A Guerilla Victory At Umberkhind!

What the earnest endeavour of one man can achieve in this wicked world is illustrated in Shivajl’s life narrated so far. It has not been possible, within the limited space, to give a more detailed account of all the varied activities and achievements of that unique personality. Only the main incidents and their prominent features could be attempted. But even these will doubtless prove the divine gift of genius which Shivaji possessed and which baffles analysis. On more than one occasion he so recklessly plunged into a venture that he had burnt his boats and made retreat impossible for himself. Today, after the lapse of three centuries from his birth, even the most severe critic is bound to admit that though Shivaji’s dynasty is extinct and his State has crumbled into dust, yet he set an example of innate Hindu capacity and left a name which would continue to fire the spirit of man and shine forth as an ideal for ages yet unborn.” We have now before us for study records and eulogies referring to Shivaji from the pen of those who came in direct contact with him — poet Parmanand, Ramchandra Pant Amatya, Raghunath Pant Pandit Hanumante, and not a few European traders and travellers who visited him in India in one connection or another. The Amatya has left a piece of writing elaborately describing the polity and personality of Shivaji, a unique production in Marathi. Saint Ramdas often gives vivid pen pictures which appear to pertain to no other person but Shivaji, whose valour, circumspection, selflessness, and devotion to religion are now attested to and scattered throughout his writings. Krishnaji Anant Sabhasad, a member of Shivaji’s court, composed an elaborate faithful account of Shivaji’s life and achievements, which is of inestimable value. Did Shivaji aim at a Hindu Empire for India? A look at Shivaji's whole life closely discloses his intense regard for religion. He indeed cared more for religious emancipation of his land than mere political dominion. Ramdas has exquisitely described this spirit of Shivaji in his work Anandvana-Bhuvan. The religious persecution practised by Muhammed ‘Adil Shah and Aurangzib moved Shivaji intensely and influenced all his actions. He at the same time realized that religious freedom could not be obtained without political power, and to that extent he exerted himself in freeing his homeland from Muslim control. As a result of his visit to the emperor’s court he was perhaps convinced of the hollowness of the Mughul empire, and thereafter exerted himself in bringing India under Hindu control. The imposition of chauth on lands outside his immediate sway was a means to that end. His coronation ceremony and the grand title he assumed suggest his intention of establishing a Hindu empire, certainly by degrees according to his means. His expedition to the Karnataka was a clear move towards a Hindu India, in which he roped in Qutub Shah of Haidarabad. He had all but engulfed the State of Bijapur also. His public protest against the imposition of jizya explains his attitude in unmistakable terms. If he had been vouchsafed a little longer span of life, he could have brought about the deposition of Aurangzib, so clearly emphasized a little later by his son ShambhujI in his Sanskrit letter to Ram Singh. ‘This kingdom belongs to Gods and Brahmans’, ‘Hindustan is essentially a land of the Hindus’, and similar phrases scattered throughout Sanskrit and Marathi literature are sentiments actuated by Shivaji’s endeavour, so closely followed after him by the Peshwas also. Mahadji Scindia indeed felt the glory of having achieved some of these dreams when he attained supreme power at the court of Delhi. At the same time Shivaji was never actuated by a hatred of the Muslims. He was no bigot and allowed equal freedom to all faiths. He was served as zealously by the Muslims as by the Hindus. The Muslim saint, Baba Yakut of Kelsi, was treated as his guru. Mulla Haidar was his confidential secretary. Ibrahim Khan, Daulat Khan and Sidi Misri were his naval commanders. A large Muslim population lived under him in equal contentment with their brother Hindus. He respected the personal honour of a Muslim as his own. He built a mosque opposite his palace at Raigarh for the use of his Muslim subjects. Shivaji’s ideals were broad and philanthropic, embracing the highest good of all. He respected all holy men equally. Wherever he travelled in his expeditions, it was his particular passion to contact the holy men and preachers of the various localities; he valued their blessing to which he attributed his success. While he intensely respected Ramdas, it cannot be maintained that in political affairs he was influenced by that guru. They were both exalted characters and worked in different spheres in their own ways. Ramdas was a great practical teacher; he did not meddle in politics. Shivaji’s administrative measures were a marvel of his time and far in advance of his age. He strictly prohibited grants of land in lieu of military or other service, thereby avoiding the patent evils of the jagir system. While the Mughul administration continued blindly on the same old model built up by Akbar, Shivaji had created innovations in almost every branch. His division of official work among eight ministers, his system of forts for the defence of his realm, his organization of the navy, his army regulations includ ing those for discipline and plunder, his compilation of the Raja-Vyavahara-kosa, his imposition of the system of chauth are all measures of his own creation, utterly unlike what was then in vogue. Shivaji lavished money like water on repairing old forts and constructing new ones, about 250 in all, which particularly suited the geographical situation of the Maratha region. Each fort was a self- sufficient unit with plenty of water supply and cornland enclosed, so that when besieged, each fort could stand defence by a small garrison for any length of time. The sonorous and significant names given to these forts reveal Shivaji’s ingenuity even in this detail and remind us even today what their use and grandeur must have been at that time. The annual revenue of Shivaji’s dominions has been roughly calculated at seven crores of rupees, possibly much less in actual realization. It may be roughly put down that all the peninsular lands, south of the river Tapti, either wholly or partially owed allegiance to Shivaji. Many writers, particularly the western, represent Shivaji as a plunderer and a rebel, conveying thereby that he was no steady or confirmed ruler, but a pest to the society. This is entirely a wrong view. Every patriot striving to free his land from foreign domination is bound to be a rebel until his position becomes stabilized. Shivaji never committed wanton atrocities during his raids and never harassed innocent population. He subjected Muslim lands to plunder and devastation only when he was at war with those powers. Shivaji’s plunder had the nature of a war levy of our modern days. Glowing tributes have been paid to Shivaji’s character as a national hero alike by foreign biographers and his own countrymen, both of his own day and during recent times of advanced historical research. The French envoy, Germain, who visited Shivaji near Tanjore, wrote in July, 1677: “The camp of Shivaji was without pomp, without women; there were no baggages, only two tents of simple cloth, coarse and very scanty, one for him and the other for his prime minister.” But what his formidable antagonist, emperor Aurangzib, himself wrote upon hearing of Shivaji’s death is no small praise; he said: “He was a great captain and the only one who has had the magnanimity to raise a new kingdom, while I have been endeavouring to destroy the ancient sovereignties of India. My armies have been employed against him for nineteen years and nevertheless his State has been increasing.” Insistence on order, obedience and strictest discipline were the main characteristics of Shivaji’s rule. Bernier, Tavernier, Khafi Khan, Grant-Duff, Elphinstone, Temple, Acworth, W.S.M. Edwards, Sir Jadunath Sarkar and other scholars and writers have all given Shivaji glowing tributes regarding him as unequalled by any hero in recent Indian history. He was not only the maker of the Maratha nation but the greatest constructive genius of medieval India. No Bacon had appeared in India to point out a new way to human advancement. Even Ramdas did not dream of a new path. Shivaji alone understood how to organize his national resources. He called the Maratha race to a new life of valour and self-reliance, of honour and hope. Therefore, it is no exaggeration to say that he is the creator of the Maratha nation, as Sir Jadunath had aptly put it, “the last great constructive genius and nation-builder that the Hindu race has produced.” Jadunath further observes: “He called the Maratha race to a new life. He raised the Marathas into an independent self-reliant people, conscious of their oneness and high destiny, and his most precious legacy was the spirit that he breathed into his race. He has proved by his example that the Hindu race can build a nation, found a State, defeat enemies; they can conduct their own defence, protect and promote literature and art, commerce and industry; they can maintain navies and ocean-trading fleets of their own and conduct naval battles on equal terms with foreigners. He taught the modern Hindus to rise to the full stature of their growth. ShivajI has shown that the tree of Hinduism is not really dead, that it can rise from beneath the seemingly crushing load of centuries of political bondage; that it can put forth new leaves and branches. It can again lift up its head to the skies.”