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The story of a legend...

Writer's picture: Mostly MaharashtraMostly Maharashtra

Updated: Jan 25, 2021

Today let me tell you about a historical story which is deeply rooted in this land of Maharashtra.


This is the story of his victory and courage, also known as the Father of the Indian Navy and the master of the guerrilla warfare, is told for generations…


“Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj”




To get a better understanding, let's start with an earlier story. Most of India in the 17th century was dominated by foreign Islamic kings. They were King Shahajahan in the northern part, Adil Shah in the Bijapur region and Kutub Shah in the Golconda region.



The kings of these two divisions gave priority to Islamic officers. But as the Portuguese dominated the harbor and coastal regions, it was difficult to bring Islamic officers from North Africa and Central Asia. So these two kings were compelled to appoint local Hindu officers.



One of the officers of King Adil Shah's army was Shahajiraje Bhosale. He was a high-ranking officer in the Adil Shahi dynasty.


On February 19, 1630, a son was born to Shahajiraje and his wife Jijabai at the Shivneri Castle in the Junnar region of Maharashtra. It is said that his son's name, Shivaji, was based on the god Shivai in the temple of the fort.


During his childhood, as Shivaji Maharaj's father wasn't at home very often and usually on duty, he developed a closer relationship with his mother. Dadoji Kondev taught Shivaji Maharaj martial arts and administration skills, while Jijabai taught Hindu religious scriptures.




Around 1646, Shivaji Maharaj formed a group of loyal allies from local farmers called "Mavli". At an early age of 15, Shivaji Maharaj took the control of forts like Torna, Chakan and Kondana from the Adilshahi commanders. Then, he also seized the forts from the Thane region, Kalyan region and Bhiwandi region, which were dominated by Mulla Ahmed.


This ruffled Adilshahi Sultanate.In 1648, in order to stop Shivaji Maharaj, Adilshah arrested his father. That’s why Shivaji Maharaj did not attacked Adilshah directly for the next 7 years.


However, he was getting the support of influential people and crushing rivals determinately. Slowly, he built a huge army commanded by Netaji Palkar, infantry by Yesaji Kank and had 40 forts under his dominion in 1657.


To stop this, in 1659, Badi Sahiba of Bijapur sent Afzal Khan, an Afghan general with an army of 10,000 soldiers to capture Shivaji Maharaj. Afzal khan was known for his strength and brutality.


To make Shivaji Maharaj fight in the open, he desecrated Hindu places of worship and killed many civillians. But using guerrilla tactics, Shivaji Maharaj managed to hide in Pratapgad fort which is surrounded by dense forests. Finally, Afzal Khan called Shivaji Maharaj to meet him personally for truce with a plan to kill him. When they met, Khan in the pretext of hugging tried to suffocate Shivaji Maharaj with his iron grip. But vigilant Shivaji Maharaj had hidden weapons like tiger claws and a dagger. He tore apart Khan’s stomach killing him who was almost twice his size. In the ensuing battle of Pratapgarh, Shivaji Maharaj’s forces decisively defeated the Bijapur Sultanate’s forces.



Shocked by the death of the powerful Afzal Khan, Bijapur’s Abyssinian general Rustom Zaman was sent next. On 28th December 1659, Shivaji Maharaj led a full frontal attack at the centre of the enemy forces while two other portions of his cavalry attacked from the two other sides. Rustom Zaman fled the battlefield in disgrace.


In 1660, Adilshah sent his general Siddi Johar to attack Shivaji Maharaj’s southern border. At that time, Shivaji Maharaj was in Panhala fort. Siddhi Johar’s army besieged Panhala fort cutting off the supply routes. Shivaji Maharaj tricked Siddhi Johar into meeting him and convinced Adilshah that Siddi Johar was a traitor. While they were fighting internally, he escaped with about 300 commandos one night from Panhala fort.


Baji Prabhu Deshpande held rear guard with just 300 commandos against the 65 thousand men and fought bravely till Shivaji Maharaj reached Vishalgad safely. Shivaji Maharaj signalled by firing cannons on reaching Vishalgad. On this, Baji Prabhu Deshpande breathed his last and had a heroic death on the battlefield. Baji Prabhu Deshpande is known as one of the greatest Maratha warriors to this day.


After this Haji Badi Begum requested Aurangzeb to help her. He sent his maternal uncle Shaista Khan with 1,50,000 strong army. Shaista Khan seized Pune with his strong Mughal army and established his residence Shivaji Maharaj’s palace of Lal Mahal. Shivaji Maharaj and a troop of some 400 followers infiltrated Pune, using a wedding procession as a cover. In the night, they launched a most audacious attack directly on Shaista Khan. Khan saved himself from Shivaji Maharaj’s sword by jumping out of the window but lost three fingers.


To add insult to injury, in 1664 Shivaji Maharaj ransacked the city of Surat(Gujarat), a wealthy Mughal trading centre. Aurangzeb was enraged and sent the 60 year old Rajput veteran Mirza Raje Jai Singh 1, with a 150,000 strong army.


Shivaji Maharaj lose this war due to which he had to give up 23 of his forts and pay compensation of 400000 hunas to the Mughals. In 1666, he was also made to go to Agra with his 9 year old son, Sambhaji Maharaj to meet Aurangzeb. But Aurangzeb humiliated and put Shivaji Maharaj under house arrest. Shivaji Maharaj pretended to be ill and requested to send daily shipments of sweets to saints in Agra for his health. One day, he disguised as a labourer carrying sweet basket and escaped on with Sambhaji Maharaj.He took a route passing through Mathura, Kashi, Gaya, Puri, Golconda, Bijapur and reached Raigad.


By 1670, Shivaji Maharaj had freed major of his territory from the clutches of Mughals. From 1671 to 1674, Aurangzeb tried everything in his power using his Generals to subdue Shivaji Maharaj, but failed terribly. Additionally Ali Adil Shah died in 1672 and Bijapur fell into disarray.


Finally, on 6th June, 1674, Shivaji Maharaj was crowned as the king of Marathas in a lavish Hindu ceremony at Raigad, by Gagabhatt. Tilak and Vedic chanting and customs which had not been followed for centuries were revived.



In 1679, Shivaji Maharaj started to build Khanderi fort(Alibaug) to keep a check on the Siddis at Murud-Janjira fort and on the British trade route to Mumbai. The Britishers sent a letter to stop the construction which was denied and thus Britishers decided to attack. They decided to send their big ship “Revenge”. Using small ships but a lot of improvised naval strategies, the Shivaji Maharaj’s naval forces thwarted this attack and sunk the “Revenge”. Finally, the British forces handed over the Khanderi fort to them, thus marking big victory to Shivaji Maharaj on sea.


Shivaji Maharaj was not only an expert in military but was also an efficient administrator. He never discriminated against any religions and many of his generals were Muslims including his personal bodyguards. He never disrespected women or used them as a war strategy. He pioneered Guerilla warfare and had a strategic mind to build navy and a network of forts. He started with 4 forts and 2000 men and by the time he died he commanded an army of 100000 people and had 300 forts.

In March 1680, Shivaji Maharaj fell ill with fever and diarrhoea and died on 5th April, 1680 at the age of 52.


Aurangzeb thought that the Maratha kingdom would be over after Shivaji Maharaj’s death but that did not happen…

It was continued first by his son Sambhaji Maharaj and later by Chhatrapati Rajaram. Aurangzeb was drawn into a 25 year war with Marathas and was completely ruined by the time he died.



The spark that Shivaji Maharaj had lit ended up lighting the bright fire. Maratha kingdom’s borders were extended from Karnataka to Attock(present day Pakistan) later, by Peshwa Bajirao 1 by 1740.


People like Shivaji Maharaj never die. They live forever in the hearts of people through their sacrifices and inspirations...

HAR HAR MAHADEV!!

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