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Tags: Chatrapati Shivajiraje, Chatrapati Shivajiraje Bhosale 383'rd birthday, Shivaji, Indian Great Leaders, Maratha Empire, Defeat of mughal empire, kesari of India, cevrything, c everything, everything
Shivaji Bhosale ((c.1630[3] – 3 April 1680), was the founder of the Maratha Empire, which lasted until 1818, and at its peak covered much of the Indian subcontinent. An aristocrat of the Bhosle Maratha clan, Shivaji led a resistance to free the Maratha people from the Adilshahi sultanate of Bijapur and the Mughal Empire and established a Hindavi Swarajya ("self-rule of Hindu people"). He created an independent Maratha kingdom with Raigad as its capital, and was crowned chhatrapati ("paramount sovereign") of the Marathas in 1674.
Shivaji established a competent and progressive civil rule with the help of a disciplined military and well-structured administrative organisations. He innovated military tactics, pioneering the guerilla Shiva sutra or ganimi kava methods, which leveraged strategic factors like geography, speed, and surprise and focused pinpoint attacks to defeat his larger and more powerful enemies. From a small contingent of 2,000 soldiers inherited from his father, Shivaji created a force of 100,000 soldiers; he built and restored strategically located forts both inland and coastal to safeguard his territory. He revived ancient Hindu political traditions and court conventions, and promoted the usage of Marathi and Sanskrit, rather than Persian, in court and administration.
Shivaji was born in the hill-fort of Shivneri, near the city of Junnar in Pune district around 19 Feburary 1630 to a Maratha(maratha)family . Per legend, his mother named him Shivaji in honour of the goddess Shivai, to whom she had prayed for a healthy child. Shivaji was born in the Kaukshik gothra.
Shivaji's father Shahaji Bhosale was the leader of a band of mercenaries that serviced the Deccan Sultanates. His mother was Jijabai, the daughter of Lakhujirao Jadhav of Sindkhed. At the time of Shivaji's birth, the power in Deccan was shared by three Islamic sultanates: Bijapur, Ahmednagar, and Golconda. Shahaji often changed his loyalty between the Nizamshahi of Ahmadnagar, the Adilshah of Bijapur and the Mughals, but always kept his jagir (fiefdom) at Pune and his small army with him.[9] Following a treaty between the Mughals and the Bijapur Sultanate, Shahaji was posted to a Bangalore-based jagir, while Jijabai and Shivaji remained in Pune.
Upbringing
Shivaji was extremely devoted to his mother Jijabai, who was deeply religious. This religious environment had a great impact on Shivaji, and he carefully studied the two great Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata; these were to influence his lifelong defence of Hindu values.[10] Throughout his life he was deeply interested in religious teachings, and regularly sought the company of Hindu and Sufi saints.
Shahaji, meanwhile had married a second wife, Tuka Bai Mohite, and moved to take an assignment in Karnataka, leaving Shivaji and his mother in Pune. Shahaji entrusted the two to his friend , who provided them a mansion to live in, profitably administered the Pune jagir, and mentored the young Shivaji. The boy was a keen outdoorsman, but had little formal education, and was likely illiterate.Shivaji drew his earliest trusted comrades and a large number of his soldiers from the Maval region,[when?] including Yesaji Kank, Suryaji Kakade, Baji Pasalkar, Baji Prabhu Deshpande and Tanaji Malusare.In the company of his Maval comrades, Shivaji wandered over the hills and forests of the Sahyadri range, hardening himself and acquiring first-hand knowledge of the land, which was to later prove applicable to his military endeavours.
At the age of 12, Shivaji was taken to Bangalore where he, his elder brother Sambhaji and his stepbrother Ekoji I were further formally trained. He married Saibai, a member of the prominent Nimbalkar family in 1640:60 At age of 14, he returned to Pune with a rajmudra (sovereign seal) and a ministerial council.[citation needed] Around 1645-6, the teenage Shivaji first expressed his concept for Hindavi swarajya, in a letter to Dadaji Naras Prabhu
Conflict with Adilshahi sultanate
In 1645, the 16 year old Shivaji bribed or persuaded the Bijapuri commander of the Torna Fort, Inayat Khan, to hand over the possession of the fort to him.[5]:26[13]:61[18]:268 Firangoji Narsala, who held the Chakan fort professed his loyalty to Shivaji and the fort of Kondana was acquired by bribing the Adilshahi governor.[5]:26 On 25 July 1648, Shahaji was imprisoned by Baji Ghorpade under the orders of the current Adilshah, Mohammed Adil Shah, in a bid to contain Shivaji.
Adilshah sent an army led by Farradkhan against Shivaji's brother Sambhaji at Bangalore, where Sambhaji defeated them in battle.[citation needed][when?] Another army led by Fattekhan was defeated by Shivaji in the Battle of Purandar. Meanwhile, Shivaji had petitioned the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan's son, Murad Baksh, who was governor of Deccan, pledging his loyalty to the Mughals to seek his support in securing the release of his father. The Mughals recognised Shivaji as a Mughal sardar and pressured Adilshah to release Shahaji.[citation needed] Accounts vary, with some saying Shahaji was conditionally released in 1649 after Shivaji and Sambhaji surrendered the forts of Kondhana, Bangalore and Kandarpi,others saying he was imprisoned until 1653 or 1655; during this period Shivaji maintained a low profile.[20] After his release, Shahaji retired from public life, and died around 1664–1665 during a hunting accident. Following his father's death, Shivaji resumed raiding, seizing the kingdom of Javali from a neighbouring Maratha chieftain in 1656
Attack on Shaista Khan
Main article: Battle of Chakan
Upon the request of Badi Begum of Bijapur, Aurangzeb sent his maternal uncle Shaista Khan, with an army numbering over 150,000 along with a powerful artillery division in January 1660 to attack Shivaji in conjunction with Bijapur's army led by Siddi Jauhar. Shaista Khan, with his better equipped and provisioned army of 300,000 seized Pune and the nearby fort of Chakan, besieging it for a month and a half until breaching the walls. Shaista Khan pressed his advantage of having a larger, better provisioned and heavily armed Mughal army and made inroads into some of the Maratha territory, seizing the city of Pune and establishing his residence at Shivaji's palace of Lal Mahal.[citation needed]
In April 1663, Shivaji launched a surprise attack on Shaista Khan in Pune; accounts of the story differ in the popular imagination, but there is some agreement that Shivaji and band of some 200 followers infiltrated Pune, using a wedding procession as cover. They overcame the palace guards, breached the wall, and entered Shaista Khan's quarters, killing those they found there. Shaista Khan escaped, losing his thumb in the melee, but one of his sons and other members of his household were killed. The Khan took refuge with the Moghul forces outside of Pune, and Aurangzeb punished him for this embarrassment with a transfer to Bengal.[32]
An Uzbek general, Kartalab Khan, was sent by Shaista Khan to attack and reduce the number of forts under Shivaji's control in the Konkan region on 3 February 1661. The 30,000 Mughal troops left Pune, marching through the back-country in an attempt to surprise the Marathas. In the Battle of Umberkhind, Shivaji's forces ambushed and enveloped them with infantry and light cavalry in the dense forests of Umber Khind pass near present-day Pen. With defeat inevitable, the Mughal commander, a Maratha woman named Raibagan, advised Kartalab to parley with Shivaji, who allowed the Mughals to surrender all their supplies and arms, and depart with safe passage.[citation needed] In retaliation for Shaista Khan's attacks, and to replenish his now-depleted treasury, in 1664 Shivaji sacked the city of Surat, a wealthy Mughal trading centre
Arrest in Agra and escape
In 1666, Aurangzeb invited Shivaji to Agra, along with his nine-year-old son Sambhaji. Aurangzeb's plan was to send Shivaji to Kandahar, now in Afghanistan, to consolidate the Mughal empire's northwestern frontier. However, in the court, on 12 May 1666, Aurangzeb made Shivaji stand behind mansabdārs (military commanders) of his court.[citation needed] Shivaji took offence and stormed out of court, and was promptly placed under house arrest under the watch of Faulad Khan, Kotwal of Agra. Shivaji's spies informed him that Aurangzeb planned to move Shivaji to Raja Vitthaldas' haveli and then to possibly kill him or send him to fight in the Afghan frontier, so Shivaji planned his escape.[citation needed]
Shivaji feigned severe illness and requested to send most of his contingent back to the Deccan, thereby ensuring the safety of his army and deceiving Aurangzeb. Thereafter, on his request, he was allowed to send daily shipments of sweets and gifts to saints, fakirs, and temples in Agra as offerings for his health.[citation needed] After several days and weeks of sending out boxes containing sweets, Shivaji and Sambhaji hid themselves in two of the boxes escaped on 22 July 1666. Shivaji and his son fled to the Deccan disguised as sadhus (holy men). After the escape, rumours of Sambhaji's death were intentionally spread by Shivaji himself in order to deceive the Mughals and to protect Sambhaji.[citation needed] Other sources claim that Shivaji simply disguised himself as a Brahmin priest after performance of religious rites at the haveli grounds and escaped by mingling within the departing priestly entourage of Pandit Kavindra Paramananda
Shivaji Bhosale ((c.1630[3] – 3 April 1680), was the founder of the Maratha Empire, which lasted until 1818, and at its peak covered much of the Indian subcontinent. An aristocrat of the Bhosle Maratha clan, Shivaji led a resistance to free the Maratha people from the Adilshahi sultanate of Bijapur and the Mughal Empire and established a Hindavi Swarajya ("self-rule of Hindu people"). He created an independent Maratha kingdom with Raigad as its capital, and was crowned chhatrapati ("paramount sovereign") of the Marathas in 1674.
Shivaji established a competent and progressive civil rule with the help of a disciplined military and well-structured administrative organisations. He innovated military tactics, pioneering the guerilla Shiva sutra or ganimi kava methods, which leveraged strategic factors like geography, speed, and surprise and focused pinpoint attacks to defeat his larger and more powerful enemies. From a small contingent of 2,000 soldiers inherited from his father, Shivaji created a force of 100,000 soldiers; he built and restored strategically located forts both inland and coastal to safeguard his territory. He revived ancient Hindu political traditions and court conventions, and promoted the usage of Marathi and Sanskrit, rather than Persian, in court and administration.
Shivaji was born in the hill-fort of Shivneri, near the city of Junnar in Pune district around 19 Feburary 1630 to a Maratha(maratha)family . Per legend, his mother named him Shivaji in honour of the goddess Shivai, to whom she had prayed for a healthy child. Shivaji was born in the Kaukshik gothra.
Shivaji's father Shahaji Bhosale was the leader of a band of mercenaries that serviced the Deccan Sultanates. His mother was Jijabai, the daughter of Lakhujirao Jadhav of Sindkhed. At the time of Shivaji's birth, the power in Deccan was shared by three Islamic sultanates: Bijapur, Ahmednagar, and Golconda. Shahaji often changed his loyalty between the Nizamshahi of Ahmadnagar, the Adilshah of Bijapur and the Mughals, but always kept his jagir (fiefdom) at Pune and his small army with him.[9] Following a treaty between the Mughals and the Bijapur Sultanate, Shahaji was posted to a Bangalore-based jagir, while Jijabai and Shivaji remained in Pune.
Upbringing
Shivaji was extremely devoted to his mother Jijabai, who was deeply religious. This religious environment had a great impact on Shivaji, and he carefully studied the two great Hindu epics, Ramayana and Mahabharata; these were to influence his lifelong defence of Hindu values.[10] Throughout his life he was deeply interested in religious teachings, and regularly sought the company of Hindu and Sufi saints.
Shahaji, meanwhile had married a second wife, Tuka Bai Mohite, and moved to take an assignment in Karnataka, leaving Shivaji and his mother in Pune. Shahaji entrusted the two to his friend , who provided them a mansion to live in, profitably administered the Pune jagir, and mentored the young Shivaji. The boy was a keen outdoorsman, but had little formal education, and was likely illiterate.Shivaji drew his earliest trusted comrades and a large number of his soldiers from the Maval region,[when?] including Yesaji Kank, Suryaji Kakade, Baji Pasalkar, Baji Prabhu Deshpande and Tanaji Malusare.In the company of his Maval comrades, Shivaji wandered over the hills and forests of the Sahyadri range, hardening himself and acquiring first-hand knowledge of the land, which was to later prove applicable to his military endeavours.
At the age of 12, Shivaji was taken to Bangalore where he, his elder brother Sambhaji and his stepbrother Ekoji I were further formally trained. He married Saibai, a member of the prominent Nimbalkar family in 1640:60 At age of 14, he returned to Pune with a rajmudra (sovereign seal) and a ministerial council.[citation needed] Around 1645-6, the teenage Shivaji first expressed his concept for Hindavi swarajya, in a letter to Dadaji Naras Prabhu
Conflict with Adilshahi sultanate
In 1645, the 16 year old Shivaji bribed or persuaded the Bijapuri commander of the Torna Fort, Inayat Khan, to hand over the possession of the fort to him.[5]:26[13]:61[18]:268 Firangoji Narsala, who held the Chakan fort professed his loyalty to Shivaji and the fort of Kondana was acquired by bribing the Adilshahi governor.[5]:26 On 25 July 1648, Shahaji was imprisoned by Baji Ghorpade under the orders of the current Adilshah, Mohammed Adil Shah, in a bid to contain Shivaji.
Adilshah sent an army led by Farradkhan against Shivaji's brother Sambhaji at Bangalore, where Sambhaji defeated them in battle.[citation needed][when?] Another army led by Fattekhan was defeated by Shivaji in the Battle of Purandar. Meanwhile, Shivaji had petitioned the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan's son, Murad Baksh, who was governor of Deccan, pledging his loyalty to the Mughals to seek his support in securing the release of his father. The Mughals recognised Shivaji as a Mughal sardar and pressured Adilshah to release Shahaji.[citation needed] Accounts vary, with some saying Shahaji was conditionally released in 1649 after Shivaji and Sambhaji surrendered the forts of Kondhana, Bangalore and Kandarpi,others saying he was imprisoned until 1653 or 1655; during this period Shivaji maintained a low profile.[20] After his release, Shahaji retired from public life, and died around 1664–1665 during a hunting accident. Following his father's death, Shivaji resumed raiding, seizing the kingdom of Javali from a neighbouring Maratha chieftain in 1656
Attack on Shaista Khan
Main article: Battle of Chakan
Upon the request of Badi Begum of Bijapur, Aurangzeb sent his maternal uncle Shaista Khan, with an army numbering over 150,000 along with a powerful artillery division in January 1660 to attack Shivaji in conjunction with Bijapur's army led by Siddi Jauhar. Shaista Khan, with his better equipped and provisioned army of 300,000 seized Pune and the nearby fort of Chakan, besieging it for a month and a half until breaching the walls. Shaista Khan pressed his advantage of having a larger, better provisioned and heavily armed Mughal army and made inroads into some of the Maratha territory, seizing the city of Pune and establishing his residence at Shivaji's palace of Lal Mahal.[citation needed]
In April 1663, Shivaji launched a surprise attack on Shaista Khan in Pune; accounts of the story differ in the popular imagination, but there is some agreement that Shivaji and band of some 200 followers infiltrated Pune, using a wedding procession as cover. They overcame the palace guards, breached the wall, and entered Shaista Khan's quarters, killing those they found there. Shaista Khan escaped, losing his thumb in the melee, but one of his sons and other members of his household were killed. The Khan took refuge with the Moghul forces outside of Pune, and Aurangzeb punished him for this embarrassment with a transfer to Bengal.[32]
An Uzbek general, Kartalab Khan, was sent by Shaista Khan to attack and reduce the number of forts under Shivaji's control in the Konkan region on 3 February 1661. The 30,000 Mughal troops left Pune, marching through the back-country in an attempt to surprise the Marathas. In the Battle of Umberkhind, Shivaji's forces ambushed and enveloped them with infantry and light cavalry in the dense forests of Umber Khind pass near present-day Pen. With defeat inevitable, the Mughal commander, a Maratha woman named Raibagan, advised Kartalab to parley with Shivaji, who allowed the Mughals to surrender all their supplies and arms, and depart with safe passage.[citation needed] In retaliation for Shaista Khan's attacks, and to replenish his now-depleted treasury, in 1664 Shivaji sacked the city of Surat, a wealthy Mughal trading centre
Arrest in Agra and escape
In 1666, Aurangzeb invited Shivaji to Agra, along with his nine-year-old son Sambhaji. Aurangzeb's plan was to send Shivaji to Kandahar, now in Afghanistan, to consolidate the Mughal empire's northwestern frontier. However, in the court, on 12 May 1666, Aurangzeb made Shivaji stand behind mansabdārs (military commanders) of his court.[citation needed] Shivaji took offence and stormed out of court, and was promptly placed under house arrest under the watch of Faulad Khan, Kotwal of Agra. Shivaji's spies informed him that Aurangzeb planned to move Shivaji to Raja Vitthaldas' haveli and then to possibly kill him or send him to fight in the Afghan frontier, so Shivaji planned his escape.[citation needed]
Shivaji feigned severe illness and requested to send most of his contingent back to the Deccan, thereby ensuring the safety of his army and deceiving Aurangzeb. Thereafter, on his request, he was allowed to send daily shipments of sweets and gifts to saints, fakirs, and temples in Agra as offerings for his health.[citation needed] After several days and weeks of sending out boxes containing sweets, Shivaji and Sambhaji hid themselves in two of the boxes escaped on 22 July 1666. Shivaji and his son fled to the Deccan disguised as sadhus (holy men). After the escape, rumours of Sambhaji's death were intentionally spread by Shivaji himself in order to deceive the Mughals and to protect Sambhaji.[citation needed] Other sources claim that Shivaji simply disguised himself as a Brahmin priest after performance of religious rites at the haveli grounds and escaped by mingling within the departing priestly entourage of Pandit Kavindra Paramananda
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