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Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Lessons for modern-day Hindus from Hindu Hriday Samrat Shivchhatrapati Maharaj

We have been bringing to you different aspects of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the previous four parts (read Part 1, Part 2, Part 3 and Part 4 here). In this concluding part we bring to fore some important aspects of Shivray which ‘secularists’ would never want Hindus to know and how each of us can emulate the great Chhatrapati to make our lives meaningful.


The biggest fraud played on Hindus post-independence (thanks to Gandhi, Nehru, communists, leftist historians & their coterie) is de-Hinduising Hindu heroes & heroines to suit their narrow definition of ‘secularism’, rather pseudo-secularism, by either reducing them to caricatures as in the case of Vikramaditya of Ujjain or side-lining them by making them mere footnotes in our history texts as has been with dynasty after dynasty right from Guptas and Satavahanas to Kalingas & Chalukyas or turning them into ‘bandits with misplaced nationalism’ like Rana Pratap or secularising them by disregarding all evidences to the contrary as has been done with Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj or maligning their character as in the case of Chhatrapati Sambhaji Raje.

All of this along with the misplaced concept of ‘ahimsa’ was done with the sole aim of making Hindus weaker and even ashamed of themselves. However, the time has come to puncture these agenda-ridden definitions and bring about a Hindu renaissance by re-establishing Hindu pride. Let us cite a few examples from Chhatrapati Shivray’s life by quoting his contemporaries and those close to him who are far more genuine authorities than so called modern historians.

  • Kavi Paramanand who authored Shri Shiva Bharat, a biography on Raje, on the instructions of Chhatrapati himself says: When Raje came to Kalyan Bhiwandi, he not just restored all temples which had been converted into mosques but also imprisoned the kazis and maulvis.
  • North Bharat was overrun by Islamic forces and Hindu Dharma was under threat and that is when Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj rose from the Sahyadris to stop the mighty Mughal juggernaut. Acknowledging Raje’s contribution to saving Hindu Dharma, Kavi Bhushan has written:

देवल गिरावते फिरावते निसान अली ऐसे डूबे राव राने सबी गये लबकी,

गौरागनपति आप औरन को देत ताप आप के मकान सब मारि गये दबकी।

पीरा पयगम्बरा दिगम्बरा दिखाई देत सिद्ध की सिधाई गई रही बात रबकी,

कासिहू ते कला जाती मथुरा मसीद होती सिवाजी न होतो तौ सुनति होत सबकी॥

(Rough translation: temples have been destroyed, Hindu Gods like Vighnaharta Ganesh are also not to be seen, misfortune has fallen on Kashi and Mathura has become a masjid, if Shivaji hadn’t been there then every Hindu would’ve been converted to Muslim).

  • If North was facing threat from Islam, as was Deccan, down south Hindus in Goa were facing ‘inquisition’ from the Portuguese. Goa was divided into Bardes (top), Tiswadi (middle) and Sashti (lower part) and the viceroy was stationed at Tiswadi. At that time a new viceroy named Count of Saint Vincent had arrived at Goa who passed an order to the effect that Hindus had to either convert to Roman Catholicism or face torture or simply leave everything behind and go away from Goa if they wanted to save their Dharma and lives. Chhatrapati Shivaji Raje entered into a temporary ceasefire with the Adilshahis so that he could deal with the Portuguese. Maharaj came to Bardes when Hindus made a representation to him explaining the entire situation.

Maharaj ordered his men to bring entire villages and following this order a total of 15,000 people including men, women and children were brought before him. There were four Jesuit pastors among those brought in who were instrumental in getting the said order passed by the viceroy. The four were brought before Maharaj who asked them ‘if they would convert to Hindu Dharma. When the four refused to oblige, Maharaj ordered that the four be beheaded and their heads sent to the viceroy. As soon as this was done, the viceroy withdrew his order.

  • Sant Ramdas refers to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as ‘Dharma Rakshi’ (saviour of Dharma and saviour of ‘Dev, dharma, gau (cattle) and Brahman’. When cattle and brahmins have been mentioned explicitly can there be any doubt that the Dharm being referred to here is none other than ‘Hindu Dharma’?
  • In part 1 of this series we have mentioned how Chhatrapati Shivaji Raje seethed with anger at the sight of cow slaughter during his stay at Bijapur.
  • Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj states in his ‘Budh Bhushanam’ (Chapter 2, Shlok 554) ‘the Kshatriya who studies the Vedas, does yagna, protects his people, dies while defending cattle and Brahmin or falls on the battlefield while fighting, he gains a place in heaven. When Raje wrote this he was just 14 and his inspiration was his father and grandfather. Now doesn’t that put all questions to rest?
  • Well if it doesn’t, then this certainly should. Chhatrapati Sambhaji Maharaj used to donate 10,000 gold coins to Namdeo Bhatt’s son whom Raje referred to as Swami. The citation of donation in Sanskrit written by Raje himself describes three generations of Bhonsales from Maloji Raje to Chhatrapati Shivaji Raje. He refers to Maloji as ‘go-brahmana pratipalak’ (saviour of cows and brahmins), to Shahaji Raje as ‘haindava dharma jeernordhara karma dritamati (one who began the restoration of Hindu Dharma), to Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as ‘mleccha shay dikshita’ (one who has decided to be annihilator of mlecchas i.e. foreign invaders).

All of these have been conveniently left out to create a ‘pseudo-secular’ image and where that hasn’t been possible then Chhatrapati has been treated like a ‘bandit with misplaced nationalism’. Bharat is probably the only country where a Hindu proudly proclaiming oneself as a Hindu is treated with disdain and looked down upon. However, truth can never be hidden for long and sooner than later it does come out. Hidden truth is a dormant volcano which destroys all lies that kept it contained, the day it breaks free.

We as Hindus don’t have to take out swords but we need to protect our Dharma through intellectual debates today. The first step towards that is arming ourselves with the correct knowledge. We hope that this series on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj has kindled the spirit of inquiry and inspired you to take pride in being a Hindu as well as provided some amount of armoury to take on pseudo-secular propaganda.

References:

  1. Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj as ‘Gaubrahman pratipalak’ (Source)
  2. Sant Ramdas on Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj (Source)
  3. Shivcharitra by Historian (Late) Sri Ninad Bedekar (Source)

(Featured Image Source: Twitter)


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Maitri
Maitri
A opinionated girl-next-door with an attitude. I'm certainly not afraid to call myself 'a proud Hindu' and am positively politically incorrect. A Bharatiya at heart who loves reading, music, sports and nature. Travelling and writing are my passions.

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