The Charismatic King: Shivaji Maharaj’s Adoring Folklore and Inspirational Life

By: Gauri Kshirsagar

One of the world’s greatest kings in history has gone unnoticed for way too long. His name was Shivaji Maharaj and he was born on February 19, 1630 in Shivneri Fort in Kusur, India. His mother’s name was Jijabai and his father’s name was Shahaji. As mentioned previously, Shivaji was the ideal ruler. Now, this begs the question : what makes the ideal ruler? The ideal ruler is kind, generous, strong, courageous, quick-witted, intelligent, has a large respect for women and children, and is precise. Was Shivaji really all of these qualities? Well, I’ll leave that to you to decide after reading these stories.

Shivaji had a son, whose name was Sambhaji. He had Sambhaji with Sai Bhonsale, one of his wives. In one incident, the Mughal emperor Aurangzeb, who was Shivaji’s enemy and tried many times to kill and conquer him, organized an Event in Agra in which he invited Shivaji alongside Sambhaji. Upon arrival, Shivaji and Sambhaji were asked to bow to Aurangzeb, who was a cruel Muslim and believed that he would kill everyone who didn’t conform to his ideals and Islam and still be a good Muslim. Due to his brutality and twisted morals, Aurangzeb was despised and feared and because of this fear, people were scared to refuse his rule and simply conformed to his empire. Shivaji Maharaj was not one of the people. Shivaji Maharaj opposed Aurangzeb and rejected him, displaying Shivaji Maharaj’s courage and fearlessness. Shivaji Maharaj refused to bow to Aurangzeb, as bowing would mean that he accepts and supports Aurangzeb and acknowledges Aurangzeb as his superior. Aurangzeb was Shivaji ‘s enemy and refused to lose. This doesn’t mean Shivaji deemed himself unparalleled and unsurpassed. This, in fact, shows the bravery and strong core values he refused to change throughout his life. Insulted, Aurangzeb ordered for Shivaji Maharaj and his son to be thrown in jail. After many months in the dungeon, he planned an escape. Shivaji and Sambhaji snuck out of the cell by asking the emperor to prepare baskets of sweets to give out to charity as his last wish. Sambhaji and Shivaji were able to clamber into the baskets before the next shipment was rolled out. In the end, Shivaji and his son were able to elude guards to make it safely out of Agra, all because of his precise planning.

Let me now introduce to you a moment of swift thinking, precise preparation, and careful execution. After a defeat due to Shivaji’s guerilla attacks, the Nizam, another Mughal authority who was also ruthless and cruel, had reached his breaking point. He decided he wanted to murder Shivaji since Shivaji wouldn’t allow him to ruin the lives of innocent civilians simply because they wouldn’t listen to him. the Nizam knew Shivaji wouldn’t fall for a simple discussion invite, so he issued a false peace treaty to get him into a meeting with him. Upon the arrival of the treaty, Shivaji agreed and demanded two conditions. First, the meeting would have to be held at the bottom of Pratapgad Fort. Second, neither party would bring more than 2 soldiers. That’s exactly what happened. The Nizam sent a general named Afzal Khan to assassinate Shivaji Maharaj. Shivaji was smart and he was precise with his planning. He knew that someone would try to kill him, so he wore armor under his clothes and “wagh nakh,” also known as tiger claws, which are rings with large and sharp spikes. Shivaji trotted down the hill to meet Afzal Khan with only two soldiers, as promised. Afzal Khan had only two soldiers as well. Upon spotting, Afzal Khan hugged Shivaji Maharaj, pulling a dagger out of his coat, only to hear the clank of the armor. Just in time, Shivaji Maharaj pierced through Afzal Khan’s skin with the “wagh nakh” and decapitated him. Although this seems brutal, it was necessary for Shivaji Maharaj to kill Afzal Khan in self-defense. Shivaji proceeded to give the deceased Afzal Khan a proper burial to pay his respects, notwithstanding the fact that Afzal Khan tried to murder him. Nevertheless, Afzal Khan was a great warrior and was just following orders. Shivaji’s quick thinking saved Shivaji from the clutches of death many times, not just the few in this article.

Another famous story of Shivaji is Hirkani. Once, there was a milkmaid named Heera who lived alongside her mother-in-law and baby. On the night of Kojagiri, which is a festival to celebrate the men in our lives by worshiping and giving offerings of milk to the moon, there was a large demand for milk due to the festivities. Due to the increasing demand for milk, Heera was forced to leave her child and mother-in-law to go deliver the milk to the fort of Raigad. She scurried up the steps of the fort and reached the plaza just inside the gate, where she saw a multitude of people singing folk songs, dancing in circles and laughing. The atmosphere was so pleasant because of the joy in the air, that she thought to stand there for a few minutes to watch them. She lost track of the time. When she realized the time, the guards were already done closing the gate. She begged and begged, pleading with them to open the gates again so she could get home to her son and be with him. She imagined his crying for her as it would be their first night apart.When it dawned upon her that the guards weren’t going to open the gates, she became desperate. She began her search for a wall to climb, so she could leave. She checked the North Wall, then West, then South, and finally, the only one she could scale was the East Wall. She hid the milk pot amidst the bushes and began her climb. After scaling the wall, she peeked over the edge only to find the extremely steep edge of the tree-covered hill the fort was standing on. She scaled down the side of the building and carefully stepped on boulders wedged in the ground. With a few scratches scattered around her body, she reached home to her son and mother-in-law. When the guards opened the gates the next morning, they found Heera standing there waiting to deliver the milk. The guards were shocked, considering they had locked her inside the previous night. The guards began to interrogate Heera on how she got out. She simply replied that she had scaled the East Wall and escaped through the jungle. The guards escorted her to the king to show Shivaji Maharaj what a great feat Heera had done. Shivaji Maharaj was hesitant to believe her, so he asked her for proof. She escorted him to the bushes where she left the pot. She was then asked to replicate her actions of the night before. She exclaimed that she couldn’t, and that last night, she was just desperate to reunite with her child. Out of respect for her actions, Shivaji Maharaj installed a telescope there in her honor and gave her and her family a place to stay in the fort, so it would be easier for her to deliver her milk. This incident portrayed that Shivaji Maharaj had huge respect for women, especially mothers, and was generous and kind.

In brief, we can say truthfully that Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj was a man we can all aspire to be similar to. He was magnificent. He had an abundance of good qualities like his kindness, generosity, courage, strength, sharp observational skills and thinking, as well as his respect for women and people in general. He led the great Maratha army to victory many times, never departing from his morals or core values. I am Marathi, and the great Shivaji Maharaj makes me proud to be. His values influence me to persevere through my struggles, to learn as much as I can about my culture, so that one day, I’ll be able to share my idol with my children, to make sure his story isn’t forgotten. In personal experience, I have asked Marathi people, my friends, questions about Shivaji in the past and gotten the response, “Who’s he?” from many. While I understand not everyone may have the same interest, we should all know at least the basics of our own culture and understand it. Why? Our culture is a major part of who we are. Without it, we are lost and roaming amongst other cultures, while never truly figuring out why we are who we are and why the values instilled in us are there. Although the interest may not be there for many, it is up to us to make sure the future generations don’t forget where they came from and who they are. Only when we truly learn and understand our culture, it is possible to learn of other cultures and understand them. As an American — born Indian, there are a multitude of cultures in the United States. Amongst all these cultures, it is easy to wonder and wish that we were from another heritage, but the truth is we are best in the one we have currently. In my history book in seventh grade, other countries were largely delved on and others were skipped altogether. India had a singular page dedicated to it, and all it read was about the Gupta Empire and Hinduism. I wish there was more in that book about such a vast culture and rich history. This is an improvement that could be made, not just about India, but about Russia, and other cultures that were skipped. While there is a large number of countries and a limited curriculum, we can adjust the sizes of the larger chapters to skip unnecessary information. Since I was born, I’ve always heard stories about Shivaji, Vishnu, Shiva, Brahma, Ganesh, Krishna, Rama, Hanuman, and Balaram. Shivaji reminds me of my heritage, that I am unique, just like everyone else. Quite ironic, isn’t it? Even if you don’t need to learn about war tactics from him, we all can still learn to be good people. I urge you to read or listen to a book about your culture, your heritage, or somebody else’s because everybody has something new you can learn from them. Whatever it’s about, learn something. Whatever we learn, whatever values are instilled in us, is what we pass onto the future generations. It doesn’t matter that Shivaji’s Indian and you’re something else. The future generations will learn values that we taught them, for that, we must be taught and learn how to be good people. In my opinion, Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj is a pretty good teacher and I hope you learned something from this article.