Shivaji: The Grand Rebel

The kings of Central and Western India throughout the early and middle ages had their chief towns in the Maratha country. There have been many accounts of the prosperity of Western India. Still surprisingly, until the seventeenth century, there was no Maratha state nor any sense of Maratha identity. All these started to change with the arrival of Chhatrapati Shivaji. The history of Maratha was about to be transformed. The Maratha Empire finally came into existence. Shivaji locked horns with the powerful and invincible Mughals, who boasted off a very large and strong army. Despite leading a perilous life, he could lay a foundation for a strong Maratha empire. He was emulated by some of his successors and especially under Peshwa Bajirao, the empire reached it's zenith. The Marathas bedevilled the Mughals. The Maratha's ascendency coincided with the fall of the Mughals. The once powerful Mughals were now subjugated by the underdog Marathas. The Maratha's transformation from obscurity to strength deserves a thorough reading. The more you dig deep into the fascinating history, the more you will be keen to explore. Let’s read again about Shivaji’s tale of adventure and bravery. Some of these may be unheard of before. Let’s find out. Shivaji Bhonsale was born in a hill fort near Junnar, Pune into a family of Maratha bureaucrats. His father Shahji Bhonsale was a general in the army of Bijapur Sultanate. His renowned mother Jijabai was a religious lady and had a great impact on Shivaji’s upbringing. Shivaji’s parents often argued regarding his allegiance to the Bijapur service. Shivaji loved his mother and had a strong devotion towards her. From the age of thirteen, he was trained by a saint, scholar and administrator, Dadaji Kanodev. He gave shape to the Shivaji’s estate. Many from mountain villages and forests came to settle down in the estate. Dadaji restored the estate to former prosperity. Shivaji made his first military conquest at the age of sixteen by attacking and capturing Torna fort in the Bijapur Sultanate. This was followed by the conquest of three more forts. He halted his conquests only after Bijapur Sultan, Mohammed Ali Shah imprisoned his father. He shifted his focus towards building and consolidating his army until his father’s release. To counter Shivaji, the Bijapur Sultan sent his general Afzal Khan to suppress him. Afzal Khan advanced with his army, hoping to either draw his opponents into submission or draw him out from mountains. Afzal Khan offered attracted terms. As per it, the Sultan would recognize his claim to the control of territories, held by Shivaji provided he make a nominal act of submission. They finally decided to meet. Shivaji was however sceptical of Afzal Khan’s motive. He feared deceitful plans and sensed treachery. Shivaji and Afzal Khan embraced in customary fashion, as done by opposing parties at a peace conference. Afzal Khan tried to kill Shivaji with a concealed weapon. Shivaji who himself came armed with tiger claw in one hand and dagger in another retaliated and killed him. The outcome was that Bijapur was never able to challenge and subdue Shivaji again. The Bijapur maintained a modus vivendi with Shivaji. However,the peace with Bijapur hadn’t given Shivaji much respite. Soon he was forced to enter into a long battle with much more formidable adversary – The Mughal. When the Mughal army was approaching Bijapur, Shivaji’s men raided in the rear. Aurangzeb hadn’t forgotten and forgiven Shivaji for that. Shivaji had also raided Mughal town of Ahmednagar and Junnar. A furious Aurangzeb then had sent a large army under his uncle Shaista Khan to defeat Shivaji. On his way, Shaista Khan captured a few. Among the captured territories fall Pune which was the center of Shivaji’s reign. The Marathas were banned from entering the city. A wedding party had obtained permission for holding a possession. Shivaji and his men disguised themselves as bridegroom possession members and entered Pune. They entered Shaista Khan’s palace compound at midnight, with an intent of assassinating him. He was unaware and unprepared. During Shaista Khan's skirmishes with Shivaji, he lost his three fingers. The palace guards and attendants were killed. Shaista Khan's son too was killed during this encounter with the Marathas. After accounting for Shaista Khan, Shivaji further decided to hurt the Mughals by targeting their richest town- Surat. Shivaji and his men plundered the city twice. What was his motive? The answer is money. Under the command of Shaista Khan, his small kingdom was ravaged especially key towns of Pune and Satara. His motive for the first attack was to spend a lot of money in order to strengthen the existing forts, build new ones and maintain an ever-growing army. The money had to be collected as fast as possible. He attacked for the second time because he needed money to counter the hostilities of the Portuguese and Siddi of Janjira. The money was also needed for his navy. Why did Shivaji choose Surat? It’s because it was not very far from Shivaji’s own kingdom. Despite being rich, Surat was not well protected. For a moment, the Mughals were helpless against an agile Maratha army. Their movements could not be accurately predicted. They were also sudden with lightning strokes and alacrity. The surprising part is that even after the first attack, the security measures were flimsy, enabling Shivaji to plunder the city for the second time. Whether it was really plundered or genocide? Well, the debate still goes on about the depredation of Surat. Aurangzeb then sent Rajput Raja Jai Singh to suppress Shivaji. This was the only time ever that Shivaji was faced with a commander whose military credibility matches that of his. Jai Singh realized that focal point of Shivaji's resistance laid in the chain of mountain forts. So he decided to reduce the fortress one by one. He also ignored minor acts of revenge and local losses. He finally succeeded in capturing various forts and thereby forcing Shivaji to surrender and sign a treaty. As per the treaty, 23 forts had to be ceded and 400000 rupees had to be paid to the Mughals. During the arrest, Raja Jai Singh treated Shivaji with respect. Shivaji was invited to Agra by Aurangzeb and he had no option but to accept it reluctantly. If an invitation is refused, then he would be either arrested or executed. If the invitation is accepted, he may be treated as a prisoner. He still accepted Aurangzeb’s invitation and was put into house arrest. He however escaped. His escape in huge baskets of sweets could leave anybody spellbound. His escape is legendary and we have been hearing tales about it since our childhood. Shivaji launched an expedition under Tanaji Malusare to capture Kondana Fort, which was under Mughal possession, in the Battle of Sinhagad. While the fort was seized, Malusare died and hence, the fort was renamed Sinhagad. A movie was recently released that was dedicated to Tanaji Malusare. Tanaji was played by Ajay Devgan and other key characters were played by Saif Ali Khan and Kajol. The movie has been declared as super-hit He later captured lands and extended his domain. He was crowned as King of Marathas at Raigarh, earning the title Chhatrapati. He went on an extensive campaign to raid more territories like Khandesh, Bijapur Ponda, Karwar, Kolhapur, Janjira, Ramnagar, Belgaum. He moved southwards and seized forts of Vellore and Gingee. His sphere of authority was increasing. His success at South was clouded by domestic difficulties. Shivaji’s son Shambaji was hardly impressed with either his father’s energy level or simplicity of his father’s subject. Highlighting Shambaji’s instability and selfish indulgence, Shambaji’s stepmother Queen Soyra repeatedly argued with Shivaji and claimed throne for her son Rajaram . Going back to Afzal Khan's encounter with Shivaji. The question which is still the subject of debate was that who stuck first? Was it a treacherous act or an act of self-defiance? For the Marathas, it was an act of national liberalization. It marked the dawn of their national independence. About Afzal Khan, it's being stated that he had a premonition of his coming end and so he killed and buried all his 63 wives. The 63 tombs on the burial place still exist but in a desolated state. There are other interesting facts about the incident and the person. It’s not mentioned in the book though. I had picked it from an article which was on excerpts from T.C.A Raghavan’s History Men. As discussed, Shivaji was defeated by very efficient Jai Singh. He saw remote or no hope for an independent Hindu kingdom. Those who resisted would be overwhelmed sooner or later. When legendary Rajput warriors had fallen to the might of the Empire then there was no hope for half-civilized hill men, whose warriors credential was yet to be established. When the prince of Jaipur was not ashamed to serve the mighty Empire then-obscure Marathas should not have any qualms about doing so. Jai Singh's viewpoint was practical but he also underestimated the potentials of Shivaji. An interesting piece that deserves a mention. A person who had been watching the proceedings at Aurangzeb’s court was his own daughter Zinat-in-Nisa. The bravery of Shivaji’s fable had spread across the length and breadth of the country. Shivaji’s courage, pride and audacity had a profound impact on her; so much so that she had fallen in love with him. She was never married. Years later, Shivaji’s grandson was at the possession of Augrangzeb’s men due to a series of events. He has been handed over to Zinat-in-Nisa and the child was intended to be made Muhammadan. However, she begged to her father for not interfering with the child’s religious belief and he reluctantly consented. When Aurangzeb died, one of the people who turned up at his grave was Shivaji’s grandson, who was now the King of the Marathas. He visited to show his gratitude for Aurangzeb’s generous act towards him. The book is the study of the Maratha state; whose memory gave rise to Hindu nationalism. The detractors of the Maratha empire allege that the Marathas wanted a kingdom only for themselves and their kingdom was never Hindu. Though not mentioned in the book their raid on Bengal and Jaipur in 1742 and 1750 respectively have been heavily criticized. We miss a point that to preserve itself it fought with the Hindus by allying with the Muslims. Daryadarang, Ibrahim Khan, Daulat Khan, Siddhi Hilal, Kazi Hyder and Siddi Ibrahim were some of the Shivaji’s prominent Muslims warriors. So the religious angle to the Maratha empire is debatable. The moot question is why renowned warriors like the Rajput’s failed against the Mughals but the Marathas could resist successfully, besmirched their reputation and finally vanquished them. The Rajput’s were not united and hence were defeated against Ghazni, Khilji, Mughals, Marathas and the British. Shivaji could however successfully unite all castes including the lower castes and they fought for a common goal. The Maratha empire hence could dominate India for a century and a half. The book is informative no doubt. What makes it special is bringing to the reader attention about unheard tales. Shivaji is one of the favourite topics for historians and they keep coming up with their own version and interpretations, without distorting the actual essence. This book is no different. Comparing the events with European history was irritating at times and I feel it debased the book somewhat. There is a slew of material on Shivaji and the Marathas available in the form of books, articles, videos, and movies. There are options galore and so don’t restrict yourself to this book only.

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Historical facts laced with a few personal impressions and conclusions.The persona of Shivaji comes thru larger than life at times. The overall presentation is however excellent .The ending was too abrupt. Not much info about the theories about Shivaji's demise.Would recommend this book to one and all.

The book is a reliable account of the history of the period, the medieval period where most of the history has been written by court historians of Mughal empire. Those accounts are flattering stories written to please the master by a paid servant. The book brings out the special qualities of Shivaji which made him the founder of Hindu revival in a predominantly Muslim controlled india.

Well researched and charmingly narrated. Even my 9 year old has now been pestering me for stories of Shivaji - his new superhero.

Being maharashtrian myself, brought up on the great king's stories, I still found this small book captivating and a perfect summary of the legend.

Shivaji's life and struggles, his wins and empire and the way he created it couldnt have been better explained. Recomended for all

Excellent book1. Hardship in childhood shivaji faced2. His life from a small jagirdar of poona to King of maratha kingdom3. Beautifully explained how winning of several forts led to his rise as a formidable power in western ghat4. Detailed explanation of Maratha-Mughal rivalryBut this book lack detail of shivaji administration, his armed forces and their organisation, maratha after his death and many a times there is also no dates for example author failed to provide us date & year of second surat invasion

Great entertaining history told In nice supple manner. I would recommend this to anyone who is interested in Maratha history

I really enjoyed reading this book based on the life of Chatrapati Shivaji! I think the writing was very eloquent and succinct, it was true to historical facts and an easy read. The research was very well done. There were lots of facets about the King's life such as his childhood, relationship with his parents, his spiritual inclinations which i had never known before but was interesting to read. Overall it's an effective piece of story telling and the author's almost neutral perspective and western outlook made it even more insightful and enjoyable! And most importantly Dennis Kincaid's book clearly portrays the heroic spirit and striking genius of Shivaji!

I am myself a Bhonslay and enjoyed this classic, because it gave a good picture of my great ancestor, written by an Englishman who admired Shivaji and gave us a very favourable reading of his character, simplicity and intelligent tactics that won him the only empire of Hindus during India's long occupation by the Moghuls. Easy reading and fills one in on the history of the time (often written more about Aurangzeb than about the rest of India.

I'm 50 pages into this book. It's wonderfully written book and a page turner. Couldn't stop reading once I started. Kid friendly too.

This is a well researched and thoroughly annotated book and yet it is an easy and quick read.There are incidents recalled by contemporaries of the Great King who were not Martha's and so provide an authentic picture of an ethical, brave and just master strategist.One is left work an even greater admiration of the legendary founder of the Maratha kingdom than one had at the start of this excellent book.