Tag: marathas

Categories
Historical Figures

Jijabai: Eternal Mother Symbol of Faith and Courage

baby shivaji with jijabai by Shilpa Bhoir
baby shivaji with jijabai by Shilpa Bhoir

featured image by  Shilpa Bhoir

[quote]The loving care of Jijabai made Shivaji a great warrior. ~Sri Sathya Sai Baba[/quote]

Jijabai was the mother of Shivaji, one of the most famous and successful Hindu Warrior Kings of all time. The life story of Jijabai, is no less inspiring than that of her prodigal son, and takes a proud place in the history of the Hindu people.

Jijabai’s father, Lakhuji Jadhav Rao, was an important leader serving under the Muslim Nizamshahi administration. During those days, many Hindu leaders of that region were serving under the Nizam. Their service had small armies of their own and had obtained lands, money and status. But they hated one another and were always trying to increase their power and prestige at each other’s expense.

It was Holi, and Jijabai’s father threw a large celebration. Jijabai, still a young child, threw coloured water over a boy named Shahji, who in turn did the same back to her.Jijabai’s father liked the boy. Drawing the two children towards him, he jokingly exclaimed, “Don’t you think these two make a great couple?” Everybody agreed. At this point Shahji’s father, Maloji, got up said,

“Noble men, did you hear what our Jadhav Rao has said? Henceforth we are related to each other as parents of the bride and bridegroom!”

 

But this is not what Jijabai’s father had in mind! He was just making a lighthearted remark, and considered himself too high to think of marrying his daughter to the son of an inferior ranked man like Maloji. Jadhav Rao harshly rebuked Maloji’s presumptuousness, causing Maloji to leave the hall feeling embarrassed and angered at the public spectacle.

Maloji never forgot the shame he felt that day.He left his military post, and returned to his ancestral village. For a while he went back to tilling the fields, and was very depressed. But his fortunes were soon to improve. One night, it is said that Maloji had a strange dream.

The Goddess Bhavani appeared before him in dazzling splendour and advised him not to sulk, but to strive hard in life, as a hero and harbinger of a new era was soon to be born in his family.

The next day in the field, late at night, he once again felt the presence of Bhavani, who advised him to dig at a certain spot. He did so, and unearthed 7 pots of treasure.

While the verity of this account is questionable, what is beyond dispute is that Maloji’s acquisition of this wealth was to have a profound impact upon the future of Hindu civilisation. Maloji brought a unit of 1000 cavalry, and infantry. He provided security to the people, and to traders, and in doing so grew increasingly wealthy.

With his money, he dug wells, built lodges for travellers, fed the needy and renovated temples. His power and prestige grew, and so did the number of men serving under him.

At the same time, Maloji still felt insulted by Jadhav Rao’s rejection, and began to press him to allow Jijabai and Shahji to marry. Jadhav Rao refused, but Maloji resorted to intense pressure, and invoked the Nizam’s mediation, forcing Jadhav Rao to comply.

Jijabai and Shahji were married. Now it was Jadhav Rao’s turn to feel angered.Shahji grew up as a renowned general, while Jadhav Rao spent his life harassing and conspiring against Shahji. This deeply troubled Jijabai.

She was also unhappy that both her father and her husband were serving under Muslim sultans, who she saw as marauders.Jijabai cared not for the riches that this service could bring. It was liberty she loved.She was angered at being around men who spent their time bickering amongst themselves and could not protect their women, children, country and religion.

She longed that her son may be part of a generation who could do this. With this light, she studied the intricate political problems of the country, in the company of experienced politicians and diplomats.

She could see people falling into poverty in the once rich land and could see the culture that she loved so much being disintegrated. If only a leader could be born who could unite the scattered Hindus.

It was ordered that while she was pregnant, every comfort be conferred upon Jijabai. But she wished for none of it. Rather, she wanted to climb to the tops of forts on hills, wield swords, discuss political questions, put on armour and ride on horseback. It has been said in ancient Hindu shastras that the pregnant mother, by the psychological environment she provides does a tremendous amount to shape the child’s life for better or worse.

In Vedic traditions, there are a series of sacraments and chants to be carried out as to optimise the child’s potentials. Jijabai infused in Shivaji such a spirit, which was to emerge with great force throughout his life.Then, the most crushing news struck Jijabai like lightening. Jadhav Rao, her father, who had recently been readmitted to the service of the Nizam, had been beheaded, together with her entire family. The exact reason for this was not known.

The Nizam was purging influential Hindu leaders within his forces Her husband too was in danger of meeting a similar fate, but he was shrewd and left the Nizam. In the time that followed, whole villages of Hindus were wiped out.

A Hindu princess was carried away while bathing. At one time Jijabai herself was kidnapped to be used as a bargaining chip. Such were the times in which she lived. Jijabai’s fiery spirit was set ablaze by the slaughter of her family.

Instead of frightening her, it just strengthened her resolve that an independent protector of the Hindus was an urgent necessity.She brought up Shivaji in the city of Pune, under the protection of Dadaji Kondev.

Jijabai was one of the main administrators of the city. She was educated, able and wielded great authority (not adhering to the myth of the “oppressed Hindu woman of medieval India”). When they arrived, Pune was a city that had been consecutively ransacked by the Nizam, Adil Shah, and the Moghul forces. Each and every Hindu shrine had been smashed. But soon Pune flourished, with the help of Jijabai. She restored the shrines, and on many occasions settled disputes and meted out fair justice.

She was responsible for most of Shivaji’s education; having him learn about the Holy scriptures and arts of administration and weaponry, and the political situations in the land.Shahji married a second wife, Tukabai, and spent most of his time with the latter. The effect this had on Jijabai, nobody can tell.

Jijabai did not lose heart, and concerned herself as before, with administration, bringing up Shivaji and in long periods of prayer and meditation. Jijabai even set the scenes for social reforms in Hindu society.

For example, on Jijabai’s advice, the Brahmins allowed a soldier named Balaji Nimbalkar to re-embrace Hinduism after converting to Islam under force of the sword. In those days, many people were opposed to such a move, believing such individuals were somehow polluted and no longer worthy to be Hindus.

This is an attitude that to some extent persists today. But Jijabai could see that because Hindus created a system whereby people could leave the Hindu fold, but not enter it, Hindu society had been weakened.

Jijabai impressed upon everybody the logic of this position. Further more, showing that she was genuine in her view, she arranged the marriage of Shivaji’s daughter Sakhubai to Balaji’s son.

Shahji and Dadaji were worried and angered at Shivaji, when at the age of 16 he first captured a major fort. Jijabai on the other hand was overjoyed.

When Afzal Khan, the renowned general of Bijapur came with a large army to crush Shivaji early in his career, Shivaji turned to his mother, who unlike others told him to face the danger resolutely.

Shivaji’s army was much smaller by comparison, but by biding his time and using lightening guerrilla techniques, he worsted Afzal Khan’s army.When at a private meeting, Afzal Khan tried to kill Shivaji, it was Afzal Khan who ended up dead. This episode greatly increased Shivaji’s prestige.

Jijabai treated Shivaji’s companions as her own sons, and was a source of courage and inspiration to them all. Tanaji Malasure is one such renowned example. He lost the fort of Simhagadh to an intense Moghul attack. She famously told him,

“If you free Simhagad from the enemies you will be like Shivaji’s younger brother to me.”

 

Tanaji went forth, for what others advised to be an impossible mission. He succeeded in his mission of winning back the fort, but was slain in the process. Jijabai was watching from her castle in the distance all night.

Although at first overjoyed at the news that the saffron flag had ascended on Simhagad, when she received the news of Tanaji’s death, she began to cry with pain and could not be consoled.

On another occasion Baji Prabhu, a childhood friend of Shivaji, fought with great valour to save Shivaji’s life from imminent danger, and in doing so was slain.

On hearing the news of Baji Prabhu’s death and Shivaji’s safety, Jijabai wept for the sacrifice of the brave Baji rather than feeling glad for the safety of her own son.

In 1674, Shivaji held a vast ceremony, declaring himself an independent ruler. Jijabai was present at the ceremony.

What joy she must have felt attending the ceremony – everything she had lived for had finally bore fruit. 12 days later, Jijabai died. In her life Jijabai had to bare sorrow after sorrow, and did it bravely for her people and religion.

She reflected the glory and strength of Mother Durga. We hope her life will always be remembered with reverence.

(5513)

Categories
Legendary Battles

Church Bells of Vasai Fort

After the Marathas defeated the Portuguese in 1739 all the churches and building in the fort where captured by the Marathas.

The bells from the churches were paraded, carried off on elephant backs as victory souvenirs. Number of bells in the fort are unknown but four bells are located. One such Bell was carried to and located at Naroshankar Temple on the banks of Godavari river in Nasik, Panchavati area.

The other church bell is located at Bhimashankar Temple is located in the village of Bhorgiri 50 km north west of Khed . Third bell is located at Meneshwar temple in Menavali near Panchgani . This bell weighs six hundred and fifty kilograms. The date on the bell shows the year 1707 and has five-alloy bell bears a bas-relief of Mary carrying the infant Jesus Christ cast into it. Fourth church bell is located at Durga Devi temple, Murud

This bell weighs six hundred and fifty kilograms. The date on the bell shows the year 1707 and has five-alloy bell bears a bas-relief of Mary carrying the infant Jesus Christ cast into it. Fourth church bell is located at Durga Devi temple, Murud

Church bell at Naroshankar temple and is called “Naroshankarachi Ghanta”

This church bell is located at Bhimashankar Temple is located in the village of Bhorgiri, near Khed.

       

Bell house at Meneshwar temple, Menavali,

Closer up of the Church Bell in Meneshwar temple showing Mary and Jesus


Bell Housein Meneshwar temple, Menavali

 

Church bell from Vasai/Bessein fort is located at Durga Devi temple, Murud.

Church bell on left in Durga devi temple, Murud.

(1906)

Categories
Analysis

The Worlds Longest ‘Unknown’ War

That audacious armada of the religion of Hijaz –
Whose insignia reached every corner of the world
Which learnt no obstruction from any fear
Which felt no hesitation in Persian Gulf or faltered in the Red Sea
Which valiantly crossed all the seven oceans
Oh, drowned was that armada (of Islam), when it reached the mouth of Ganga!

–  Mawlana Khwaja Altaf  Husain

 

It’s argued that if the Muslim conquerors had practised such systematic, extensive, and continued terror against Hindus and Hinduism as has been recorded by the Muslim historians of medieval India, Hindus could not have survived as an overwhelming majority at the end of the long spell of Muslim rule.

The logic here is purely deductive (formal). Suppose a person is subjected to a murderous assault, but he survives because he fights back. Deductively it can be concluded that the person never suffered a murderous assault because otherwise he could not have been alive! But this conclusion has little relevance to the facts of the case.

My question, therefore, is: Did Hindus survive as a majority in their own homeland because the Islamic invaders did not employ sufficient force to kill or convert them, or because, though defeated again and again by the superior military skill of the invaders, Hindu princes did not give up resistance and came back again and again to reconquer their lost kingdoms, to fight yet another battle, yet another day, till the barbarians were brought to book?

Before I answer this question, I should like to warn against a very widely prevalent though a very perverse version of Indian history. In this popular version, Indian history has been reduced to a history of foreign invaders who were able to enter India from time to time – the so-called Aryans, the Iranians, the Greeks, the Parthians, the Scythians, the Kushanas, the Hunas, the Arabs, the Turks, the Pathans, the Mughals, the Persians, the Portuguese, the Dutch, the French, and the British. The one impression which this version of Indian history leaves, is that India has always been a no-man’s land which any armed bandit could come and occupy at any time, and that Hindus have always been a ‘meek mob’ which has always bowed before every ‘superior’ race.

Muslims in India and elsewhere have been led to believe by the mullahs and Muslim historians that the conquest of India by Islam started with the invasion of Sindh by Muhammad bin Qasim in 712 AD, was resumed by Mahmud Ghaznavi in 1000 AD, and completed by Muhammad Ghuri when he defeated the Chauhans of Ajmer and the Gahadvads of Kanauj in the last decade of the 12th century. Muslims of India in particular have been persuaded to look back with pride on those six centuries, if not more, when India was ruled by Muslim emperors. In this make-belief, the British rulers are treated as temporary intruders who cheated Islam of its Indian empire for a hundred years. So also the ‘Hindu Banias’, who succeeded the British in 1947 AD. Muslims are harangued every day, in every mosque and madrasah, not to rest till they reconquer the rest of India which, they are told, rightfully belongs to Islam.

The academic historians also agree that India was ruled by Muslim monarchs from the last decade of the 12th century to the end of the 18th. The standard textbooks of history, therefore, narrate medieval Indian history in terms of a number of Muslim imperial dynasties ruling from Delhi – the Mamluks (Slaves), the Khaljis, the Tughlaqs, the Sayyids, the Lodis, the Surs, the Mughals. The provincial Muslim dynasties with their seats at Srinagar, Lahore, Multan, Thatta, Ahmedabad, Mandu, Burhanpur, Daulatabad, Gulbarga, Bidar, Golconda, Bijapur, Madurai, Gaur, Jaunpur, and Lucknow fill the gaps during periods of imperial decline.

It is natural that in this version of medieval Indian history the recurring Hindu resistance to Islamic invaders, imperial as well as provincial, looks like a series of sporadic revolts occasioned by some minor grievances of purely local character, or led by some petty upstarts for purely personal gain. The repeated Rajput resurgence in Rajasthan, Bundelkhand and the Ganga-Yamuna Doab; the renewed assertion of independence by Hindu princes at Devagiri, Warrangal, Dvarasamudra and Madurai; the rise of the Vijayanagara Empire; the farflung fight offered by the Marathas; and the mighty movement of the Sikhs in the Punjab – all these then get readily fitted into the framework of a farflung and enduring Muslim empire. And the Hindu heroes who led this resistance for several centuries get reduced to ridiculous rebels who disturbed public peace at intervals but who were always put down.

But this version of medieval Indian history is, at its best, only an interpretation based on preconceived premises and propped up by a highly selective summarisation, or even invention, of facts. There is ample room for another interpretation based on more adequate premises, and borne out by a far better systematisation of known facts.

What are the facts? Do they bear out the interpretation that India was fully and finally conquered by Islam, and that the Muslim empire in India was a finished fabric before the British stole it for themselves by fraudulent means?

 

MUSLIM INVASIONS WERE NO WALK-OVER
The so-called conquest of Sindh first.

Having tried a naval invasion of India through Thana, Broach, and Debal from 634 to 637 AD, the Arabs tried the land route on the north-west during AD 650-711. But the Khyber Pass was blocked by the Hindu princes of Kabul and Zabul who inflicted many defeats on the Arabs, and forced them to sign treaties of non-aggression. The Bolan pass was blocked by the Jats of Kikan. AI Biladuri writes in his Futûh-ul-Buldãn: ‘At the end of 38 H. or the beginning of 39 H. (659 A.D.) in the Khilafat of Ali”Harras’ went with the sanction of the Khalif to the same frontier’ He and those who were with him, saving a few, were slain in the land of Kikan in the year 42 H. (662 A.D.). In the year 44 H. (664 A.D) and in the days of Khalif Muawiya, Muhallab made war on the same frontier’ The enemy opposed him and killed him and his followers’ Muawiya sent Abdullah’ to the frontier of Hind. He fought in Kikan and captured booty’ He stayed near the Khalif some time and then returned to Kikan, when the Turks (Hindus) called their forces together and slew him.,

Next, the Arabs tried the third land route, via Makran. Al Biladuri continues: ‘In the reign of the same Muawiya, Chief Ziyad appointed Sinan’ He proceeded to the frontier and having subdued Makran and its cities by force, he stayed there’ Ziyad then appointed Rashid’ He proceeded to Makran but he was slain fighting against the Meds (Hindus)’ Abbad, son of Ziyad then made war on the frontier of Hind by way of Seistan. He fought the inhabitants’ but many Musulmans perished’ Ziyad next appointed Al Manzar. Sinan had taken it but its inhabitants had been guilty of defection’ He (Al Manzar) died there’ When Hajjaj’ was governor of Iraq, Said’ was appointed to Makran and its frontiers. He was opposed and slain there. Hajjaj then appointed Mujja’ to the frontier’ Mujja died in Makran after being there a year’ Then Hajjaj sent Ubaidullah’ against Debal. Ubaidullah being killed, Hajjaj wrote to Budail’ directing him to proceed to Debal’ the enemy surrounded and killed him. Afterwards, Hajjaj during the Khilafat of Walid, appointed Mohammad, son of Qasim’ to command on the Sindhian frontier.’ That was in 712 AD.

Now compare this Arab record on the frontiers of India with their record elsewhere. Within eight years of the Prophet’s death, they had conquered Persia, Syria, and Egypt. By 650 AD, they had advanced upto the Oxus and the Hindu Kush. Between 640 and 709 AD they had reduced the whole of North Africa. They had conquered Spain in 711 AD. But it took them 70 long years to secure their first foothold on the soil of India. No historian worth his salt should have the cheek to say that the Hindus have always been an easy game for invaders.

Muhammad bin Qasim succeeded in occupying some cities of Sindh. His successors led some raids towards the Punjab, Rajasthan, and Saurashtra. But they were soon defeated, and driven back. The Arab historians admit that ‘a place of refuge to which the Muslims might flee was not to be found’. By the middle of the 8th century they controlled only the highly garrisoned cities of Multan and Mansurah. Their plight in Multan is described by AI Kazwin in Asr-ul-Bilãd in the following words: ‘The infidels have a large temple there, and a great idol’ The houses of the servants and devotees are around the temple, and there are no idol worshippers in Multan besides those who dwell in those precincts’ The ruler of Multan does not abolish this idol because he takes the large offerings which are brought to it’ When the Indians make an attack upon the town, the Muslims bring out the idol, and when the infidels see it about to be broken or burnt, they retire.’ (emphasis added). So much for Islamic monotheism of the Arabs and their military might. They, the world-conquerors, failed to accomplish anything in India except a short-lived raid.

It was some two hundred years later, in 963 AD, that Alptigin the Turk was successful in seizing Ghazni, the capital of Zabul. It was his successor Subuktigin who seized Kabul from the Hindu Shahiyas shortly before he died in 997 AD. His son, Mahmud Ghaznavi, led many expeditions into India between 1000 and 1027 AD. The details of his destructive frenzy are too well-known to be repeated. What concerns us here is the facile supposition made by historians in general that Mahmud was not so much interested in establishing an empire in India as in demolishing temples, plundering treasures, capturing slaves, and killing the kãfirs. This supposition does not square with his seizure of the Punjab west of the Ravi, and the whole of Sindh. The conclusion is unavoidable that though Mahmud went far into the heartland of Hindustan and won many victories, he had to beat a hasty retreat every time in the face of Hindu counterattacks. This point is proved by the peril in which he was placed by the Jats of the Punjab during his return from Somnath in 1026 AD.

The same Jats and the Gakkhars gave no end of trouble to the Muslim occupants of Sindh and the Punjab after Mahmud was dead. Another 150 years were to pass before another Islamic invader planned a conquest of India. This was Muhammad Ghuri. His first attempt towards Gujarat in 1178 AD met with disaster at the hands of the Chaulukyas, and he barely escaped with his life. And he was carried half-dead from the battlefield of Tarain in 1191 AD. It was only in 1192 AD that he won his first victory against Hindus by resorting to a mean stratagem which the chivalrous Rajputs failed to see through.


THE TURKISH EMPIRE WAS TEMPORARY


Muhammad Ghuri conquered the Punjab, Sindh, Delhi, and the Doab upto Kanauj. His general Qutbuddin Aibak extended the conquest to Ajmer and Ranthambhor in Rajasthan, Gwalior, Kalinjar, Mahoba and Khajuraho in Bundelkhand, and Katehar and Badaun beyond the Ganges. His raid into Gujarat was a failure in the final round though he succeeded in sacking and plundering Anahilwar Patan. Meanwhile, Bakhtyar Khalji had conquered Bihar and Bengal north and west of the Hooghly. He suffered a disastrous defeat when he tried to advance into Assam.

But by the time Muhammad Ghuri was assassinated by the Gakkhars in 1206 AD, and Aibak assumed power over the former’s domain in India, Kalinjar had been reconquered by the Chandellas, Ranthambhor had renounced vassalage to Delhi, Gwalior had been reoccupied by the Pratihars, the Doab was up in arms under the Gahadvad prince Harishchandra, and the Katehar Rajputs had reasserted their independence beyond the Ganges. The Yadavbhatti Rajputs around Alwar had cut off the imperial road to Ajmer. Aibak was not able to reconquer any of these areas before he died in 1210 AD.

Aibak’s successor, Iltutmish, succeeded in retaking Ranthambhor and Gwalior, and in widening his base around Ajmer. But he suffered several defeats at the hands of the Guhilots of Nagda, the Chauhans of Bundi, the Paramars of Malwa, and the Chandellas of Bundelkhand. Beyond the Ganges, the Katehar Rajputs had consolidated their hold which the Sultan could not shake. The Doab was still offering a very stiff resistance. His grip on Ajmer had also started slipping by the time he died in 1236 AD.

The Sultanate suffered a steep decline during the reigns of Razia, Bahrain, Masud, and Mahmud of the Shamsi dynasty founded by Iltutmish, though its dissolution was prevented by Balban who wielded effective power from 1246 AD onwards. The Muslim position in Bengal was seriously threatened by Hindu Orissa. Another Muslim invasion of Assam ended in yet another disaster in which the Muslim general lost his life and a whole Muslim army was annihilated, Hindu chieftains now started battering the Muslim garrison towns in Bihar. Near Delhi, the Chandellas advanced up to Mathura. The Rajputs from Alwar made raids as far as Hansi, and became a terror for Muslims even in the environs of Delhi. Balban’s successes against this rising tide of Hindu recovery were marginal. He suffered several setbacks. The Sultanate was once more reduced to rump around Delhi when Balban died in 1289 AD.

Dr. R.C. Majumdar has summed up the situation so far in the following words: ‘India south of the Vindhyas was under Hindu rule in the 13th century. Even in North India during the same century, there were powerful kingdoms not yet subjected to Muslim rule, or still fighting for their independence’ Even in that part of India which acknowledged the Muslim rule, there was continual defiance and heroic resistance by large or small bands of Hindus in many quarters, so that successive Muslim rulers had to send well-equipped military expeditions, again and again, against the same region’ As a matter of fact, the Muslim authority in Northern India, throughout the 13th century, was tantamount to a military occupation of a large number of important centres without any effective occupation, far less a systematic administration of the country at large.’

Jalaluddin Khalji failed to reconquer any land which had been lost by Muslims during the earlier reign. Alauddin was far more successful. His generals, Ulugh Khan and Nusrat Khan, were able to conquer Gujarat in 1298 AD. But they were beaten back from Ranthambhor which Alauddin could reduce only in 1301 AD. His conquest of Chittor in 1303 AD was short-lived as the Sisodias retook it soon after his death in 1316 AD. So was his conquest of Jalor in Rajasthan. His own as well Malik Kafur’s expeditions against Devagiri in Maharashtra, Warrangal in Andhra Pradesh, Dvarasamudra in Karnataka, and Madurai in Tamil Nadu, were nothing more than raids because Hindu princes reasserted their independence in all these capitals soon after the invaders left. And the Khalji empire collapsed as soon as Alauddin died in 1316 AD. Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq had to intervene in 1320 AD to save the remnants from being taken over by Hindus from Gujarat who had been nominally converted to Islam.

Ghiyasuddin Tughlaq was successful in conquering south and east Bengal.  But he could not completely subdue Tirhut in Bihar. His son Jauna Khan suffered defeat in 1321 AD when he tried to reconquer Warrangal, and had to mount another attack in 1323 AD before he could reduce it.  But by 1326 AD Prataparudra was back in power. In 1324 AD Jauna Khan had been beaten back from the borders of Orissa. He was more successful when he came to power as Muhammad Tughlaq. He consolidated his hold over Devagiri, conquered the small kingdom of Kampili on the Tungbhadra, and forced Dvarasamudra to pay tribute to the imperial authority of Delhi. Madurai also came to be included in his empire. He transferred his capital to Devagiri in order to keep a close watch on Hindu resurrection in the South, and for establishing another centre of Islamic power in India. But at the very start of his reign he had been defeated by Maharana Hammir of Mewar, taken prisoner, and released only after he ceded all claims to Ajmer, Ranthambhor and Nagaur, besides payment of 50 lakhs of rupees as indemnity. And his empire south of the Vindhyas was lost to Delhi in his own life-time, and Delhi’s hold over large areas even in the North disappeared soon after his death in 1351 AD.

Firuz Shah Tughlaq was able to keep together the rump for some time. His expedition to Orissa was nothing more than a successful raid. And he had to lead annual expeditions against the Katehar Rajputs north of the Ganges. Ms successors could not keep even the rump in the north. It broke down completely after Timur’s invasion in 1399 AD. Meanwhile, the great Vijayanagara Empire had consolidated Hindu power south of the Krishna. Rajasthan was ruled by defiant Rajput princes led by Mewar. Orissa had fully recovered from the devastation of Firuz Shah Tughlaq’s raid.

The Sayyids who succeeded the Tughlaqs were hardly an imperial dynasty when they started in 1414 AD. Their hold did not extend beyond Etawah (U.P.) in the east, and Mewat (Haryana) in the south. Khizr Khan tried to restore the empire in the north but without success. Mubarak Shah was able to recover the Punjab and Multan before the Sayyids were supplanted by the Lodis in 1451 AD.

Bahlol Lodi reduced the Muslim principality of Jaunpur in 1457 AD. But Sikandar Lodi failed to subdue Gwalior, Rajasthan, and Baghelkhand. He removed his capital to Agra in order to plan a conquest of Malwa and Rajasthan. But it bore no fruit. The Lodi ’empire’ more or less broke down under Ibrahim Lodi. By this time, Mewar under Rana Sanga had emerged as the strongest state in North India. Orissa stood its ground against Muslim Bengal to its north and the Bahmanis to its south. The power of Vijayanagara attained its acme under Krishnadevaraya (1505-1530 AD).

The situation during the 14th and the 15th centuries has been summed up by Dr. R.C. Majumdar in the following words: ‘The Khalji empire rose and fell during the brief period of twenty years (A.D 1300-1320). The empire of Muhammed bin Tughlaq’ broke up within a decade of his accession (A.D. 1325), and before another decade was over, the Turkish empire passed away for ever’ Thus barring two every short-lived empires under the Khaljis and Muhammad bin Tughlaq’ there was no Turkish empire in India. This state of things continued for nearly two centuries and a half till the Mughals established a stable and durable empire in the second half of the sixteenth century A.D.’

 

MUGHAL EMPIRE: A JOINT VENTURE
 

Babur won some renowned victories but hardly established an empire. Humayun lost to Sher Shah Sur, and failed to win back most of what Babur had won. Sher Shah added Ranthambhor and Ajmer to his empire in north India. But the fierce fight he faced in Marwar made him confess that he had almost lost an empire for a handful of millet. His rule lasted only for a brief span of five years (1540-1545 AD). The Sur ’empire’ became a shambles soon after, so much so that the Hindu general Himu was able to crown himself as Hemachandra Vikramaditya at Delhi in 1556 AD.

The Mughal empire founded by Akbar in 1556 AD proved more stable, and endured for 150 years. It also expanded in all directions till by the end of the 17th century it covered almost the whole of India except the extreme south. But the credit for Mughal success must go largely to Akbar’s recognition of power realities, and reconciliation with the Rajputs by suspension of several tenets of a typically Islamic state. It was the Rajput generals and soldiers who won many of the victories for which the Mughals took credit. The Rajput states in Rajasthan and Bundelkhand were vassals of the Mughal emperor only in name. For all practical purposes, they were allies of the Mughals who had to keep them in good humour. And Mewar kept aloft the flag of Hindu defiance throughout the period of effective Mughal rule.

The Mughal empire started breaking up very fast when Aurangzeb reversed Akbar’s policy of accommodating the Hindus, and tried to re-establish a truly Islamic state based on terror, and oppression of the ‘non-believers’. Rajasthan and Bundelkhand reasserted their independence during his life-time. So did the Jats around Bharatpur and Mathura. The Marathas dug Aurangzeb’s grave when they made imperial seats such as Ahmadnagar and Aurangabad unsafe in spite of large Mughal garrisons, and invaded imperial territory as far as Khandesh and Gujarat. This Hindu resurgence shattered the Mughal empire within two decades of Aurangzeb’s death in 1707 AD.

 

THE PROVINCIAL MUSLIM PRINCIPALITIES
 

Amongst the provincial Muslim principalities established by rebels and adventurers after the break-up of the Tughlaq empire, those of Bengal, Malwa, Gujarat, and the Bahmanis were notable. Hindu Orissa battled against Bengal till both of them were taken over by the Mughals. The Sisodias of Mewar engaged Gujarat and Malwa, and almost overcame them in the reign of Rana Sanga. Gujarat recovered for a short time only to be taken over by the Mughals. The Vijayanagara Empire contained the Bahmanis from southward expansion in a fierce struggle spread over more than two centuries, in which fortunes on both sides waxed and waned. The destruction of the metropolis at Vijayanagara did not lead to the destruction of the Vijayanagara Empire. It barred the path of Bijapur for another seventy years. Meanwhile, the Marathas had come to control large parts of South India as nominal vassals of Ahmadnagar and Bijapur even before Shivaji appeared on the scene. And they were soon to deliver death blows to the remnants of the Bahmani empire which the Mughals hastened to incorporate in their own empire.

 

THE PROPER PERSPECTIVE
“Let us transcend the barren Deccan and conquer central India. The Mughals have become weak, insolent, womanizers and opium-addicts. The accumulated wealth of centuries in the vaults of the north, can be ours. It is time to drive from the holy land of Bharatvarsha the outcastes and the barbarians. Let us throw them back over the Himalayas, back to where they came from. The saffron flag must fly from the Krishna to the Indus. Hindustan is ours”. Peshwa Bajirao 1st

Reviewed as a whole, the period between the last decade of the 12th century and the first quarter of the 18th – the period which is supposed to be the period of Muslim empire in India – is nothing more than a period of long-drawn-out war between Hindu freedom fighters and the Muslim invaders. The Hindus lost many battles, and retreated again and again. But they recovered every time, and resumed the struggle so that eventually the enemy was worn out, defeated, and dispersed in the final round which started with the rise of Shivaji.

As we read the history of medieval India we find that only a few Hindu princes made an abject surrender before the proved superiority of Muslim arms. Muslim historians cite innumerable instances of how Hindus burnt or killed their womenfolk, and then died fighting to the last man. There were many instances of Muslims being defeated decisively by Hindu heroism. Many of the so-called Muslim conquests were mere raids which succeeded initially but the impact of which did not last for long. The account which Assam, Rajasthan, Bundelkhand, Orissa, Telingana, Tamil Nadu, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and the Punjab gave of themselves in successive waves of resistance and recovery, has not many parallels in human history.

It is, therefore, a travesty of truth to say that Islam enjoyed an empire in India for six centuries. What happened really was that Islam struggled for six centuries to conquer India for good, but failed in the final round in the face of stiff and continued Hindu resistance. Hali was not at all wrong when he mourned that the invincible armada of Hijaz which had swept over so many seas and rivers met its watery grave in the Ganges. Iqbal also wrote his Shikwah in sorrowful remembrance of the same failure. In fact, there is no dearth of Muslim poets and politicians who weep over the defeat of Islam in India in the past, and who look forward to a reconquest of India in the future. Hindus have survived as a majority in their motherland not because Islam spared any effort to conquer and convert them but because Islamic brutality met more than its equal in Hindu tenacity for freedom.

Nor is it anywhere near the truth to say that the British empire in India replaced an earlier Muslim empire. The effective political power in India had already passed into the hands of the Marathas, the Jats, and the Sikhs when the British started playing their imperialist game. The Muslim principalities in Bengal, Avadh, South India, Sindh, and the Punjab were no match for the Hindu might that had resurged. The Mughal emperor at Delhi by that time presented a pitiful picture of utter helplessness. The custodians of Islam in India were repeatedly inviting Ahmad Shah Abdali from across the border to come and rescue Islam from the abyss into which it had fallen.

By Sita Ram Goel

Also Read

 

The Myth of “1000 Years of Hindu Slavery”

What if India had turned Islamic ?

 

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Legendary Battles

Battle of Somnath : Symbol of Unbroken Faith

Amidst the thundering roar of projectiles and arrows an old man stood silently – behind him the sacred temple of Somnath was in ruins with hordes of Turk horsemen riding over the dead bodies of the custodians of the holy shrine. Their desperate attempts at defending the temple against the fanatical iconoclasm of the Muslim attackers saw thousands prostrate themselves before the sacred murti and rushing out sword in hand giving their lives in a desperate attempt to save the temple from desecration.
 
The aged 90 year old Rana Ghogna assembled his clansmen to defend the temple – from around thousands answered the call to face the ruthless Mahmud of Ghazni whose armies had raged from India to Iraq in devastating raids. The kingdoms of Central Asia and Persian fell before the armies of Mahmud as they poured in relentless waves into modern day Iran, Iraq and Afghanistan and finally towards India.

The aged Rajput warrior stood for ten hours against the endless waves of cavalry launched against him and his men – the undaunted Rana whose fame was spread across the Kathiawar region of Gujarat stood firm against the Turks resolved to give his life rather than tamely surrender the Somnath Temple to the hordes from Central Asia who had mercilessly destroyed countless churches, Zoroastrian fire temples and Buddhist monasteries.
 
The wily Ghaznavi, well aware that his lightning and unexpected raid to the Holy Shrine had caught the attention of his dreaded foe Raja Bhoja knew he had limited time before the Hindu forces racing towards Somnath would encircle and perhaps destroy him.

The veteran Rana stood as long as he had strength to defend the temple – Holding his battle axe the veteran of a thousand combats stood firm striking down his enemies until the ground to his left and right were littered with the bodies of his foe until eventually he fell under a wave of arrows.

Amidst a deluge of blood and dead and dying Hindu and Muslims warriors The temple was destroyed and the holy murti was unceremoniously carted off to Ghazi as a symbol of the victory of the ‘faithful’ The famed silver gates taken as well to different parts of the Ghaznavid Empire..

The efforts and sacrifices made to save the temple were never forgotten. The energy and zeal of Raja Bhoja rebuilt the temple. A further invasion of India by the Salur Ghazanvi in 1033 CE was caught by Raja Bhoja and Raja Sukhdev and in the Battle of Bharaich the pride of the nascent Muslim Empire in South Asia was humbled as over 100,000 of the until then undefeated Ghaznavi warriors were slain and the tide of attack stemmed for a further 150 years.

The temple rose and fell and rose again through the turbulent middle ages of South Asia as the Muslims and Hindus fought each other and sometimes in unison to rule the subcontinent. Thousands of temples were destroyed in a land traditionally known for its tolerance. The once mighty edifice of Buddhism was wiped out from the land of its origin and other groups like the Jains were reduced to an insignificant minority.

The Hindus resisted however and by the late 17th Century a huge wave of revolts and risings convulsed the country which eventually utterly destroyed the Muslim kingdoms in India – a movement which was only stopped by the sudden and treacherous  encroachments of the rising British Empire.
 
By 1782 the Maratha warlord Mahadji Sindhia – the kingmaker of India had emerged as the most powerful force in Northern India. His unmatched military skill and determination had allowed him to stamp and defeat the last vestiges of Mughal and Afghan power in India. Four of his brothers were martyred in the struggle of the Marathas against the Afghans in a time of tumultuous change.

By 1782 one of the sons of the dreaded Afghan king Ahmed Shah Abdali known as Mahmud Shah was in control of the vast city of Lahore. Sindhia however after establishing his power at Delhi with the backing of the Maratha legions of cavalry attached towards the Afghans- After a bitter engagement the Afghans withdrew and leaving countless of their dead and wounded behind them fled towards their distant mountain homes.

In their terror the Afghans failed to take with them the prized symbols of their perceived victories. The remnants of the famed original Somnath Temple were scattered across South Asia- Some had been taken by the hordes of plunderers under Mahmud Ghaznavi and he himself had taken the famed gates as a memorial to his kingdom.

The pious Maratha warrior located and took the famous silver gates of Somnath taken seven centuries earlier. Sindhia reverentially removed the gates from the clutches of the Afghan plunderers and in a great procession to be returned to their rightful place within the holy precincts.

Some have alleged that the Hindus have no sense of history but to a critical observer and reader of this turbulent period of Indian history cannot but fail to see the unending efforts to preserve and fight to rectify the historical wrongs inflicted on the collective psyche of the Hindu peoples of the subcontinent.

The victories won over the until then undefeated Arabs in the eighth century were followed by the invasions of the Ghaznavaids and their subsequent defeat in the Battle of Bhariach in 1033.

Further breakthroughs in the thirteenth century culminated in the fall of Chhittor in 1303 CE amidst a series of wars and bloodletting scarce seen in human history as the victory of the Islamic invaders now seemed complete. But just as the famed temples of India rose and fell – only to rise and fall again and again so the fortunes and spirit of the Hindus continued to rise after each setback . By the mid 1300-s the major and new Hindu kingdoms rose again as did the ancient schools of learning and teachings best represented in the teachings of the Bhakti movement.

The Somnath temple fell again only to rise again and again and was never forgotten. After the dawn of independence in 1947 the temple was once again reconstructed as a symbol of hope. Somnath has became a symbol of the undying spirit and energy of Dharma and the unrelenting spirit never to bow before the forces of fascist monotheism and hatred.The ongoing plight of the pagan Yazidis at the hands of the ISIS (Islamic State) jihadis in Iraq and Syria is a grim reminder of a thousand such attacks in the Indian subcontinent and that liberty and freedom have been bought at a terrible cost and sustained only through the ingrained truths contained within the fabric of Dharma.

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Introduction Legendary Battles

The Last Raid : Dying Embers of the Mughal Empire

In 1754 the Marathas arrived as the kingmakers in Delhi . The defeat and decline of the Imperial Mughal armies had led to the ethnic tensions between the ruling classes of the Mughals being the Iranis, the Turanis and the much despised Hindustanis. Their erstwhile allies composing of part of the Hindu ruling classes of the Rajputs remained indifferent to theses struggles secure in their mighty forts and castles.

The prime cause of this decline was their great rivals the Marathas – a Hindu warrior clan from the western parts of India who under the leadership of Shivaji (d1680) first shook and then shattered the Mughal dominions. Arising when it seemed like the Islamic conquest of the subcontinent was close to a final success after six centuries of bloodshed Shivaji rose to became the foundation of the mightiest force in India for the next 150 years. In his wake great uprisings from Rajasthan to Assam and from the Himalayan mountains to the deep south as the Hindu revival rose.

The leader of the Turanis (Sunni Muslims)  Imad Ul Mulk wished to control the battered remnants of the empire under his own leadership with the support of the Marathas and Rajputs and was against the Iranis (Shia Muslims) under Safdar Jung with the Jats, Persians and Hindu Naga Sadhu battalions.

This plan involved a settlement between the factions under the leadership of the emperor Ahmed Shah and involved a joint challenge to the Marathas who were pouring every north year after year.

Ahmed Shah – the lineal descendant of Aurangzeb immediately settled the arrears of his troops and formed up the newly trained Mughal army and set to lead this new coalition against a large Maratha force led by the regional commander Malhar Rao Holkar who was believed to be at a distance of 100 miles from the capital with an army of 20,000

After leaving his palace on the 27th April 1754 the Mughals reached Sikandrabad on the 8th May of the same year when news reached him that Malhar Rao had left his siege of Kumher and marching towards Delhi with all speed to attack the Emperor. The cowardly Emperor lost his nerve and began to fall back on Delhi despite the Marathas being over 100 miles from his position.  After a few weeks of manoeuvres news reached the Mughals on the 26th May that the Marathas had been sighted within 24 miles of the camp. Ahmed Shah mustered his captains and troops and ordered the imperial war drum to be sounded to fall back to Shorajpur accompanied with his minister Roz Afrun Khan , his wife’s sister Dilafroz Begum, his mother Udham Bai his wife Inayetpuri Bai and his sons together with the other ladies, princesses and support staff of his harem

During this march around midday the alarm was sounded and the vast crowd of the Mughal camp was thrown into confusion at the sight of the Maratha horsemen fast approaching

The war experienced Maratha Commander Malhar Rao immediately dispersed his swift moving cavalry in a vast net around the Mughals – his mounted troops opened fire with their matchlocks and then ordered the charge over the uneven and broken ground. The Mughal lines was smashed in the first charge leading to indescribable confusion in the camp. The lines of caravans were broken as soldiers and civilians alike each fled for safety where they could find it only to find the net of their enemies closing in around them.

The Emperor fled on a fast paced mount with his mother and favourite wife and thus escaped but left behind him his family, his wives and daughters and those of the Mughal nobility to the mercy of their Hindu enemies.

A huge amount of gold and coins fell into the hands of the Marathas but the greatest loss was the loss of prestige for the empire- the hardy cavalry of the Maharashtra mountains had in their captivity the honour of the Imperial family, queens and princesses – as the author Sarkar states – never had such a calamity befallen on the house of Timur’

Scattered groups began to reach Delhi behind the fleeing Emperor who to his horror learned of the fate of his family. Many of the caravans and raths were overturned and those of the Mughal ladies were torn apart with their ornaments and clothes being seized and countless of them being dishonored and led into captivity by the Maratha soldiers.

Some fled towards Delhi – others like the kings mother were protected by Malhar Rao who had now arrived.  Imad arrived in Malhars camp in humiliation complaining that the Marathas would listen to no one and that he was their slave in this matter.

On the 30th May Malhar Rao sent his demands to the emperor as his troops began to attack the suburbs of the Mughal capital – The capital trembled in terror as the outlying suburbs were put to the sword and set on fire. The memories of the previous year’s sack of Old Delhi by the Jats under Suraj Mal was still fresh in the memory of the Mughal population.

The following day the Emperor agreed to all of the demands of the Marathas. Punjab, Sind and the frontier areas were all ceded to the Peshwa – in effect the Chauth (tribute) of all of South Asia was granted to the Marathas –

The mother of the Emperor was led back to Delhi in the deepest of humiliation and despair – the Mughal courtiers having seen their families and servants led into captivity or humiliated the following day rose against the Emperor and dragged from the prison cells a distance cousin and placed him on the now powerless throne of Delhi – the unfortunate Ahmed Shah was blinded and thrown into a prison cell with his mother dying of natural causes in 1775.

The Marathas continued on their path and even after their great setback at the Battle of Panipat remained the preeminent power in India marching into Delhi on numerous occasions in the next decades culminating in the rise of the great Maratha warlord Mahadji Sindhia who stamped out the very last vestiges of Mughal and Pathan armies in 1788

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latest News

Sambhaji, The Paladin.3D Animation Short

There has been no other character in Maratha history that has been so enigmatic and controversial as Sambhajiraje Bhosale. Sambhaji or Shambhu raje as he was fondly called , was the eldest son of the legendary Shivaji Maharaj. He was born on 14th May 1647 at Fort Purander. Curiously Sambhajiraje has as many loyalists as he has his share of critics. Some dismiss him as hedonistic , reckless , and cruel , whereas some revere him as the bravest Maratha king that ever lived. Perhaps the truth lies somewhere in between these two conflicting versions. Sambhajis reign was short and very tumultuous to say the least. His life was abrupt and death so very tragic. But Sambhaji, with his death achieved much more than what he did during his lifetime. He is still deified as the true hindu martyr, that preferred death, to the ignoble life of subservience.

Directed by Praful Kadu
COABARC,Amravati ( Maharashtra,India) Film Promo by Vijay Raut.

More on Sambhaji : A Heroic Death that Changed the Course of Indian History

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Analysis

Akbaruddin Owaisi’s : 15 minutes of Fame hiding Historical Shame

Akbaruddin OwaisiAmidst the recent furore over the comments made by Akbarudddin Owaisi in Hyderabad it once again brought to the fore the residual prejudice and hatred lingering under the surface of otherwise educated and modern people.

His boasting of ‘Muslim’ fighting prowess against the much hated Hindu ‘other’  before cheering crowds of his supporters and his subsequent brazen defiance of the law had made headlines across India and beyond.

But what great fighting ability is he talking about? What residue of the utterly discredited ‘martial race’ theory in which certain races were classified by the British as martial and others as non-martial was he relying upon?

The state of Hyderabad was formed at a time amidst the collapse of the Mughal Empire. The relentless 27 year struggle of the Mughal Emperor Aurangzeb against the Hindus and the Marathas in particular had absorbed the principal Mughal forces and grandees in the southern parts of India for decades at an appalling cost to human lives and property. The devastating attacks and raids of Maratha warriors sapped the strength of the Mughal armies who eventually retreated to the North in confusion and defeat.

The founder of the Hyderabad state was known as the Nizam who harboured dreams of creating his own empire. With a generous chunk of the Mughal treasury and army he established himself at the city of Hyderabad in the south, at first ostensibly a feudatory of the Mughals and then as an independent state. The rise of the warrior Maratha leader Baji Rao caused the Maratha forces to pour in an irresistible wave into north India and in great alarm the sly Nizam knowing that he was unable to fight with his Hindu adversaries clandestinely supported the Maratha northward expansion. Eventually however he was brought to bay by Baji Rao and suffered a devastating defeat at the Battle of Bhopal in 1738 following which he became a virtual tributary to the Maratha Empire.

Subsequent events also do not reflect favourably upon the Nizam and his descendant. Attempts to contend with his Maratha enemies led to further disgraceful defeats in the Battle of Udgir (1758)  – the Battle of Rakhsabavan (1763) and finally in a climactic defeat of the Battle of Kharda (1795)  – Unable to contend or to escape from his Hindu enemies the so called ‘martial’ warriors of the Mughals clung to the rising British forces for protection. As the climactic years of the 18th century concluded amidst a long and protracted war between the British and the Marathas in 1803-1805 and then in 1818 the British emerged victorious and the Nizam for his cowardice and loyalty rewarded with his rule over Hyderabad confirmed.

And thus the Nizam was finally safe – to rule and tyrannise over his state under the protection of the British Empire as their oldest and most valued servant.

An Indian Army motor column is cheered by villagers on its way to Naldurg, Hyderabad.The dawn of independence saw the wave of freedom roll over the nation but leave the ‘martial’ Muslims of Hyderabad untouched. In an incredible display of stupidity he declared his ascension to Pakistan despite being located in the deep south of India. After decades of defeats at the hands of his Hindu neighbours and a hundred years of utter passiveness against the British he formed his armed forces to repress and kill the Hindu population of his state. He formed a radical and murderous militia known as the Razakars to terrorise and slaughter the unarmed Hindus who began to rise against his tyrannous state. Again the forerunners of Owaisi talked of their fighting prowess and devastating consequences to the Hindus if the struggle continued.

It is of course a matter of history that the intervention of the Indian army in 1948 and the collapse of the Hyderabad forces within 5 days after a tirade of rhetoric in line with the recent spewing of Mr Owaisi of dire consequences and the fighting abilities of the Muslims – it has become a laughing stock of military capitulation and humiliation

In line with the above we can understand that after making his disgusting speech Owaisi in line with his forerunners of the Hyderabad state fled to London for sanctuary – the long and humiliating history of the Hyderabad Nizams in which they failed to defeat a single significant enemy and yet still beat their chests boasting of their bravery could ask for no more.

 

 

 

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Analysis

A Heroic Death that Changed the Course of Indian History


After the death of the great king Shivaji in 1680 the nascent Maratha kingdom faced a great challenge. The Moghul Emperor Aurungzeb had been confounded and defeated by the repeated battles with the Marathas and the high spirit of Shivaji. With the forces of fanaticism released throughout South Asia and to sustain himself the aged emperor leaned ever heavier on the clerics and upon religious exclusivism. The king of the Marathas with his slaying of the Afghan war leader, Afzal Khan, the daring attack on Shaista Khan and the escape from the very depths of the Mughal Empire in Delhi were the stuff of legend in the lifetime of Shivaji himself. The deaths of the great Rajput Chiefs, Jai Singh and Jaswant Singh around the same time seemed to open the floodgates of repression and extremism even further. Orders were issued to demolish the Hindu temples and impose the hated poll tax on non-Muslims – the jaziya.

As the empire groaned in its agony resistance began to multiply and grow leading to further repressions. The Bundelas in central India began fighting; the Jats of the Mathura region and the Rajput clans of the Rathores and Sisodiyas in Rajasthan even leading to a son of Aurangzeb named Akbar  to join the Rajput’s. In fury the enraged Emperor led the main imperial army to crush his son and his erstwhile rebellion.

Further south the Mughals believed that the Marathas would be unable to repeat their exploits under the son of Shivaji, Shambaji thinking that the sustenance of this new Hindu kingdom rested on one able man alone. Like so many other rebellions in that period, he thought the Maratha movement too must have received its death blow with the passing of its able leader, and by the fact that Shivaji had been succeeded by his brave but incapable son, Sambhaji. Sambhaji had courage, which he indeed demonstrated on various occasions, but also indulged in excesses leading his father on occasion forced to consider a severe punishment for his own son. Sambhaji in his rage left and joined the Moghuls! This was an intensely painful time in Shivaji’s life. Sambhaji left the Moghuls and begged for forgiveness when he witnessed first-hand the atrocities against Hindus.

Shambaji offered refuge to Akbar and in 1682 the lost son of Aurangzeb escorted by the Rajput’s arrived in safety in Maharashtra. Close behind the Emperor entered the Maratha Kingdom in the same year. Few would have guessed that he would never return to the north spending the last 27 years of his life in a futile and eventually failed war with the Hindus.

The war was engaged and raged from this period onwards in a steady ebb and flow in the hills of western India with neither side able to emerge over the other. The steady courage of Shambaji was only matched by his impetuous and rash nature. Only his minister Kavi Kalash was able to exercise any control over the headstrong king. An equal measure of the rage of shamabji was directed towards any perceived rivals or dissenters in his kingdom and he dealt with the same with extreme severity and with all the rage for which he was justly famous.

Blood flowed over the mountains and the land was ruined but the people fought on. The full force of the empire was now borne down on the barren hills and the prime generals and troops of the Mughals now all entered into the fray. For seven years more that war continued with its monotonous tale of attack and counter attack – of determined sieges and equally determined sieges. Of forts falling to the Mughals only to be retaken months later and for the cycle of destruction to continue.

In 1689 however the situation changed. The Maratha king was at Sangameshwar unaware of the nearness of his enemies and with a scant force around him. After a sudden raid under Muqarrab Khan a Mughal force reached the place and after a bitter fight succeeded in capturing Shamabaji and Kavi Kalash.

The next chapter is best described in the words of the : Masir I Alambiri, the official history of Aurangzeb’s reign:

Shamba was brought before the court. The Emperor out of his devotion to Islam ordered that from four miles before the camp Shambha should be made an object of ridicule …..so that the Muslims might be encouraged and the Hindus discouraged by the sight. The night in the morning after which he was brought to the Court …in the joyous expectation of seeing the spectacle, and the day was like the day of Eid because all men, old and young went out to see such a scene of joy and happiness.

The Emperor ordered that man to be removed to the prisons and in that moment Aurangzeb descended from the throne and kneeling down on the carpet of prayer bowed his head to the ground in thanksgiving and raised his hands in prayer to Allah….and drops of marvel(lit tears) fell from his far reaching eyes As the destruction of this wicked infidel in consideration of the harshness and disgrace that he had inflicted by slaying and imprisoning Muslims and plundering Muslims — and by the decision of the Doctors of the Law all were in favour of killing Shamba and thus he was killed with Kavi Kalash.

After two days the Emperor ordered Ruhullah Khan to ask Shamba where he had kept his treasure . In these circumstances that haughty man opened his mouth in defiant and vain words about the Emperor (Aurangzeb) – So the Emperor ordered him to be blinded by driving nails into his two eyes -So it was done. But that proud man from his high spirit gave up taking food from that day onwards and continued to shout defiance to The emperor and the tenents of Islam.

Maratha sources report:

When they were brought face to face with Aurangzeb, the latter offered to let Sambhaji live if he surrendered all the Maratha forts, turned over all his hidden treasures and disclosed the names of all the Mughal officers who had helped him. Sambhaji refused, and instead sang the praises of Mahadev (Lord Shiva). Aurangzeb ordered him and Kavi Kalash to be tortured to death. Sambhaji and Kavi Kalash were brutally tortured for over a fortnight. The torture involved plucking out their eyes and tongue and pulling out their nails. The later part involved removing their skin. On March 11, 1689, Sambhaji was finally killed, reportedly by tearing him apart from the front and back with ‘Wagh Nakhe’ (‘Tiger claws’, a kind of weapon), and was beheaded with an axe. This grievous death was given to him at Vadhu on the banks of the Bhima river, near Pune.

From the Persian history (Fatuhat I Alamgiri) :

“At last the case was reported to the Emperor and by his order Shambaji was taken to the place of execution and his limbs were hacked of one after the other- his severed head was publicly exposed across the Empire and taken to Delhi and hung on the gate of that city”

All accounts refer to days of horrific torture and agony which were borne with astonishing firmness and stoicism by Shambaji and his Brahmin minister Kavi Kalash. Even the purported offers of clemency on the public display of submission and/or an escape from the horror by conversion to Islam had little effect on the unfortunate Maratha king. After being blinded and his tongue cut from his mouth he surprisingly with great difficulty was still able to communicate and to continue to offer defiance to his oppressors.The memory of his inspirational father must have been close to Shambaji in the last days – given just sufficient time to rest between the tortures and removal of limbs after nearly two weeks of horrendous and unthinkable pain the broken and limbless king was executed – His head was cut off and placed in public display around the cities and towns of Maharashtra as a warning. But it did not have the desired effect.

The news of the execution of the son of the much revered and loved king Shivaji send a wave of horror and revulsion throughout the land. His brother Rajaram took the crown and retreated to the great fortress of Jinji to endure a 10 year long siege by the Mughals. The excesses of Shamabji were forgotten – news of the method of his death and more importantly the accounts of the dead king spread like wildfire amongst the Marathas. For his adherence to the Hindu Dharma the people named him ‘Dharamveer’ the warrior of Dharma

In the moment of his apparent triumph Aurangzeb was beset by an even greater tide of enemies. The Marathas under their war bands and leaders took to fight all over the western and southern parts of India from coast to coast. Their soldiers everywhere continually harried and fought the Mughals in an even greater tidal wave of resistance. The harried and worn emperor continued to fight in the face of ever increasing odds. The peoples of the north of India began to rise in rebellions and struggles eventually leading to the destruction of the Mughals. For 27 long years Aurangzeb continued with his fight against the Marathas only to die in despair in 1707.

The son of Shivaji had redeemed the pledge of his father of Hindu Padshahi – His heroic death led to the eventual victory over the forces The Maratha Hindu empire rose on the ruins of the Mughals and a hundred years after the execution of Shambaji a defeated and blinded Mughal Padshah, Shah Alam fell at the feet and mercy of the Maratha warrior and kingmaker Mahadji Sindhia.

The dreams and inspirations of the great Hindu Monarch Shivaji echo through history as a lesson against the forces of fanaticism and prejudice.

 

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Historical Figures

Mahadji Sindhia: Life and Times of a Dharmic Warrior

Amidst the fading light the bursts of gunfire and piles of the dead and dying a young man lay dying. Or at least he thought he was dying amidst the wreck of humanity with nearly sixty thousand warriors slain around him. The field of Panipat in early 1761 was stained red with the blood of Marathas and Afghans locked in a fatal and bloody embrace only broken after the last of many charges of Sadashiv Bhau on the numerically stronger enemy.

On the fatal battlefield Mahadji Sindhia lay wounded. His brothers were dead in the service of their people and pursuit of the dream of Hindu Padshahi as envisioned by Shivaji the Great. After seven hundred years of endless warfare the rise of the Maratha peoples had decisively tilted the balance of power between the Hindus and Muslims on the Indian subcontinent. Overreaching ambition however led to the disaster at Panipat but from that dark day the wounded and mangled body of Mahadji Sindhia was dragged from the heaps of the slain to freedom.

His father Ranoji Sindhia had been one of the cavalry leaders of the all conquering Maratha hero Baji Rao as he subdued most of North India. An early start at the age of 10  in the company of his brothers and father on their yearly forays swiftly displayed his aptitude on the campaign trail and ability to mould with the swift and tireless Maratha army. From the deep South of India to the invasion of Punjab in 1757.Mahadji Sindhia at an early age learnt the modes of warfare of Mughal, Afghan, North Indian and Europeans. He watched the irresistible waves of horsemen humble the once mighty Mughals and destroy  the pride of the Pathans. But from the field of Panipat the dreams of empire were laid low to a point where none believed they could rise again.

A slow recovery from his wounds led to his elevation to the head of the Sindhia clan and his valour in helping defeat Tipu Sultan exalted his status.  The shaky recovery of the Marathas was sealed by their decisive defeat of the Nizam Ali and thoughts of revenge now occupied their minds.

The treacherous leaders of the Indian Afghans was Najib Khan who under the tutelage of Ahmed Shah Abdali had dominated the remnants of the Mughal Empire in North India for the decade after the Battle of Panipat. They had been held at bay only by the valour of Suraj Mal leading the clans of Hindu tribesman known as the Jats in the Mathura region and the arms of the Rajput kingdoms in the deserts of Thar.

But now a new Maratha army was marching again to North India in 1769 to complete their uncompleted mission and amongst them marched Mahadji Sindhia. After a bitter battle before the gates of the Red Fort of Delhi the Afghans fled leaving the Mughals to face the Marathas alone.

Frantic efforts to collect a pan Islamic alliance to defeat the Hindus resulted in a heavy defeat within a short span of time for the Afghans as they were driven from Delhi northwards to Rohilkhand. There following the death of Najinb Khan vengeance caught up with the Afghans as his tomb was torn open in contempt and his bones thrown into a blazing fire. His grandson Ghulam Qadir however escaped. Back in Delhi the Mughal emperor Shah Alam in quivering fear allowed Mahadji Sindhia to become the defacto ruler of the remnants of the Mughal Empire ruled in the name of the Maratha Peshwa.

This was a historical moment which sent a ripple of pride throughout the Maratha Empire a culmination of their century old struggle against the Mughals and foreign domination and an apt succession to the vision of the great Emperor Shivaji. It was also a timely reply to the efforts of the last Muhammadan marauder to test the borders of ancient India – the Afghans, as their dreams of an Indian Empire fell into the dust.

A new enemy however was hovering on the horizon to dim the tide of successes. As the millennia old struggle seemed to have tipped irretrievably towards the Hindus in the rise of the Maratha Empire , the independence of the Rajputs, the rise of the Jats and Bundela kingdom and the rise of the Ahom peoples of eastern India a new threat was rising

The encroachments of European predatory civilisation was steadily overwhelming all indigenous cultures of the world. The regional powers of the erstwhile Mughal Empire was falling one by one to the Hindu resurgence from the end of the 17th Century onwards as the tides of history began turning against them.

Modern trained British forces was already on the subcontinent backing the nefarious tactics of the East India Company and following the devastating raids on Bengal by the Maratha cavalry from the 1740’s onwards the Nawabs of Bengal clung to British protection to save them. The British however continued to pay the yearly tribute from Bengal to the Maratha Empire until the disaster of Panipat. Thereafter the Marathas were locked into a battle for survival and then revival. The intervening decade saw the British establish their stranglehold over Bengal and began the economic rape and devastation of that province.

The attacks of the Marathas and Jats on the province of Awadh under led their Nawab to cling to British protection in 1772 and gave them the opportunity to meddle in Indian affairs. Very soon apart from Mysore virtually all the remaining Muslim states made alliances with the Europeans to preserve themselves against their Hindu adversaries.

The same year saw the death of the head of the Maratha Empire, Madhav Rao and an ensuing struggle for control in which the British saw the chance to push their feet into India. A large and well equipped British forces began to advance towards Pune, the capital of the Empire to be faced by Mahadji Sindhia.

A furious campaign saw the lands before the marching British fired and waves of Marathas cavalry harrying and attacking the British in endless attacks day and night. Eventually desperate with their supplies breaking the British began to retreat to be caught in a pincer movement at Wadgaon and beaten to utter exhaustion. The British force surrendered and signed a treaty of peace with the Marathas in a humiliating loss witnessed by the entire Indian spectrum.  The Punic bad faith of the British however allowed them to repudiate the treaty as soon as they could and the war continued for another 7 years. Despite the calling of further troops and resources from across the Empire the British East India Company was eventually unable to continue the struggle and made peace in 1782.

The main architect of the war and peace was Mahadji Sindhia whose stature now rose above all others. He immediately set march for Delhi again and swept aside the pretensions of independence that the Mughals had started reasserting. The man of faith and action had now become the most powerful man in India holding the Mughals, Afghans and British at bay. He swiftly began to match the Maratha cavalry with a formidable Europeanised infantry units and in the north an alliance with the Hindu Jat tribes of Bharatpur. The empire now starched to the Sutlej river in Punjab with virtually all states being directly or indirectly under their control

This however led to deep resentment amongst the Muslim princes of India, They had either clung to the British for protection or were fleeing across the land in search of protection. Tens and thousands of leaderless Muslims soldiers were sitting idle after the breakup of their states. The leadership of the Afghans was taken up by Ghulam Qadir and that of the Mughal soldiers Ismail Beg. In 1788 whilst Sindhia was in Rajasthan the two warlords gathered their troops to them and raised the banner of revolt. Swarms of Muhamadan soldiers, to whom the domination of the Hindus was intolerable, gathered to them and very soon vast forces were arrayed against Sindhia in the North of India. Delhi itself was taken by Ismail Beg and Ghulam Qadir as the banner of Jihad was raised to unite the confederates.

Sindhia situation was become desperate at the British were also now pressing the frontiers eager to take revenges for their previous humiliations and the spectre of the Panipat campaign began to haunt the Marathas. However with a series of masterful strokes Mahadji combined the waves of Maratha horsemen with the Europeanised Campoo regiments whilst stocking the forts and castles with the sturdy Hindu Jat warriors.

The forts of Agra and Mathura were stormed in a series of bloody battles and the fleeing Muslim coalition fled to Delhi for protection. Here Sindhia caught up with them an enforced a siege on the city. Inside the situation was become increasingly desperate. The calls of the faithful to resist the infidel were beginning to fail and the Emperor Shah Alams heart failed him. Infighting erupted between the Mughals and Afghans and in fury the Afghans cut out the eyes of the Emperor and dishonoured his family only being stopped from murdering the entire royal family by Maniyar Singh a Rajput warrior.

Sindhia took the opportunity to attack the city and after a furious struggle in which fighting erupted from outer walls to the Red Fort he broke the defences. Thousands of Afghans were stripped and dragged through the streets reviled by the city folk who they had tormented. The Mughals fled in utter defeat whilst Ghulam Qadir was captured. The blind Mughal Emperor begged Sindhia for deliverance with the break up of the Muslim alliance.

Indeed it proved the last Islamic enterprise to rule India. The unbroken resistance of the Hindu clans throughout the medieval period had prevented the Turks and Mughals alike from creating little more than armed settlements in the plains of India. Vast tracts remained under the control of Hindu states and warlords which by the close of the 1600’s had lead to huge uprisings which first shook and them brought tumbling down the corrupt edifence of the Mughals. And now a hundred years later the last vestiges of empire combined in a last alliance to break the millennia old resistance of the Hindus to end in utter defeat. Ismail Beg became a wanderer with a handful of followers whilst Ghulam Qadir lay in prison and then to gratify the vengeance of the blinded Shah Alam Sindhia ordered the Afghan prince to be dragged through the streets of Delhi for execution and his dead body to be hung from a tree.

By 1792 Sindhias triumph was complete. His hold over the Maratha Empire in the name of the Peshwa was sealed and defacto over the nominal empire of the Mughals. His name and fame had brought the once proud Mughals and Afghans to their knees and humbled the power of the otherwise victorious British Empire. As a colossus he strode over the plains of Northern India with the inspirational cavalry tactics of his noble predecessor Shivaji the Great combining it with the new model of Europeanised infantry, the campoo regiments. Factories for armaments had been established and the economic stability after decades of warfare was now ensured. The remaining Muslims states, barring that of Tipu Sultan only survived due to the protection and economic pillaging of the British who in their turn shied away from confronting the mighty Sindhia.

His calm nature amidst the turmoil’s of the age stood in stark contrast to his adversaries. His devotion to his spiritual Guru and an unshakeable faith enabled him to deal with confront and defeat the most implacable enemies. His understanding of the political and historical landscape enabled him to complete the military defeat of the remaining Muhamadan powers in the Indian subcontinent and establish a system capable of taking on the European encroachments.

His death in 1795 at a relatively young age changed the political landscape but his contribution is not forgotten or can it be underestimated. He showed that the combination of indigenous innovation and value could not only compete with but emerge victorious over a millennia of genocidal attacks and the tidal wave of monolithic globalisation.

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