Biography Of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

Table of Contents

CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ

PART – 1

EARLY LIFE

Shivaji was born on april 1627 or 19 february 1630 in the hill-fort of Shivneri, near the city of Junnar in what is now Pune district. Shivaji’s father Shahaji Bhonsle was a Maratha general who served the Deccan Sultanates. His mother was Jijabai.
At the time of Shivaji’s birth, power in Deccan was shared by three Islamic sultanates: Bijapur, Ahmednagar, and Golkonda.
Shivaji was devoted to his mother Jijabai, who was deeply religious. His studies of the Hindu epics, the Ramayana and the Mahabharata, also influenced his lifelong defence of Hindu values. hivaji was deeply interested in religious teachings, and regularly sought the company of Hindu and Sufi saints.
He moved Shivaji and Jijabai from Shivneri to Pune and left them in the care of his jagir administrator, Dadoji Konddeo. Dadoji has been credited with overseeing the education and training of young Shivaji

THE BEGINNING

Many of Shivaji’s comrades, and later a number of his soldiers, came from the Maval region, including Yesaji Kank, Suryaji Kakade, Baji Pasalkar, Baji Prabhu Deshpande and Tanaji Malusare.
Shivaji traveled the hills and forests of the Sahyadri range with his Maval friends, gaining skills and familiarity with the land that would prove useful in his military career.
He married Saibai from the prominent Nimbalkar family in 1640.Around 1645, the teenage Shivaji first expressed his concept for Hindavi Swarajya (Indian self-rule), in a letter.

YOUNG WARRIOR

In 1645, the 15-year-old Shivaji bribed or persuaded Inayat Khan, the Bijapuri commander of the Torna Fort, to hand over possession of the fort to him.
The Maratha Firangoji Narsala, who held the Chakan fort, professed his loyalty to Shivaji, and the fort of Kondana was acquired by bribing the Bijapuri governor.
On 25 July 1648, Shahaji was imprisoned by Baji Ghorpade under the orders of Bijapuri ruler Mohammed Adilshah, in a bid to contain Shivaji.
According to Sarkar, Shahaji was released in 1649.During these developments, from 1649–1655 Shivaji paused in his conquests and quietly consolidated his gains.

CONQUESTS

After his release, Shahaji retired from public life, and died around 1664–1665 in a hunting accident. Following his father’s release, Shivaji resumed raiding, and, a fellow Maratha in 1656, under controversial circumstances, killed Chandrarao More and seized from him the valley of Javali.
Adilshah was displeased at his losses to Shivaji’s forces, Having ended his conflict with the Mughals and having a greater ability to respond, in 1657 Adilshah sent Afzal Khan, a veteran general, to arrest Shivaji.
Pursued by Bijapuri forces, Shivaji retreated to Pratapgad fort, where many of his colleagues pressed him to surrender. After two months, Afzal Khan sent an envoy to Shivaji suggesting the two leaders meet in private outside the fort to parley.

CONQUESTS(KILLING AFZAL KHAN)

The two met in a hut at the foothills of Pratapgad fort on 10
November 1659. The arrangements had dictated that each come armed
only with a sword, and attended by one follower.
Shivaji, either suspecting Afzal Khan would arrest or attack him wore
armour beneath his clothes, concealed a bagh nakh (metal “tiger claw”)
on his left arm, and had a dagger in his right hand.
• In the fight, Afzal Khan’s dagger was stopped by Shivaji’s armour, and
Shivaji’s weapons inflicted mortal wounds on the general; Shivaji then fired
a cannon to signal his hidden troops to attack the Bijapuri army.
In the ensuing Battle of Pratapgarh fought on 10 November 1659,
Shivaji’s forces decisively defeated the Bijapur Sultanate’s forces. More
than 3,000 soldiers of the Bijapur army were killed. The captured enemy,
both officers and men, were set free and sent back to their homes with
money, food and other gifts. Marathas were rewarded accordingly

CONQUESTS

Having defeated the Bijapuri forces sent against him, Shivaji’s army
marched towards the Konkan and Kolhapur, seizing Panhala fort, and
defeating Bijapuri forces in 1659.
• He also plundered the English factory at Rajapur and capturing four
of the factors, imprisoning them until mid-1663.
• In 1660, the Maratha aristocrat Shivaji was trapped in the fort of Panhala,
under siege and vastly outnumbered by an Adilshahi army led by Siddi
Masud.
• In the ensuing Battle of Pavan Khind, the smaller Maratha force held
back the larger enemy to buy time for Shivaji to escape. Baji Prabhu
Deshpande was wounded but continued to fight until he heard the sound
of cannon fire from Vishalgad, signalling Shivaji had safely reached
the fort, on the evening of 13 July 1660

CHHATRAPATI SHIVAJI MAHARAJ
PART – 2

CONFLICT WITH MUGHALS

Until 1657, Shivaji maintained peaceful relations with the Mughal
Empire. Shivaji offered his assistance to Aurangzeb, the Mughal
viceroy of the Deccan and son of the Mughal emperor, in conquering
Bijapur in return for formal recognition of his right to the Bijapuri forts
• Dissatisfied with the Mughal response, and receiving a better offer
from Bijapur, he launched a raid into the Mughal Decccan.
• Shivaji’s confrontations with the Mughals began in March 1657,
when two of Shivaji’s officers raided the Mughal territory near
Ahmednagar.This was followed by raids in Junnar
Aurangzeb, now the Mughal emperor, sent his maternal uncle Shaista
Khan, 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 80,000
seized Pune. He also took the nearby fort of Chakan, besieging it for a
month and a half before 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.
• In April 1663, Shivaji launched a surprise attack on Shaista Khan in Pune;
band of some 200 followers infiltrated Pune, using a wedding procession as
cover. Shaista Khan escaped, losing his thumb but one of his sons and
other members of his household were killed. The Khan took refuge with the
Mughal forces outside of Pune.

TREATY OF PURANDAR

In 1664 Shivaji sacked the port city of Surat, a wealthy Mughal trading
centre. he attacks on Shaista Khan and Surat enraged Aurangzeb. In
response he sent the Rajput Mirza Raja Jai Singh I with an army
numbering around 15,000 to defeat Shivaji.
• The Mughal commander succeeded in luring away several of Shivaji’s key
commanders, and many of his cavalrymen, into Mughal service. By
mid-1665, with the fortress at Purandar besieged and near capture, Shivaji
was forced to come to terms with Jai Singh.
• In the Treaty of Purandar, signed between Shivaji and Jai Singh on 11
June 1665, Shivaji agreed to give up 23 of his forts, keeping 12 for
himself, and pay compensation of 400,000 gold to the Mughals. Shivaji
agreed to become a vassal of the Mughal empire, and to send his son
Sambhaji, along with 5,000 horsemen, to fight for the Mughals in the
Deccan as a mansabdar.

ESCAPED

In 1666, Aurangzeb summoned 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. 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 position under house arrest was perilous,Shivaji managed to escape
from Agra, likely by bribing the guards, though the emperor was never able to
ascertain how he escaped despite an investigation.Popular legend says that
Shivaji smuggled himself and his son out of the house in large baskets,
claimed to be sweets to be gifted to religious figures in the city

RECONQUESTS

The peace between Shivaji and the Mughals lasted until 1670.
Shivaji sacked Surat for second time in 1670; the British and
Dutch factories were able to repel his attack, but he managed to
sack the city itself.
• Angered by the renewed attacks, the Mughals resumed hostilities with
the Marathas, sending a force under Daud Khan to intercept Shivaji
on his return home from Surat, but were defeated in the Battle of
Vani-Dindori near present-day Nashik.
• October 1670, Shivaji sent his forces to harass the English at
Bombay; as they had refused to sell him war materiel

CHHATRAPATI

Shivaji had acquired extensive lands and wealth through his campaigns, but
lacking a formal title he was still technically a Mughal zamindar.Controversy
erupted amongst the Brahmins of Shivaji’s court: they refused to crown
Shivaji as a king because that status was reserved for those of the kshatriya.
• Shivaji was crowned king of the Marathas in a lavish ceremony at
Raigad on 6 June 1674. Gaga Bhatt officiated, holding a gold vessel filled
with the seven sacred waters of the rivers Yamuna, Indus, Ganges, Godavari,
Krishna and Kaveri over Shivaji’s head, and chanted the Vedic coronation
mantras.
• Nearly fifty thousand people gathered at Raigad for the ceremonies. Shivaji
was entitled Shakakarta (“founder of an era”) and Chhatrapati
(“paramount sovereign”). He also took the title of Haindava
Dharmodhhaarak (protector of the Hindu faith).Shivaji’s mother Jijabai
died on 18 June 1674.

SOUTH INDIA

In the run-up to his expedition Shivaji appealed to a sense of Deccani
patriotism, that Southern India was a homeland that should be protected from
outsiders. His appeal was somewhat successful.
• In 1677 Shivaji visited Hyderabad for a month and entered into a treaty with
the Qutubshah of the Golkonda sultanate, agreeing to reject his alliance with
Bijapur and jointly oppose the Mughals.
• In 1677 Shivaji invaded Karnataka Proceeding south, Shivaji seized the
forts of Vellore and Gingee; the latter would later serve as a capital of the
Marathas during the reign of his son Rajaram I.
• The initially promising negotiations were unsuccessful, so whilst returning to
Raigad Shivaji defeated his half-brother’s army on 26 November 1677
and seized most of his possessions in the Mysore plateau.

DEATH

The question of Shivaji’s heir-apparent was complicated by the misbehaviour
of his eldest son, Sambhaji, who was irresponsible.
In late March 1680, Shivaji fell ill with fever and dysentery, dying around
3–5 April 1680 at the age of 52, on the eve of Hanuman Jayanti.
Putalabai, the childless eldest of the surviving wives of Shivaji
committed sati by jumping into his funeral pyre.
• On 21 April 1680, ten-year-old Rajaram was installed on the throne. However,
Sambhaji took possession of Raigad Fort after killing the commander, and on
18 June acquired control of Raigad, and formally ascended the throne on 20
July.Rajaram, his wife Janki Bai, and mother Soyrabai were imprisoned, and
Soyrabai executed on charges of conspiracy that October