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Chatrapathi Shivaji

(1630 – 1680) – (Maharashtra)

Shivaji (Aged 50) was born in 1630 to Shahaji Bhonsle, a Maratha general who held the jagirs of Pune and Supe under the Bijapur Sultanate. Shivaji’s mother, Jijabai, was a pious woman whose religious qualities had a profound influence on him. Shahaji had also served the Ahmednagar and Deccan sultanates. Shivaji received excellent training in military warfare and administration. In 1640, he was married for the first time to Saibai.

As a teenager in 1645, Shivaji displayed his military zeal by successfully gaining control of the Torna Fort, which was under Bijapur. He also acquired the Kondana Fort, both of which were under Adil Shah of Bijapur. Shah then got Shahaji imprisoned in a bid to contain Shivaji. Some accounts say that Shivaji surrendered these forts to get his father released. Shahaji died in 1664-65 in an accident, after which Shivaji resumed his raids and extended his territories.

Shivaji achieved great fame when he defeated Afzal Khan, a veteran general of Adil Shah. In the Battle of Pratapgarh in 1659, Shivaji’s forces vanquished the Bijapur Sultanate’s army. From this victory, he acquired a large number of weapons and horses which greatly added to the strength of his growing Maratha army. In the same year, another battle was fought with the Adilshahi camp at Kolhapur where Shivaji’s outnumbered army defeated the enemy force. Shivaji displayed great military prowess during this battle, which alarmed Aurangzeb.

Shivaji raided Mughal territory near Ahmednagar and in Junnar. Although Aurangzeb’s forces under Nasiri Khan defeated Shivaji at Ahmednagar in 1657, the Mughal prince soon became engaged in his own battles with his brothers for possession of the Mughal throne upon his father’s illness. Shivaji defeated a large force of Shaista Khan (Aurangzeb’s maternal uncle) and the Bijapur army in Pune. In 1664, Shivaji sacked the wealthy Mughal trading port of Surat.

When Shivaji went to meet the Mughal emperor at Agra in 1666, he felt insulted by Aurangzeb and stormed out of the court. He was arrested and kept prisoner. The clever escape of Shivaji and his son from imprisonment in disguise out of Agra is legendary today. After that, there was peace between the Marathas and the Mughals until 1670 when the jagir of Berar, which was granted to Sambhaji by the Mughals, was taken back from him. In response, Shivaji attacked and recovered many territories from the Mughals in a short span of four months. Shivaji is considered a national hero in India, especially in the state of Maharashtra. He passed away in 1680.