Saturday, 18 July 2020

Chhatrapatti Shivaji Maharaj-In Quest of Swaraj



                                 Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj quotes to inspire anyone | Business ...



Chhatrapati Shivaji, The Great Maratha, has not been accorded his due place in the annals of Indian History. In these times of receding moral values however, it becomes imperative to tell all the children as well as the youth, the stories of such illustrious Indian Kings. The “Kaliyuga” has descended on us and has brought in a degradation of goodness and every noble qualities in humans. Tilak had understood the importance of narrating these stories to the common man in the language of their comfort and level, to refurbish their lost self-esteem. He knew that a country could not stand up for their rights, if they are in the grip of inferiority complex. He awakened the society that had gone into the cultural hibernation for many generations He revived the Indian culture and reinstate it into sleeping masses via his write ups on Indian history and community celebrations of festivals like Ganpati Utsav. So instead of cribbing about our education system, let us, in our best individual capacity, narrate the history weaving anecdotes into our narration to make the intellectually underprivileged fellow Indians comfortable to understand the true value of our culture.

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Let me begin my efforts in this direction by devoting today’s article to to narrate a few motivating incidents from Shivaji Maharaj’s life.

After a difficult labour, Maa Saheb Jijabai gave birth to Shivaji on 19 February 1630 at Shivneri fort near Pune. Those were challenging times, Deccan was chaotic, so much so that his father Shahaji Raje Bhosle was on a campaign and could not remain present at the time of Shivba’s birth. The area was reeling under draught, the Mughals were trying to capture Deccan and the offshoots of the Bahmani Kingdom were busy fighting each other.

Under the guidance of Jija Mata Shivaba grew up dreaming about Swaraj. His close friends Netaji, Yesaji, Tanaji, Baji Prabhu, Balaji, Chimnaji, Dadaji Naras Prabhu, etc., looked up to him and shared his dream. They together had taken an oath in the Raireshwar Temple of achieving Swaraj   and freeing the Marathas from the tyrannical rules of the  Niazam Shahi, etc. A new threat from the Mughals was also looming large on the horizon. Neither Raje nor his friends were in any way intimidated by such adversaries, they stoically went on with their plans and preparations. Soon they began their campaign in earnest, won over major forts and territories.
                                                                                                                                 
                             Birth Place of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

Due to the infighting among the descendants of the erstwhile Bahmani Empire plus the continuous attack of the Mughals, the once powerful Bijapur Kingdom became irrelevant. After the death of Adil Shah, his eldest wife Badi Begum wanted to restore Bijapur to its former glory. She began by deciding to bring Shivaji Raje to his knees. Once she decided, she set out to find a nobleman in her durbar brave enough to undertake the deed. She called all the Durbaris and asked them who was ready to defeat Shivaji Raje, capture him and bring him to the court of Bijapur. A ‘Paan cake’ was kept before them (it was customary then to keep a paan cake while issuing a challenge, whoever picked it up, automatically accepted the challenge) but except Afzal Khan no one came forward to pick it up. Afzal Khan had also heard about Raje’s exploits and was eagerly waiting to take him on. Afzal Khan had also been responsible for the death of Shambhaji Raje the elder brother of Shivaji. Afzal was a brute and had a huge, well-built body. He was very arrogant and overestimated his prowess.
                 Shivaji Killed Afzal - YouTube

The Wai province was his jagir and he   was also appointed the Subedar of Bijapur. Khan set out with a huge army to crush Raje and win back all the forts Raje had captured. The news of the Khan’s advancing army reached Raje, he immediately started planning along with his coterie the steps that would be taken to not only defeat Khan but also save Swaraj. Raje was under tremendous pressure as his first wife Saibai was on death bed. She had not been able to gain back her health after giving birth to Sambhaji Raje. In spite of going through immense mental trauma, Raje did not allow himself the luxury of taking himself away from all the strategic parleys.

Wai was Khan's jagir and Shivaji was sure that he would stay there till the monsoon receded. Shivaji backed off into the fort of Jawali and decided to force  Khan for a showdown in this territory. Jawali was a difficult terrain and had dense jungles around it thus it was a safe haven to take on enemies not conversant with the narrow gorges and the thick forests. Moreover, the fort of Pratapgarh was also impregnable, so Raje decided to operate from there.
                Jawali More battle #Shivajimaharaj | History lover, History, Battle


As expected the Khan descended on the Marathas with a mighty army and proceeded to ravage the countryside. Shivaji had asked his vassals to surrender before the Khan and even join him so that too many Maratha lives were not sacrificed. He attacked and ravaged the Tuljapur Temple, in fact he took sadistic pleasure to break the Moorti (idol) of revered Tulja Bhawani. He did not stop at that, next he destroyed the temple at Pandharpur and Vithoba Moorti was also not spared.  Khan    knew that Tulja Bhawani was Shivaji's family deity, and expected to draw out Shivaji Raje when this news spread like wildfire. Raje was no fool and did not leave Jawali to fall into the trap of Khan. Meanwhile he lost Saibai, yet had no time to mourn her. In the battle of Wai   Khan lost patience first and sent Krishnaji Bhaskar for negotiations to Jawali. This was what Shivaji had been waiting for all along. He sent Pantaji Gopinath, a  astute statesman with a letter to   Khan and also some valuable gifts. The greedy Khan now became impatient to lay hands on all the treasures under Shivaji. So, he agreed to come to Jawali to talk about settlements, in reality he had plans to capture Raje. Raje was no man’s fool and knew that Khan would betray him, so he made careful plans. He set up the meeting at Par, which was a relatively flat area. He allowed   Khan to enter Koyna Valley with a massive army, but he had already asked his men to surround   Khan’s army from all sides. The will Khan had no idea about these developments. His greed was getting the better of him, all he could think of was the immense treasure, which would come under his control after he had defeated the Maratha Forces.
                अफझलखान वध Afzal Khan Dead - YouTube

Twenty soldiers from each side were allowed to come up to the meeting place. It was also decided that   Khan and Raje would be allowed to take two personal bodyguards along with them. Khan was a massive man and brought only one guard, Syed Banda, whereas Shambhaji Kavji and Jiva Mahala accompanied Raje. .After the customary greetings, all three guards stepped outside. Once alone, Khan pretended to be very benign and invited Raje forward to embrace him as a token of good will. The humongous Khan held Raje in a bear hug, at the same time he slyly took out his hidden dagger and tried to stab Raje. The ever cautious Raje had worn an armour below his shirt, and thus, was not injured. Simultaneously Raje tore opened Khan's stomach with his 'Wagh Nakh'. Khan let out a roar of pain and began shouting to alert his men. Khan had also hit Shivaji which broke the helmet he was wearing. Raje was saved because of the helmet, even though it broke. However, Raje was stunned by the blow and at this juncture Jiva Mahala, Shammbhaji Karvi and Syed Banda rushed into the tent. Jiva was quick to cut of Banda‘s hand and then follow the blow with another fatal blow. Thus Jiva saved Raje’s life, Karvi in the meantime had chased Khan, who had gone rushing out of the tent. He beheaded  Khan before he could escape in his palanquin.
The Maratha army was signaled and they descended heavily upon   Khan’s mighty army. Shivaji Raje had specifically ordered the capture of all the cannons and other arms and ammunition, this would enhance their artillery power. This was exactly what the Maratha soldiers achieved. Once inside the safety of his fort, Shivaji Raje sent the news of the Khan’s defeat to Maa Sahib Jijabai. The Maratha Kingdom rejoiced but Raje immediately went forth with his army and not only captured Wai but many other forts. He also freed all the territories, which had been taken over by   Khan.

This was a decisive win for Swaraj and now Raje had become a force not to be taken lightly. Even though the Khan was mighty yet minute planning and indomitable spirit helped Shivaji Raje win the battle against the mighty Afzal Khan. This also proved to be the turning point of Swaraj.

Jai Bhawani, Jai Shivaji.
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