Sivaji

Indian warrior Sivaji (1627-1680) was the leader of a seventeenth-century independent Hindu nation in the region of Maharashtra. By successfully repelling the forces of the invading Mughal empire, often through the use of guerilla warfare, he insured the civil and religious freedom of the Maratha people.

The warrior Sivaji was the leader of an independent Hindu nation in western India in the 1600s. Although that part of India was primarily controlled by Muslim Mughal forces at the time, Sivaji and his Maratha people were able to successfully resist the invaders and maintain control of much of the area known as Maharashtra, the homeland of the Maratha people. While his armies could not compare in size with those of the Mughal emperor, Sivaji was able to win many victories by relying more on cunning tactics than strength; he was one of the first military figures to make use of the strategies of guerilla warfare. In his legendary struggle to secure independence and religious freedom for his people, Sivaji became not only a symbol of Hindu strength and pride but also served as an inspiration for the Indian nationalism movement that developed in the twentieth century.

Although he came to be known just by his given name of Sivaji, the future soldier and leader was born Sivaji Bhonsle on April 6, 1627, in the Shivneri fort north of Poona in the state of Maharashtra, India. Both his mother, Jija Bai, and his father, Shanji Bhonsle, were from prominent families of the Maratha people, a race originating in the hill region of Maharashtra in west central India, but which had spread to neighboring regions in the Deccan plateau of central India as well. The Maratha had a long tradition of resistance to invaders, and Sivaji was encouraged to develop a strong and aggressive spirit by his mother, who passed on a pride of her family's position in the Hindu warrior caste. The young man's father, a kingmaker in the Moslem kingdoms of Ahmagnagar and Bijapur in the Deccan, abandoned his family soon after the birth of his son, so Sivaji was primarily influenced by his mother and a guardian, Dadaji Kondadev. From his mother, he gained not only a warrior's attitude, but also a great love of the Hindu religion. His education was based on great Hindu writings such as the Ramayana and the Mahabharata and he also developed an appreciation for the devotional music of his faith. Dadaji, who had been an official for the Mughal government of the nearby state of Bijapur, helped to instill in his charge a hatred of the Muslim rulers and a love of the common people of Maharashtra. He was also a skilled politician and strategist who demonstrated a strong sense of justice as well as discipline; all of these traits were absorbed by Sivaji and later helped make him an effective and respected leader.

Secured Maratha Nation

For the first few years of his life Sivaji and his mother moved from place to place in an attempt to avoid capture by Mughal armies. When he was nine, they settled in Poona for ten years before moving to the mountain fort of Rajgarh, a newly-built structure that would become the central post for Sivaji's campaigns and later served as his capital. In his youth in Poona, he spent a great deal of time wandering the territory west of town, becoming familiar with the land and the peasants who lived there. He taught himself how to survive in the wilderness with few provisions and developed the skills of guerilla warfare. Before he had even reached the age of twenty, he began to gain control of a number of districts in the area and had started forming an army of his own. In the districts he ruled, he undertook a number of improvements to strengthen his defenses, rebuilding old forts and organizing local administration. He quickly became a popular leader known for his fairness and intelligence.

Sivaji's goal was to create a nation where the Maratha people could live safely and independently, and to do this he realized that he needed to establish a system of well-defined and well-defended borders. To accomplish this he began a program of expansion after the death of his guardian Dadaji in 1647. The major political powers in the Deccan at that time were the Mughal sultanates of Bijapur and Golconda, but they were primarily corrupt governments that were not very concerned about the military activities of Sivaji as long as they did not interfere with the Mughal rulers' material situation. This apathy of the nearby states allowed Sivaji to gain control of a substantial amount of territory surrounding Poona by 1653, creating a small but unified Maratha nation. Not only was the leader able to continue to build his army, he also established a formidable navy.

Defeated Bijapur Army

Sivaji's growing strength eventually began to concern the nearby Mughal forces, and in September of 1659, a Bijapur army led by the general Afzal Khan invaded the Maratha lands. Afzal Khan's soldiers were well-armed and began to march across Sivaji's domain, destroying everything in their path. Realizing that he could not match the strength of his opponents, Sivaji drew up a clever plan to upset the enemy. He arranged a meeting with the khan in November, under the pretense of discussing terms of a truce. Surrender, however, was not what Sivaji had in mind. He arrived at the meeting with an armored vest under his clothing, a metal helmet under his turban, and two concealed weapons--a dagger and a set of tiger claws. According to legend, upon entering the tent where the leaders were to meet, Sivaji was attached by the kahn with a dagger. Well prepared for this event, he responded with equal force and dealt the kahn a mortal wound with the tiger claws. Their leader dead, the Mughals retreated; Bijapur never again posed a major threat to the new nation.

After learning of Sivaji's defeat of Afzal Khan, the Mughal emperor, Aurangzeb, grew alarmed. He decided to put an end to the defiant Maratha, sending a huge force under Shaista Khan to attack Sivaji in January of 1660. The army captured Poona and for the next three years Sivaji was forced to hide in the hills and use guerilla tactics to defend his position and resist capture. He and his army survived by waiting for Mughal forces to enter the hills and then attacking them in a quick, hit-and-run fashion, making the most of their superior knowledge of the local terrain. Sivaji's troops would then return to their forts in the mountains with supplies and weapons plundered from the enemy. The Maratha resistance efforts switched from a defensive to an offensive tactic in April of 1663, when Sivaji led a daring sneak attack on the personal quarters of Shaista Khan in the Mughal command center, wounding the general and killing dozens of his people. With the khan's forces in confusion after the assault on their leader, Sivaji made use of their immobility and attacked the wealthy port city of Surat, one of the great sources of pride of the Mughal empire. Cursing the "mountain rats" who had the nerve to attack his empire, Aurangzeb redoubled his efforts, sending a new army under Rajput Jai Singh to subdue the Maratha and their warrior leader.

Forced to Surrender to Mughals

Unaware of the approach of the Mughal army, Sivaji had turned his attention to campaigns in the south of his domain. Jai Singh took control of Poona in March of 1665, and upon hearing the news, Sivaji rushed back to his fortress, Rajgarh. When he arrived, however, the Mughals had already gained a strong foothold in the north, forcing Sivaji to admit he could not defeat their superior power. On June 12, 1665, the Maratha leader signed the treaty of Purandar with Jai Singh in which Sivaji agreed to hand over 23 of his major strongholds, keeping only a dozen smaller forts for himself. While independence for the Maratha was beyond hope, Sivaji assumed that he would become a valuable ally of the Mughal emperor, now that they were at peace. In the spring of 1666 he paid his respects to Aurangzeb on the occasion of his formal assumption of the Mughal throne. But rather than reward Sivaji's new loyalty with a top military post, the emperor presented him with only a third-class officer position. Sivaji was infuriated with Aurangzeb's actions and went into a tirade at the imperial court, eventually collapsing from his emotional outburst. Placed under house arrest, Sivaji quickly reevaluated his situation. No longer harboring any hopes for a position of power with the Mughals, he devised a plot to avenge the insult and regain the authority and lands he had lost.

Sivaji escaped from imprisonment on August 19, 1666, and returned to Rajgarh in the middle of September. His evasion of the Mughals added to the reputation of the warrior hero and he found the Maratha people still loyal to him and ready to reinstate him as their ruler. Rebuilding his forces once again, Sivaji began a series of small but effective attacks on the holdings he had relinquished to the Mughals. By 1670 he had regained nearly all of his lost military posts; his armies were so strong that they engaged in another raid on Surat in October of that year. This time, Aurangzeb was unable to launch much of a retaliation, due to military engagements in the northwest of his empire. Basking in the glory of his success and the freedom he had won for the Maratha in the land he controlled, in 1674, at the age of 47, Sivaji held a Hindu coronation ceremony in which he assumed the title Chatrapati, or "Lord of the Universe." The magnitude of the empire he had built for himself was reflected in the enormity of the celebration: the coronation included sacred chants performed by 11,000 Brahmans and a pledge of loyalty to the king by 50,000 of his followers.

Maratha Continued Fight for Freedom

While the Mughal emperor no longer presented a threat to the Maratha nation, the neighboring Muslim states of Bijapur and Golconda continued to challenge Sivaji's control in the area. For this reason, not all the Maratha in the Deccan were brought into Sivaji's empire. But his nation, while relatively small, remained stable. After his death of a fever on April 3, 1680, at Rajgarh, Sivaji's sons and subjects carried on his fight. His legacy of resistance insured that the Mughals never gained full control of the Deccan; in fact, even the later invasion by British colonial forces was repelled by the Maratha.

In the centuries since Sivaji's death, the colorful hero has come to stand as a symbol of Hindu strength and pride. His life is also considered to have been a source of inspiration for the twentieth-century Indian people as they fought their own battles for independence. Sivaji was no mere warrior or "freebooter," as his adversaries described him. He was a man with a grand vision for the liberation of the Hindus from Mughal rule and the creation of a government inspired by principles of unity, independence, and justice. His charisma united the caste-ridden people of Maharashtra, and in his administrative arrangements he displayed an uncommon wisdom. He also appreciated the growing importance of naval power in the politics of 17th-century India and began to create a navy of his own, one of the few rulers of India to do so. In his personal appearance he was of medium stature but well built, quick and piercing of eye, ready to smile and chivalrous in his dealings with all, including his erstwhile foes.

Further Reading

• The best and most authoritative single work on Sivaji is Jadunath Sarkar, Shivaji and His Times (1919; 5th ed. rev. 1952). G. S. Sardesai, New History of the Marathas, vol. 1 (1946), contains a comprehensive account of Sivaji's career based on original Marathi documents. Mahadev Govind Ranade, Rise of Maratha Power (Delhi, 1961), offers perceptive views of the background to the Maratha revolution. For general background consult W. H. Moreland and Atul Chandra Chatterjee, A Short History of India (1936; 3d ed. 1953).
• Daud, Tafazzul, The real Sevaji, Karachi: Indus Publications, 1980.
• Kincaid, Dennis, Shivaji, the founder of Maratha empire: The grand rebel, Delhi: Discovery Pub. House; New Delhi: Distributors, Uppal Pub. House, 1984.
• Lajpat Rai, Lala, Shivaji, the great patriot, New Delhi: Metropolitan, 1980.
• Majumdar, R. C., An Advanced History of India, 2nd ed., Macmillan, 1961.
• Pagdi, Setumadhava Rao, Shivaji, New Delhi: National Book Trust, India, 1983.
• Sardesai, G. S., "Shivaji," in The Mughal Empire, edited by R. C. Majumdar, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan (Bombay, India), 1974.
• Studies in Shivaji and his times, Kolhapur: Shivaji University, 1982.
• Takakhav, N. S. (Nilkant Sadashiv), Life of Shivaji, founder of the Maratha Empire, Delhi, India: Sunita Publications, 1985.
• Verma, Virendra, Shivaji, a captain of war with a mission, Poona: Youth Education Publications: distributors, Youth Book Agencies, 1976.
• Wolpert, Stanley, A New History of India, Oxford University Press, 1982.