An Estimate of Shivaji
Both as a ruler and a, man, Shivaji occupies a distinguished place in the history of India. A born leader of men, who could throw a spell over all who came in contact with him, he elevated himself, by dint of his unusual bravery and diplomacy, from the position of a jagirdar to that of a Chhatrapati and became an irresistible enemy of the mighty Mughul Empire, then at the zenith of its power. The most brilliant of his achievements was the weld in together of the Maratha race, scattered like atoms through many Deccani Kingdoms”, into a mighty nation in “the great powers like the Mughul empire Bijapur, Portugures India, and the Abyssinians of Janjira”. He left an extensive kingdom at his dealth. “The territories and the treasures, however, which Shivaji acquired were not so formidable ta the Mughuls,” writes Grant Duff, “as the example he had set, chit, and the spirit he had the system and habits he had introduced, and the spirit he had infused into a large proportion of the Maratha people.” The Maratha nation that he built up defied the Mughul Empire during and after Aurangzeb’s reign, and remained the dominant power in the system and habits he had introduced, and the spirit he had infused into a large porportion of the Maratha people. The maratha nation that he built up defied the Mughal Empire during after Aurangzeb’s reign, and remained the dominant power in India during the eighteenth century, so that a descendant of Aurangzeb became the virtual puppet of a maratha chief, mahadaji sindhia. the maratha power also competed with the English for supremacy in India till it was finally crushed in the time of lord hastings.
It would be unjust to describe Shivaji as an entrepreneur of rapine or a Hindu edition of ‘Alauddin or Tamarlene “. as Khafi Khan and even some modem writers have done. A great constructive genius, he all the essential qualities needed for the national regeneration of a country. ,system was his own creation and, unlike Ranjit Singh, he took no foreign aid in his administration. His army was drilled and commanded by his own people and not by Frenchmen. What he built lasted long; his institutions were looked up to with admiration and emulation, even a century later in the palmy days of the Peahwas’ rule.” He was not a, relentless conqueror indulging in ummecessary cruelty and plunder for the sake of plunder. His chivalrous conduct during his campaigns towards women and children, including those of the Muslim, has been eulogised even by Khafi Khan, a hostile critic : “Shivaji had always striven to maintain the honour of the people in his territories . . . and was careful to maintain the honour of women and children of Muhammadans when they fell into his hands. His injunctions upon is point were very et, ud anyone who disobeyed them received purnishment.” Rawlinson rightly observed: “He was never deliberately or wantonly cruel. To women, mosques, and non-combatants, to stop promiscuous daughter after a battle, to release and dismiss with honour captured officers and men-these an, surely, no light virtues.” Shivaji’s ideal was the restoration of an indigenous Empire in his country, and he pursued it with singleness of purpose. But he had no time to work it out in full.
In his private life, Shivaji remained immune from the prevalent vices of the time, and his moral virtues were exceptionally high. Sincerely religious from his early life, he did not forget the lofty ideals with which he had been inspired by his mother and his guru Ramdas in the midst of political or military duties. He sought to make religion a vital force in the uplifting of the Maratha nation and always extended,his patronage to Hindu religion and learning Religion remained with him”, remarks a modem Marathi writer, “an ever-fresh function of right conduct and generosity; it did not obsess his mind or harden him into a bigot.” Tolerant of other faiths, he deeply venerated Muslim saints and granted rent-free lands to meet the expenses of illumination of Muslim saints and mosques, and his conduct towards the Capuchin fathers (Christian monks) of Surat, during its first sack by him, was respectful. Even his bitterest critic, Khafi Khan, writes: “But he (Shivaji) made it a rule that whenever his followers went plundering, they should do no harm to the mosques, the Book of God, or the women of any one. Whenever a copy of the sacred Quran came into his hands he treated it with respect and gave it to some of his Musalman followers. When the women of any Hindu or Muhammadan were taken prisoners by his men, he watch over them until their relations came with a suitable ransom to buy their liberty.”
Shambhuji and his Successors
Shivaji was succeeded by his eldest son, Shambhuji, who, though pleasure-loving, was brave. His chief adviser was a Brahmana from Northern India named Kavi-Kulash, whose morals were not above -reproach. Under the new king the Maratha power weakened but did not become entirely inert. Shambhuaji himself realized the nature of the Mughul menace, and fought the mighty force which Aurangzeb had brought to the Deccan with courage and resolution till he was surprised and captured (llth February, 1689), at Sangameshwar, twenty-two miles from Ratnagiri, by an energetic Mughul officer named Muqarrab Khan. His minister, Kavi-Kulash, and twenty-five of his chief followers, were also captured with him. The two chief captives were brought to the imperial camp at Bahadurgarh and were publicly paraded After being tortured in various ways for more than three weeks, the captives were put to death on the Ilth March, 1689. The imperialists quickly captured many of the Maratha forts, and even besieged the Maratha capital at Raigarh. But Rajaram, younger brother of Shambhuji, slipped out of the city, disguised as a mendicant, and after various adventures reached Jinji in the Karnatak. The capital city had in the meanwhile capitulated, and Shambhujis’-. family, including his infant son, Shahu, had been captured by the Mughuls. Thus the Maratha power seemed to be completely overthrown.
But the spirit with which Shivaji had inspired his people could not die out so easily. The Marathas recovered quickly and again began a war of national resistance to the Mughuls, which ultimately exhausted the resources of the latter. In Maharashtra the Maratha recovery was effected by leaders like Rimchandra Pant, Shankaraji Malhar, and Parashuram Trimbak. Parashuram became Pratinidhi or regent in 1701. In the eastern Carnatic affairs were ably by Pralhad Niraji, the first Pratinidhi. The Maratha captions now fought and raided in different quarters on their own account. Aurangzeb was, in fact, confronted by “a people’s war” and he “could not end it, because there was no Maratha government or state-army for him to attack and destroy”. Two able and active Maratha generals, Santaji Ghorpade and Dhanaji Jadava, swept on from one area to another, caused great loss and confusion to the Mughuls, and carried their daring raids according to the Maratha chronicles, even to the Emperor’s camp. Many officers of the Mughul Deccan purchased safety by paying chauth to the Marathas, and some of them even joined the enemy in plundering the Emperor’s people. As Sir J. N. Sarkar observes, “the Mughul administration had really dissolved, and only the presence of the Emperor with all his troops in the country held it together, but it was now a delusive phantom. Sants and Dhani were the heroes of this period; the initiative lay entirely with them, and they upset every plan and calculation formed by the
