjahan, in Bijapur Sultan Mohammed Adil Shah and lastly in Golconda Sultan Abdullah Qutb Shah were the Emperors who ruled. Sultans of Deccan always give importance to the Muslim officers in the army and not the others.
The land routes were under the control of Mughal Empire whiles the ports under the control of Portuguese Territory. Therefore it was not possible to appoint Muslim officers from North Africa or Central Asia.
Hence, Deccan Sultan was in the pressure to appoint Hindu officers in his army. A Maratha named Shahaji Bhosale who was one of the military commanders in Adilshah Army.
In the year 1630 AD, in the fort of Shivneri which is near Jannat and today it's in Maharashtra a son was born to Jijabai and Shahaji Bhosale. Their son was named as Shivaji who in future and even today he is known as Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
Childhood of Shivaji:
The Shivaji's father, Shahaji Bhosale was the military commander in the army because of which he was always away from Shivaji's childhood life. So, in his childhood he grew up with Mata Jijabai and his teacher (guru) Dadoji Kondev.
Jija Mata taught him the Hindu religious scriptures on the other hand Dadoji Kondev taught him the administration and welfare.
In the 1647 AD when Dadoji Kondev died he thought Shivaji will also be the great military commander in Adil Shah's army same like his father Shahji but the destiny had other plan for Shivaji. At an early teenage he started capturing the hill forts independently against the advice of Dadoji and Shahji.
There were mainly 3 conditions which were needed to be fulfilled to establish an independent kingdom for a Hindu ruler in the 1646 AD all over India.
Which begins with that the area should be away from the immediate power centers additionally there should be no agricultural importance lastly, dense forest coverage for Guerrilla wars to fight against the imperial powers.
All these conditions were fulfilled by the destiny around the year 1646 AD. This was the time when Shivaji started acting independently and he started forming his group of faithful supporter from local peasants who were called as Maulis. He knew the importance and had a good idea of the forts in creating new empire.
Shivaji took control of Torna, Chakan and Kondana forts by bribing the Adilshahi commanders only at the age of 15 years.
After which with the help of Abaji Somdev he conquered the Thana, Bhiwandi and Kalyan forts which was under Mullah Ahmed. All these events ruffled Adil Shahi Sultanate. To stop Shivaji they arrested his father Shahji.
Because of which Shivaji did not attacked directly Adilshah for the next seven years, however at that time he was getting the help of Deshmukh's and the influential people's support while crushing rivals by hook or by crook.
Slowly he built up a huge army which was commanded by Netaji Palkar, infantry by Yesaji Kank and he had 40 forts under his dominion.
Conflict with Mughals:
In 1659 AD Badi Sahiba of Bijapur sent Afzal Khan of Afghan general with 10,000 soldiers to destroy Shivaji as they wanted to stop Shivaji from doing all this. To make Shivaji fight in open he desecrated Hindu places of worship and killed many civilians.
Shivaji employed Guerrilla tactics and hide in Pratapgarh fort covered by dense forest. Finally Khan called Shivaji to meet him personally for truce with plan to kill him. When they met Afzal Khan in the pretext of hugging Shivaji and he tried to suffocate Shivaji with his iron grip.
But Shivaji had other plans as he had a hidden bhag nakka (a weapon). He tore apart Khan's stomach and killed the man who was almost twice of his size.
The Sultan of Bijapur was shocked by the defeat of powerful Khan after which he sent General Rustam Zaman. On 28 December 1659 AD Shivaji defeated Rustam Zaman because of which he left the battlefield in disgrace.
Again in 1616 AD, Adil Shah sent his general Siddi Johar to attack Shivaji’s Southern border. But Shivaji held a meeting with him and convinced that Siddi Johar was a traitor.
While they were fighting internally Shivaji escaped with around 5,000 soldiers one night from Panhala fort which was covered by Adilshahi army. After this incident badi begum of Bijapur requested Aurangzeb to help her.
Shaista Khan was sent and with his heavily armed Mughal Army seized Pune and established his residence at Shivaji's palace of Lal Mahal. Shivaji and a troop of around 400 followers infiltrated Pune using a wedding procession as cover.
In the night they launched a most audacious attack directly on Shaista Khan. Khan saved himself from Shivaji's sword by jumping out of the window but lost his three fingers.
Aurangzeb was enraged and sends the 60 years old Rajput Mirza Raja Jai Singh with around 150,000 people strong army to fight with Jay Singh won and Shivaji had to give 23 of his forts and pay compensation of 4 lakh mudra to the Mughals.
He also had to go to Agra in 1666 with his nine years old son Sambhaji. The plan was to contain Shivaji by giving him a place in the prestigious mughal court. But Aurangzeb made the mistake of humiliating Shivaji and placing him under the house arrest.
While Shivaji used track that he was healthy and requested Aurangzeb to distribute sweets to the saints and fakirs; while that was going Shivaji disguised as a labour carrying sweet basket escaped on with Sambhaji and reached Raigad.
Extend of Kingdom:
By 1678 AD Shivaji launched a giant offence and in 4 months recovered a significant portion of the territory surrendered to the Mughals.
From 1671 to 1676 Aurangzeb tried everything in his power using his General Daud Khan and Mohabbat Khan to subdue Shivaji but failed terribly. Additional Adil Shah died in 1672 and bhuja Bijapur fell into disarray.
Finally on 6th June 1674 Shivaji was crowned king of Maratha in the lavid Hindu ceremony at Raigad, by Gaga Bhatt. For Shivaji Maharaj it was not just his military achievements that made him great.
Shivaji Territory:
He was a most able administrator. He never discriminated against any religion as a lot of his generals were Muslims which even included his personal bodyguards.
He never respected women's or used them as a war strategy.
He pioneered Gorilla welfare against and had a strategic mind to build a navy and a network of forts. He started with four forts and two thousand man by that time he died he had an army of 1 lakh people and had 300 forts.
In March 1680 Shivaji fell ill with fever and dysentery and died on 5th April 1680 at the relative Lee young age of 52. Aurangzeb thought that Maratha Kingdom would be over after Shivaji’s death but that too failed.
It was continued first by his son Sambhaji and later by Chhatrapati Rajaram. Aurangzeb was drawn into 25 years war with Maratha and was completely ruined by the time he died.
The Spark that Shivaji had lit; would end up lightening the bright fire that became the Maratha Empire borders go from Karnataka to attack Pakistan. Men like Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj never die; they live forever in the hearts of the people.
Written by: Rakhi Sharma
Edited by: Gourav Chowdhury
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