CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ - THE LEGEND

He founded the Hindu kingdom in the Deccan against all odds , fighting against the mighty Mughals.He inspired and united the common man to fight against the tyranny of Mughal ruler Aurangjeb, by inculcating a sense of pride and nationality in them.

At the age of 16, he took a pledge to establish a sovereign Hindu state.He clearly outstands all the rulers and generals of India by the exemplary life he lived and is thus respected by the entire cross section of Indians. Shivaji's military skills could be compared to those of Napolean.

He raised a strong army and navy, constructed and repaired forts, used gureilla warfare tactics,developed a strong intelligence network,gave equal treatment to the people from all religions and castes based on merit, and functioned like a seasoned Statesman and General. He appointed ministers with specific functions such as Internal security,Foreign affairs,Finance,Law and Justice,Religious matters,Defence etc.

He introduced systems in revenue collection and warned the officials against harassment of subjects.He thought ahead of times and was a true visionary.In his private life, his moral virtues were exceptionally high.His thoughts and deeds were inspired by the teachings of his mother Jijabai, his teachers, great saints like Dnyaneshwar & Tukaram and the valiancy and ideals of the Lords Rama and Krishna.

The tiny kingdom established by Chhatrapati Shivaji known as "Hindavi Swaraja" (Sovereign Hindu state) grew and spread beyond Attock in Northwest India (now in Pakistan)and beyond Cuttack in East India in course of time, to become the strongest power in India. After the death of Chhatrapati Shivaji & his son Sambhaji, their prime ministers or ‘the Peshwas' became the defacto rulers. The Peshwas and the Maratha Sardars (Chieftans) like Shindes of Gwalior, Gaekwads of Baroda & Holkars of Indore contributed to the growth of the Maratha Confederacy.

The history of India is incomplete without the history of Marathas and Shivaji is the nucleus of Maratha history. Shivaji has been a source of inspiration and pride to the past generations and will continue to inspire generations in future. We salute this legend and humbly dedicate this website to him.

Shivaji Maharaj was the son of Shahaji and Jijabai Bhonsale. Shivaji Maharaj’s birth date has been a matter of controversy but recently a consensus has been reached and is deemed to be 19 February 1627. He was born on Shivneri Fort, Junnar, 60 kilometres north of Pune and was named Shiva after Shivai, deity of the fort. Shivaji Maharaj was the fifth son born to Jijabai, 3 of whom had died as infants and only Sambhaji survived. While Shivaji Maharaj was accompanied mostly by his mother, Sambhaji lived with his father Shahaji at present day Bengaluru. During the period of Shivaji Maharaj’s birth, the power in Maharastra was shared by three Sultanates – Bijapur, Ahmednagar, and Golconda. Most of the then Marathas forces had pledged their loyalties to one of these Sultanates and were engaged in a continuous game of mutual alliances and aggression.

Shahaji Bhosle – Shivaji Maharaj’s father – was the elder son of Maloji Bhosale of Verul (present day Ellora, Maharastra). Legend has it that Maloji Bhosale was insulted by Lakhujirao Jadhav, a sardar in Nizamshahi, due his refusal to allow his daughter Jijabai’s (Shivaji Maharaj’s mother) marriage to his son- Shahaji. This led Maloji to greater conquests to obtain a higher stature and an important role under Nizamshahi, something that eventually led him to achieving the title of Mansabdar (military commander and an imperial administrator). Leveraging this new found recognition and power he was able to convince Jadhavrao to give his daughter in marriage to his son Shahaji.

Shivaji’s birthplace on Shivneri Fort
Shahaji following in the footsteps of his father, began service with the young Nizamshah of Ahmednagar and together with Malik Amber, Nizam’s minister, he won back most of the districts for the Nizamshah from the Mughals who had gained it during their attack of 1600. Thereafter, Lakhuji Jadhav, Shahaji’s father in law attacked Shahaji at the Mahuli fort and laid a siege. Shahaji was accompanied by Jijabai who was four months pregnant. After seeing no relief coming from Nizam, Shahaji decided to vacate the fort and planned his escape. He sent Jijabai off to the safety of Shivneri fort which was under his control. It was here at Shivneri that Shivaji Maharaj was born. In the meanwhile, suspecting his disloyalty, Lakhuji and his three sons were murdered by the Nizamshah in his court while they came to join his forces. Unsettled by this incident, Shahaji Raje decided to part ways with the Nizamshahi Sultanate and raise the banner of independence and establish an independent kingdom.

After this episode Ahmednagar fell to the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan, and shortly thereafter Shahaji responded by attacking the Mughal garrison there and regained control of this region again. In response the Mughals sent a much larger force in 1635 to recover the area back and forced Shahaji to retreat into Mahuli. The result of this was that Adilshah of Bijapur agreed to pay tribute to the Mughals in return for the authority to rule this region in 1636. Thereafter, Shahaji was inducted by Adilshah of Bijapur and was offered a distant jagir- land holdings, at present-day Bangalore, but he was allowed to keep his old land tenures and holdings in Pune.

Gautam Buddha Biography

Very little is known about Gautam Buddha. The biography of Gautam Buddha has come to know through ancient scriptures which were written after details related to him were passed by generations orally. It is stated that Gautama Siddartha was a North Indian Prince who lived between 563 and 479 BC and later on came to be known as Buddha or Enlightened One. It is stated that Queen Maya died seven days after giving birth to Gautama and Prince Siddhartha is said to have gone to Trayastrimsa Heaven and stayed there for three months to preach supreme knowledge to his mother.

Astrologers had stated that Prince Siddhartha would become a great sage on growing up if he came to know of the sufferings of mankind and in order to prevent this from happening his father King Suddhodana tried to prevent access of the outside world to Prince Siddartha and offered him all the worldly pleasures so that he could turn out to be a worthwhile king but its stated that nothing can change destiny but a visit to the kingdom changed all where he saw the sufferings of mankind and he left his kingdom to go on to become an ascetic.

Lord Buddha tried self mortification for six years but failed and traveled to Gaya and sat under a fig tree to gain enlightenment. Here he achieved what he wanted and became Buddha, a person who was released from consciousness of suffering.

It was at the age of thirty that Gautama Buddha left all his worldly belongings and devoted his life for self denial and spent the rest of his life teaching his disciples the Four Noble Truth and how they could achieve the state of Nirvana. The rest as they say is history and Buddhism spread throughout the world. This is the just of the biography of the great Gautam Buddha.

Shahaji Raje -Maratha King

Shahaji was a Sardar in Nizamshah’s court at Ahmednagar. Nizamshah willingly sacrificed Lakhuji Jadhav for Shahaji. Yet, Shahaji went to Adilshah in 1624. Despite of valiantly fighting for Adilshah for two years, he returned to Nizamshah in 1626. He again changed his loyalties and became Mughal Sardar in 1630. Yet again, after valiantly fighting for Mughals, he returned to Nizamshah in 1632. In all these transitions, he maintained his Jagir in Pune at his discretion. He maintained an army that was loyal to him and him alone, irrespective of the power he was serving. He initiated the policy of uniting Deccan against North Indian Mughals. Many notable people like Khavaskhan, Kutubshah, Madanna and Akanna of Golconda, Murar Jagdev supported this united Deccan policy that Shahaji initiated. Shivaji repeatedly pronounced this policy. Sambhaji considered himself as a patron of Adilshah and Kutubshah.

Shahaji appointed Dadoji Kondadev, a his chief administrator of Pune Jagir. He himself was administrating his Jagir in Bangalore, Karnataka. It was his vision that he distributed his property between two sons in 1636. The Karnataka Jagir was for elder son Sambhaji and Pune Jagir for younger son Shivaji. He made Adilshah to appoint Dadoji Kondadev as Subhedar of Pune and gave him control of some army (about 5000 strong) 15-20 forts, and entire administrative personnel in the form of a Peshwa, an accountant and others. Shivaji took his oath on Rohireshwar of establishing a Hindavi Swarajya in presence of Dadoji. The first letter bearing the official seal of Shivaji is dated 28th January 1646. It is difficult to comprehend that young Shivaji who was a teenager of 15 years, had all this blueprint of establishing a Hindu Swaraj along with seals and official letterheads in his mind. One has to accept the vision and power of Shahaji that was guiding him, correcting him and shaping him.

Shahaji was carving a kingdom of his own in Karnataka. He was doing exactly the same thing through Shivaji in Maharashtra as well. At both places, the administrators, Shahaji in Bangalore and Shivaji in Pune were calling themselves as Raja, were holding courts, and issuing letters bearing official seals in Sanskrit. Adilshah was weary of this and in 1648; two independent projects were undertaken by Adilshah to eliminate these two growing kingdoms in its territory. Shivaji defeated Adilshah’s general Fateh Khan in Pune, Maharashtra. At the same time, his elder brother Sambhaji defeated Adilshahas other general Farhad Khan in Bangalore. The modus operandi of Maratha troops on both the frontiers is similar, again reinstating the guiding vision of Shahaji. The subsequent treaty that was signed between two Bhonsale brothers and Adilshah to rescue Shahaji, who was held captive by Adilshah, marks the first Mughal-Maratha contact. In 1648-49, Adilshah captured Shahaji in order to blackmail his two sons to cede the territory conquered by them and accept Adilshahas supremacy. Shivaji wrote a series of letters to Dara Shikoh (Subhedar of Deccan), pledging to be subservient to Mughals. Mughals recognized Shivaji as a Mughal Sardar and pressurized Adilshah to release Shahaji. In return, Shivaji ceded Simhagad, and Sambhaji ceded Bangalore city and Kandarpi fort in Karnataka.

We can see the coherency in actions of Shivaji and Sambhaji. The men assisting both the brothers were loyal to Shahaji and were trained under him. Even though Shivaji was administrative head of Pune Jagir, many people appealed to Shahaji against Shivaji’s decisions up to 1655. Up to this point, Shahaji’s word was considered final in all of the important matters. Until this point, Shivaji was not at all free to take all the decisions on his will. There was a higher power that was controlling his activities. Gradually after 1655, this interference went on diminishing, and Shivaji started emerging more and more independent.

Thus, if we see these three men in a link, Shahaji, Shivaji and his son Sambhaji, all the actions of Shivaji start making sense. In this way, we are better able to grasp the greatness of the man, Shivaji.

Shivaji had himself coronated as a Kshatriya King in 1674. Shahaji initiated this policy. The Ghorpade clan of Marathas considered themselves as descendents of Sisodiya Rajputs. Shahaji attested his claim on the share in Ghorpade’s property from Adilshah long before 1640. In reality, there is no connectio whatsoever between Sisodiya Rajputs and Bhonsale clan. Nevertheless, Maloji started calling himself as Srimant Maloji Raje after becoming a bargir. Shahaji legalized this claim of being a Rajput from Adilshah. This was of great help to Shivaji at the time of his coronation in 1674. It is interesting to see that even after coronating himself as a Hindu Emperor, Shivaji continued writing letters to Aurangzeb, referring him as Emperor of India, and stating that he was a mere servant of Great Aurangzeb. We can see the basic pragmatic mindset of Shivaji which was fueled by great dream of establishing Hindu Self ruling state.