Maharashtra will discuss return of Shivaji sword with UK PM: minister

He added that that the return of the sword to Maharashtra will further boost the celebrations planned by his department to mark 350 years of the coronation of king Shivaji.

According to historian Indrajit Sawant, who has written a book tracing the journey of the sword to London, the demand to bring back the sword is very old and was first raised by Lokmanya Tilak.

“The demand was raised when Yashwantrao Chavan became the chief minister of Maharashtra and again when A R Antulay was the CM. The problem happened when the sword was referred to as ‘Bhavani’ sword. A sword of this name is already there in Satara and the British till now have used that as an excuse (to say that the Bhavani sword is already in India),” Sawant told The Indian Express.

Sawant added that the sword should be referred to as the one given to Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) by Shivaji the Fourth in 1875-76. “The Chhatrapati of Karveer was in possession of this sword, which was used by Shivaji Maharaj. We say this because the catalogue of his armory is available even today, which describes this sword as that of Shivaji Maharaj and has explanations on it, including how many diamonds it has.”

Sawant said that the catalogue of weapons collected by the Prince was printed in London, which mentions the said sword as “a relic of Shivaji the Great”.

According to Sawant, the Prince of Wales was fond of collecting weapons and had shortlisted a few, including this sword, which he forced the then king to gift him. His meeting with Shivaji the Fourth took place in Mumbai. “Though that sword had nothing encrypted on it, the British prince’s return gift, which is still in Kolhapur’s New Palace museum, has a description on its blade,” he said.

“Bringing the sword back to India is not an impossible task but we must demand the sword that was gifted by Shivaji the Fourth and not name it,” he added.