// Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj  //

 
 
Commanding homage of the entire world and increasing like the Moon on the first day of the bright half, this Royal Seal of Shivaji, the son of Shahaji, rules to shed auspicious beneficence. (Writing on Shivaji's Royal Seal). 
Shivaji Bhosle (b.1627-d.1680) was the only son of Shahaji Bhosle's influential wife Jijabai. Shahaji, himself, was a successful general and switched from Adil Shah of Bijapur to Nijam Shah of Ahmednagar to the Moghuls many times during his career. He used to have an army of his own and at one point had declared himself to be a king. He sent Shivaji to Pune (@1637) along with his mother under the care of Dadoji Konddev, an able minister. During Shivaji's childhood, Dadoji (d. 1650), alongwith men handpicked by Shahaji, managed a few forts and a piece of land in the hilly Deccan which were given to him by Shahaji. At that time, India was under control of the four Muslim powers Adil Shahi, Nijam Shahi, Golkonda Empire and the Moghuls who were ever eager to fight among themselves. The state of the common man, in particular the Hindus as a community, was pathetic and humiliating.
On this background, 18 year old Shivaji and his faithfuls took the oath at Rohedeshwar Temple to establish a Nation of the Natives which Shivaji maintained was the will of the Providence . In his next 35 years he lived an epic which thrilled the imagination of his friends and foes alike. It is impossible to present an adequate depiction of his eventful career in a short essay. Col. R.D. Palsokar has written a noteworthy book Shivaji : The Great Guerrilla on Shivaji's military campaigns with the Defence Service officers as his intended audience. In that book, the author has made a fairly detailed case study of the killing of Afzal Khan, the escape from Panhala, the night attack on Shayiste Khan, the raids on Surat and his crowning glory - Karnatak Conquest, in which he won land almost equal to his existing empire in a matter of days. The interested reader should go through it.

On June 6, 1674 Shivaji was coronated a sovereign king. India was under the juggernaut of foreigners for at least 3 centuries. The belief that only a Muslim ruler from Delhi/Bijapur/Ahmednagar/Golkonda was given the right to rule was widespread. The common man had come to accept and live with it. Shivaji's coronation and its background gave the natives all over India the assurance that they too were entiled to a free and fair life, and the confidence that if they were willing to fight it out, it could be theirs. His administration was centralised and seems to have been quite efficient with a cabinet of 8 ministers looking after well defined departments.

Considering the sagacity, originality and ability to execute hazardous operations putting his own life at stake, it is not too much to say that Shivaji belongs to the highest bracket of the generals the world has seen and stakes a very strong claim to the title of the Greatest World Hero. Even then, his greatest achievement is that he succeeded in building an empire which was looked upon by his people as their Nation for generations to come.

He was succeeded as the Chhatrapati by his son Sambhaji, then 23 years old, in 1680 upon his death amidst the ominous entry in the Deccan by Alamgir who had come with sole aim of the complete destruction of the Maratha Raj. Accounts on Sambhaji are conflicting with some accounts portraying him as an impulsive, irresponsible, addicted and worthless successor while the Dutch and the British remark that he was a shrewd, responsible and far seeking king. In any case, after a struggle of 9 years in 1689, Aurangzeb had Sambhaji captured and killed after heaping the traditional humiliation reserved for a defeated enemy. Spurred by his tragic death, the Marathas fought on vigorously with Sambhaji's younger brother Rajaram (1670-1700) ascending the throne. After his death, Rajaram's wife Tarabai continued the struggle which finally ended in 1707 as Alamgir expired on his way back to the North, his mission unfulfilled.

Sambhaji's son Shahu was raised by the Mughals and through the efforts of Balaji Vishwanath, assumed the throne as Chhatrapati. He named Balaji as his 'Peshwa' (Premier). Soon the Chhatrapati became a redundant, nominal entity and the Peshwas' reign (Peshwai) began which lasted for a century. With the Fall of the Moghul Empire, the Marathas emerged as the power to beat in India. But they could not attain the glory envisaged by Shivaji and later promised by Bajirao I.

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