The name makes a great deal of feelings,proud and sentiments in India especially in Maharashtra.
He is the man ,or a cult figure(many even treat him as re-incarnation of god)who led Maratas,encouraged motivated led and prompted Maratis to think and fight like Lions.Had he not bee there the course of Indian History and even the present state of Indians would have been different altogether.
Sivajii was born in 1630.His father mr.Shaji Bonsle had first worked under Bijapur Sultan.His mother Jija Bhai was a lady who had every quality of a loyal housewife.She grew her son as a great devotee to the religion and instilled confidence and patriotism in to him through Indian Epics and the stories of great warriors of Hinduism.Though Sivaji had no formal education ,he had a deep knowledge in Hindu epics and other religiously related affairs.he was a master in martial arts and was an expert in horse riding.
When Sivaji turned 18,he wanted to look for a job.He had already taken a decision that he would not serve Mughals or Bijapur Sultan,under whom his father had worked.Sivaji was sure enough to do something very particular for the protection and rennovation of Hinduism.
As it’s preliminary endeavours he and his friends first captured Thorna Fort and then Kalyan Fort and there started a spate of great military feats.He fully subjugated the Bijapur sultanate and then turned against Mughals.He audaciously attacked Mughals,inflicted huge casualities on them and Aurangazib could not rein him .BFinally Aurangazib,showing the true colors of a Mughal made him captive in a foul play but Sivaji escaped the prison.Once out,Sivaji was conscious enough to give setbacks for Mughals and attacked them relentlessly.A weary Aurangazib finally conceded to Sivaji and admitted him to become the king of Maharashtra.Two years after this ,in a protedt against Aurangazib’s temple demolition policy Sivaji declared war against Mughals and captured more Mughal forts.In 1674 Sivaji,in a lusty ceremony ,coronated as `Chatrapati Sivaji’.
Shivaji was a good general who did well. His skills however were limited to Guerilla warefare and his Mahratha warriors were formidable in thier own region only.
The fact that the Deccan platue is laid out in such a way that from formidable walls Gawilghur in the North to Bangalore in the south it is virtually impossible for any attacking force to break in without haevy casualties. The traditional Indian fashion of hill forts was also another factor in Shivaji's success.
His succesors of the Mahratha empire made a terrible series of mistakes. The result was disastrous. For a start the Mahrathas were victims of thier won success, like many great empires they expanded too far. At one point nearly the whole of Northern Indai was thiers, however they were mistaken when they thought they could somehow revive the Mughals a decision which led them to be defeated heavily by the British in the later half of the 18th and early 19th Century.
The Other fatal error the Mahrathas made was to go too far North and take on the Afghans, In fact the Partition of the subcontinent could have happened much earlier becuase the Mahrathas were offered by Ahmed Sha Abdali the option of a partition, so long as the Afghans got the Nroth and the Mahrathas kept the south. Negotiations failed however and the subsequent battle of Panipat was a disaster for the Mahrathas.
That said they proved to be fiecre resistors to the colonial powers for almost half a century. Shivaji was a distinguished general in the history of modern India. However his succesors lacked his caution and skills of evasion, Shivaji knew when to break combat and when to apply force as well as negotioations. His succesors however lost the great empire to bitter rivalries and in-fighting as well as arrogance.
At it's hieght the Mahratha empire was among the strongest in Asia and hired mercenaries from as far as the coast of Arabia, fortresses like Gwalior dominated the hieghts and passes to the capital Pune and for a time it was a jewel of India. Sadly the Mahrathas lost almost everything by the 1850's.
One thing worth noting however is that they were by no means betean by Europeans becuase of a lack of firepower as is commonly thought. In fact as early as Panipat they had over 200 heavy cannon at that battle alone. And at Assaye they had three infantry divisions armed with the finest muskets and trained to European standards as well as over a hundred field pieces some of the guns they had were ranged to shoot at targets over two miles away. For the time they were monstrous weapons.
Modern Indians historians as well as some scholars in Europe now believe the Mahrathas may have been delibarately betrayed by the European mercenaries they had hired to train them to modern standards. I still believe and by no means am i the only one that if the Mharathas had retained thier guerilla style war tactics and made better use of thier light cavalry they could have stayed in power for much longer in fact even at assaye if they had used longbows like those employed by Shivaji they would probably have been more effective than thier modern trained infantry.
Re: Chatrapati Sivaji
His best bid was creation of Navy, which helped him in capturing and maintaining the coastal lines and borders as well as keeping a check on European Ships.
Re: Chatrapati Sivaji
He fell off a horse during miltary maneuvers and his wounds were infected. If there had been antibiotics then, history might have changed.
He fell off a horse during miltary maneuvers and his wounds were infected. If there had been antibiotics then, history might have changed.
there were no antibiotics but he could have displayed better horsemanship skills.