Knowledge nugget of the day: Chhatrapati Shivaji

The 35-ft Chhatrapati Shivaji statue at Rajkot Fort in Maharashtra’s Sindhudurg district was inaugurated by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Navy Day on December 4 last year.

As scores of agitators reach the Gateway of India,Shiv Sena (UBT) leader Uddhav Thackeray said its now time to throw this government out. (Express photo by Sankhadeep Banerjee)

Here is a brief history of Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj and other important aspects that you should know.

Key takeaways

1. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj  (1630-1680) carved out an independent Maratha kingdom from various Deccan states in the 17th century. He was born to a general who served different Deccan Sultans throughout his life.

2. Shivaji was keen on expanding his father’s fiefdom of modern-day Pune into an independent Maratha state. During that time several Sultanates like Bijapur, Golkonda and Ahmadnagar and the Mughals were competing for the control of the Deccan.

3. With the rise of Mughal power, these Sultanates would become tributaries to the Mughal Empire with the rulers and ruling clans being given positions in the Mughal court. However, they continued to quarrel among themselves.

4. Shivaji’s conflict with the Adil Shahi Sultanate of Bijapur began when he was only 16. He would spend the rest of his life fighting various opponents. This is how he went on to lay the foundation for the Maratha Empire. This empire stretched across large parts of the Indian subcontinent and rule till the 19th Century.

5. His first direct encounter with the Mughals was during Aurangzeb’s Deccan campaigns of the 1650s. As Aurangzeb went North to fight for the Mughal throne, Shivaji was able to seize further territory.

6. In 1664 he attacked the port of Surat (now in Gujarat) and plundered one of the richest and busiest commercial towns of Mughal India while the local governor hid in a nearby fort.

7. Aurangzeb noticed that the legend of Shivaji and the physical sphere of his influence was growing. So he sent a 100,000-strong, well-equipped army under Raja Jai Singh I to subdue him in 1665. After putting up a valiant fight, Shivaji was besieged in the Purandar hill fort.

8. He was taken to Aurangzeb’s court in Agra in 1666. He presented Aurangzeb with various gifts, but he felt slighted at the treatment he received in return, and made his displeasure clear in open court.

9. Aurangzeb put him under house arrest in Agra. Far away from home and help, Shivaji realised he needed to escape to save himself and his territories. He began to plot a plan to return home and keep up his fight against the Mughals.

10. The story of Shivaji’s subsequent escape is now part of common lore. The popularly told story involves an elaborate plan, under which he began daily distribution of alms to brahmans. The alms would be sent from his home in Agra in large, covered baskets.

11. After some time, the Mughal guards became lax about checking the contents of the baskets that daily left his house. One day, Shivaji slipped into one of the baskets, and put his young son, Sambhaji, in another basket. It was in these covered baskets that Shivaji and his son left Agra, right under the noses of the Mughals.

A painting of Shivaji by artist Mir Mohammad (Wikimedia Commons)

12. Aurangzeb chose not to start an immediate conflict with Shivaji again. Instead, he offered Shivaji the title of Raja and guaranteed his authority in the Maratha lands as long as he acknowledged the supremacy of the Mughals and maintained truce.

13. By 1669, Shivaji had regrouped and raised an effective army. Using his old guerilla tactics, he would swiftly descend into static Mughal and Bijapuri strongholds, looting and pillaging the shocked Mughals.

14. During this time, Aurangzeb was occupied with Pathan revolts in the North-West corner of his Empire. Shivaji deftly regained his lost positions in the Konkan coast. In 1674, he crowned himself Chhatrapati, officially creating an independent Maratha kingdom.

15. At the time of his death, he held around 300 forts over an area that stretched across the Konkan coast, from Surat to near Goa, and was overlooked by the strategic Western Ghats.

Shivaji’s famous guerilla tactics

16. Shivaji’s armed forces had some major limitations.

First, he did not have the man or horsepower compared to most of his enemies, especially during the early stages of his life.

Second, he was heavily reliant on obtaining supplies such as muskets and gunpowder from the Europeans, mainly the Portuguese. This meant that in conventional battle, he would have seldom stood a chance against his foes.

17. So, Shivaji adopted guerilla tactics. Through this tactic, his men would travel in small, highly mobile and heavily armed attachments, wreak havoc in the often sluggish Mughal or Adil Shahi armies, loot supplies and treasure, and quickly retreat.

Shivaji’s hill forts

18. Crucial to millitary strategy were hill forts. Unlike the plains of Northern India, suited to conventional battle with large standing armies, the terrain of the Maratha country was different. With the Arabian Sea on one side, the Konkan plains in the centre and the Western Ghats overlooking the plains, in the 17th century much of the region was covered in thick jungles.

19. The Maratha icon was born and raised in the hill fort of Shivneri (around 100 km from Pune), given to his grandfather by the Sultan of Ahmadnagar in lieu of his services as a military commander. Shivneri is a typical hill fort found in the Western Ghats – a small but strong fortification, atop a hill overlooking the surrounding terrain. It had a permanent source of water inside in the form of two freshwater springs and according to some accounts (to be taken with a pinch of salt), the fort was well-stocked to feed its residents for seven years.

20. Growing up in the hills and valleys around Pune, Shivaji understood the salience of hill forts in controlling the land. Over his storied life, he captured multiple such forts, including Torna (when he was only 16), Rajgadh, Sinhagadh and Purandar. Early in his life, Shivaji realised that the key to holding power in the Deccan (or for that matter, many places in India in that era) was to capture and hold important forts. Thus, his strategies would be centred around taking control of forts in strategic locations, often on hilltops. He also repaired and built new forts as his sphere of control increased.

21. Warfare in such terrain is qualitatively different, with large conventional armies prone to getting bogged down. Thus, as Shivaji began to consolidate and expand his influence in the region, his strategies evolved to be significantly different from the common military doctrine of the time.

22. Marathas forces would strike quickly and retreat to the many hill forts of the region. These forts were designed such that the approach to them was tricky, often treacherous, to large groups of men. Consequently, these were perfect defensive positions where either the bigger armies would not bother to attack or would have to sacrifice their strength in numbers if they did choose to attack.

23. Hill forts also were constructed such that they were perfect vantage points to keep a lookout for any threat. “There should not be a higher point near the fort amongst the surrounding hills,” wrote Ramchandra Pant Amatya, Shivaji’s finance minister. Often, if there were higher points nearby, smaller forts would be constructed there. This can be seen in the case of the Purandar fort, which is flanked by the smaller Vajragad fort.

24. What hill forts effectively allowed Shivaji to do was project his power, beyond what would have been possible through conventional means. The relative safety of his forts allowed him to successfully carry his lightning tactics while fighting formidable enemies.

Beyond the term: Shivaji Festival and Bal Gangadhar Tilak

The uniqueness of Tilak’s way of popularising Shivaji lay in the fact that he was the first to make Shivaji appealing to not just the elite and educated, but also to everyone else. (Wikimedia Commons)

Adrija Roychowdhury writes: “When one talks about the role of Shivaji in the nationalist uprising of modern India, the first name that comes to mind is that of Bal Gangadhar Tilak. The uniqueness of Tilak’s way of popularising Shivaji lay in the fact that he was the first to make Shivaji appealing to not just the elite and educated, but also to everyone else. Unlike most others who restricted the imagery of Shivaji to print media, Tilak took him to the streets by means of festivals and public meetings. The first Shivaji festival organised by Tilak took place on April 15, 1896, accompanied by readings of Hindu religious texts, traditional music and dance in front of huge portraits of Shivaji. Commemorating Shivaji, Tilak is said to have written the following on this day:

It has been a matter of constant and painful surprise [to us] as to why we, the people of Maharashtra did sleep so soundly, so long. Should we not have to hang down our heads if we are asked by a foreigner how we have till this day forgotten the event of which we should always be thinking, which we should never forget even in our dreams?…The people of no other country would have forgotten the great man who laid the foundation of our empire, who upheld our respect as Hindus and who gave a particular direction to our religion.

Further, Tilak did not just restrict the imagery of Shivaji to Maharashtra. During the Swadeshi movement in Bengal, Tilak represented Shivaji as an ideal hero who valiantly fought against tyranny. Tilak’s invocation of Shivaji also successfully created the moment when all the princes of states like Baroda and Sangli joined in the national movement.”

Point to ponder:

How Shivaji became the voice of multiple social causes? 

(Refer: How Shivaji became the voice of multiple social causes by Adrija Roychowdhury)

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