Tracing The Royal History

All through his childhood,Datta Nalavade had heard stories about Chattrapati Shivaji Maharaj,his bravery,honesty,integrity and his kindness. As he grew up,he read books that described how the founder of Maratha Empire ruled his kingdom with peace and harmony. Dutta was also impressed by the ruler’s associates who helped him make his decisions,headed and trained his army. One such name was Baji Pasalkar. Dutta was so inspired with his tales of bravery that he wanted to trace the warrior’s descendents. “Over twenty years ago,I set out on a mission to find the successors of Pasalkar. I found them at a village called Palshet in Maharashtra. I met the family there; they spoke about their ancestry. I also went to the office and saw documents such as birth certificates and coins of the day of Shivaji,” says Nalavade.

After his first successful mission in finding the successors of Pasalkar,Nalavade was on a roll. He had made up his mind to track down all the successors of the important families during Shivaji Maharaj’s era. His next and toughest mission was to track Tanaji Malusare’s bloodline. “I travelled to the Karnataka border,to a village further than Belgaum in search of Malusare’s successors. I met the family in 2006,but I got to know that they had been approached by some people,who posed as researches and got duped out of some of their ancestral belongings. They did not trust me enough to talk to me,” says Nalavade.

Yet,Nalawade did not give up on hope. He kept visiting the Malusare family to convince them that his research was genuine and selfless and that the only thing he wanted from them was information. His persistence eventually won out after five years when he gained the trust of the son-in-law of the household,and showed him the research work he was working on. The son-in-law then convinced his in-laws to speak with Nalavade. “Through the family,I got to know that Malusare’s native place was Mahabaleshwar,a small town a few hours away from Pune. I found his birthplace and made a statue in memory of the great man at the spot,” says 46-year-old Nalavade,who is also in the process of building a museum near Nigde village near Panshet where he will be building statues of all the associates of Chhatrapati Shivaji. Currently there are just five statues ready at the museum.

When he is not on missions to trace down the successors of the associates of Shivaji Maharaj,he writes books on history about the era of Shivaji and the forts that were built during that time. “I do not get any funding for my research and I do it out of my own will and curiosity. I share all my knowledge and my research work in books so that more people can know about the glorious families of Maharashtra,” says Nalavade.