Biography: Shivaji is one of the greatest figures in Indian history

A great general, a shrewd statesmen and a skilful diplomat, Shivaji is one of the greatest figures in Indian history. He infused a new life into the Marathas and welded its scattered elements into a nation which was able to found and empire in the teeth of opposition from the Adil Shahi, the Qutb Shahis and the Imperial Mughals.

He conquered the hearts of his people through paternalistic approach, strong sense of justice and genuine concern for the welfare of his people. They had such deep affection and love for their hero that they were prepared to lay down their lives for the success of his mission and looked upon him as their leader, protector and emancipator.

Shivaji was a born military leader. He took full advantage of the geographical situation of the region and made the hill forts along the Sahyadri ghats his main line of defence. He avoided pitched battles, developed an extraordinary mode of mobile warfare and adopted guerilla tactics.

He realized the importance of navy for building a strong state in Deccan and, therefore, created the Maratha navy. Shivaji had the divine gift of judging character and selected his generals, diplomats and secretaries with meticulous care.

He was a devout Hindu but respected all religions. He never demolished any mosque or defiled any Muslim scripture. He always respected enemy womenfolk. Even the contemporary Muslim historians pay him high tribute for his policy of tolerance towards all religions, which contributed in no small degree to the failure of Aurangzeb.

Khafi Khan, historian of Aurangzeb’s times observes: “He (Shivaji) made it a rule that whenever his followers went plundering, they should do no harm to Muslims, the Book of God or any one’s women.

Whenever a copy of the Holy Quran came into his hands, he treated it with respect and gave it to some of his Mohammedan followers He entirely abstained from other disgraceful acts, and was careful to maintain the honour of the women and children of Mohammedans when they fell into his hands.

His injunctions upon this point were very strict, and anyone who disobeyed them received punishment.” He followed the ideal of sulh-i-kul or universal peace. He gave grants to Muslim saints and employed many Muslim officers. His chief admiral was an Abyssinian Muslim, Siddi Mir.

Shivaji was not “an entrepreneur of rapine or a Hindu edition of Alaud-din-Khalji or Taimur” as Khafi Khan and some British historians have described him. No doubt, as we have mentioned above, he was a pious Hindu and an ardent devotee of the goddess Bhavani, but his religion was a personal affair. He never allowed religious considerations to affect his state policy.

He kept the welfare of his subjects whether Hindus, Muslims or Christians uppermost in his mind. He had to carry on raids and sometimes indulge in plunder to collect the money he so badly needed to carry on his incessant wars against his mighty and resourceful rivals, the Mughals, the Bijapuris and the Qutb Shahi ruler.

But as Rawlinson observes in his work “Shivaji, the Maratha”: “He was never deliberately or want only cruel. To respect women, mosques and non-combatants, to stop promiscuous slaughter after a battle, to realize and dismiss with honour captured officers and men- these are, surely no light virtues”.

We may conclude with the observation of the eminent historian Sir Jadunath Sarkar: “No blind fanatic, no mere brigand can found a state”. He was not only a military leader but also a consolidator. He laid sound basis for the administration-civil, military and economic-which he had founded.

Shivaji was a self-taught man. He never got an opportunity to see the working of the administration of a great capital or royal court. Unlike Ranjit Singh or Mahadaji Sindia, he had no French advisers to assist him in this work. His administration and military system were his own creations.

He studied ancient works on Hindu polity and also borrowed some of the essential features of the organizational set-up of the contemporary Muslim states of the Deccan. His liberal and practial bent of mind induced him to use Persian language in the court and adopt Islamic designations for some of the posts in his courts.

It is no doubt true that he had hardly the time to make any fundamental changes in the administrative system as he was engaged throughout his life in fighting wars against the neighbouring Deccan states or the Mughals. However, it is no small tribute to his genius that the system he evolved lasted for over a century.