Shivaji: The Grand Rebel

by Dennis Kincaid

The story of Shivaji was pieced together in the 19th and early 20th centuries on the

basis of the popular ballads and narratives in his native Marathi language, and documents of the Mughals, Persians, English, Portuguese and other sources.

The first genuine attempt at writing a history of the Marathas in English was by Grant Duff in 1826, which characterized Shivaji as a brigand. The first biography in English was written by HG Rawlinson in 1910. Thanks to Bal Gangadhar Tilak, who used Shivaji and his legacy as a potent force in his militant version of Indian nationalism, he was transformed into a national icon, and an inspirational figure for people squirming under alien rule.

Note the comparison with Frederick II and Garibaldi.

Earlier in the preface he mentions the Romans. Later on, he makes classical references, and draws parallels with European history, all of which would be familiar to English readers, thus confirming his target audience. For instance, he describes Bijapur as the Indian Palmyra, and Poona as the Antioch of Hindu India. He calls Muhammad Tughlak Tsar Paul I and Aurangzeb is compared to Philip II of Spain.

The family name of Bhosle is said to be derived from the fief of Bhosavat in Udaipur, whence a prince named Sajan sing fled after the first Mussulman conquest of Udaipur to seek his fortune as a soldier of fortune in the south.

Golconda, Bijapur, Ahmednagar, Berar and Bidar—

Shivaji’s grandfather, Maloji, a soldier of fortune like all his ancestors since their flight from Udaipur, chose to offer his sword to the king of Ahmednagar. He was received with favour and married the sister of a prominent courtier. In 1594 Shahaji, Shivaji’s father, was born.

Lahkoji passed and was moved at their happiness. “What a charming couple,” he said. Maloji, ambitious and unscrupulous, at once called the attention of every one present to his host’s exclamation, which he interpreted as a proposal to betroth the two children.

Shahaji’s lands, granted to his father Maloji, lay in the path of the imperial advance. He resisted for a while, and then rode southwards to Bijapur, taking with him his baby son Sambhaji, but abandoning not only his lands but also his wife Jijabai who was again pregnant.

JIJABAI took refuge in Shivner,

On April 16th, 1627, Jijabai gave birth to a second son whom she called Shivaji.

For three years devoted servants carried Shivaji with them in the recesses of the hills, pursued by the Moguls.

While most well-to-do Hindus had come to accept Muslim domination as inevitable and had been seduced by the luxury and comfort of Muhammadan courts, Shivaji spent his earlier childhood among men not yet subdued, among wild tribesmen and in lonely forest villages.

Shivaji never forgot listening to his mother, while she told him of the old glories of Hinduism and how her family and his father’s had been free and noble even before the coming of the Greeks, in days when Hindustan was the land of the Hindus indeed.

The end of all those elegant exchanges was a treaty in 1637

As soon as the war was over, Shahaji sent to call his son and wife to Bijapur. So for the first time Shivaji left the hill country where he had spent his vagabond childhood.

By her he had a son named Vyankoji of whom we shall not hear again till the end of Shivaji’s life.

Dadaji Kondadev.

“Although the first moon is small, men know that it will grow great. This seal befits Shivaji.”

Some time in the following year (1647) Shivaji’s tutor, Dadaji, fell

“Ah, if only my mother had been half as beautiful as you, I should not be the ugly little fellow that I am.”

These were the poet Tukaram and the Saint Ramdas.

A crowd gathered round the palace, lamenting. Aurangzeb asked the reason for the demonstration and was told: “We are mourning for the death of poor Lady Music.” Unsmiling, Aurangzeb replied, “Let her be well and truly buried.”

“I know not who I am,” he wrote to his son, “where I shall go or what will happen to me, a sinner full of sins. . . . My years have gone by profitless. God has been in my heart, yet my darkened eyes have not recognised His light. I have greatly sinned, and know not what torment awaits me.”2

“Le service du Mogul n’est qu’un plaisir et un jeu.”

place of a bayonet they stick into the muzzle of the gun a spoon, which, being long, is more conveniently carried there than in the basket borne by the husband upon his head.”

“par la peur qu’ils ont de bruler leur grande barbe.”

“les porcherons font en Italie, lorsque la nuit ils veulent rassembler leurs cochons égarez.”

“Attend to this, for that son of a dog is only waiting his chance.”

Dara had cause Shah Jehan’s illness by poisoning his food.

“All this talk of religion and infidelity finally leads to one place, the dream is the same dream, only the interpretations differ.”

“Muhammad has destroyed me but the Son of God and Mary will give me life,”

“reckoned him as a diseased Limb, impostulate and swollen too big for the Body; prejudicial in being his own Paymaster, rewarding himself most unconscionbly. . . an Inhuman Butcherly Fellow.”

“The Angel of Death led him by the collar to his doom”;

Negotiations for permanent peace were opened in 1662. The envoy chosen by the Bijapur government was Shivaji’s own father, Shahaji.

“Your letter, couched in humble strain, has been received by Us. It is agreeable to note that you crave pardon for your conduct, and that you repent of your past deeds. Our reply is that your behaviour has been so base that it deserves no forgiveness. Nevertheless at Raji Jai Sing’s intercession we extend to you a general pardon.

“You are at present serving in Our Imperial camp. . . . In recognition of your services a handsome dress and a pretty little jewelled sword are sent to you herewith.”

Even the superb Maharajas of Rajputana were required to wait upon the Emperor; only the ruler of Udaipur, the semi-divine descendant of the Sun-God, then, as to-day, the chief of Hindu princes, was excused attendance at court.

As always when perplexity, Shivaji turned to his mother for advice. Jijabai reflected deeply, and at last reluctantly counselled acceptance of the Emperor’s invitation.

Jai Sing at once offered his own son, Ram Sing, as a pledge for the good faith of the Emperor. “He shall accompany you to court and remain at your side.” Ram

He made over his principality to his mother as Regent to rule in his place should he never return; and Jijabai, leaving her prayers and house-wifery, took her place at the head of Shivaji’s council table with the calm authority of a Macedonian princess.

he set out on his long ride north, on one side of him his young son, Sambhaji, on the other Jai Sing’s son, Ram Sing, and behind him an escort of Maratha cavalry.

the flowered curtain at the back of the balcony was drawn apart and the Emperor entered and took his seat on his throne, behind him the great peacock constructed of blue sapphires and pearls and over his head two umbrellas of red velvet sewn with rubies. The Emperor’s robes were of white silk, his turban of cloth of gold, having an aigrette of diamonds and over his forehead an enormous topaz “of very high colour, cut in eight panels.” Ranged round the Emperor, a troupe of eunuchs stirred the air with fans of yaks’ tails and of peacock’s feathers.

Below the Balcony of the Throne was an enclosure surrounded by rails, reserved for the Gentlemen of the Household,

feudatory princes and ambassadors of f...

The guards round the house were presently surprised to notice how cheerful and happy Shivaji had become. He joked with the soldiers on duty, sent presents to the officers and constantly remarked how healthy he found the climate of Agra—pleasantly dry after the depressing dampness of his native hills—how grateful he was for the Emperor’s gifts of fruit and sweetmeats, and what a real relief it was to be rid of the endless round of statecraft and diplomacy, to be at ease as a gentleman of leisure in this delightful city of the civilised north.

He was called Hira.

But he had just an hour before decided that, illness or no illness, Shivaji would be better out of the way and had secretly ordered his murder that night.

In one of them is a palm tree made of solid gold.