Maharana Pratap

Maharana Pratap (1540-1597) was a ruler of Mewar, a state in north-western India. He belonged to the Sisodia clan of Suryavanshi Rajputs. The epitome of fiery Rajput pride and self-respect, Pratap has for centuries exemplified the qualities that Rajputs aspire to.

Accession

Pratap was a son of Maharana Udai Singh II, who was the father of twenty-five sons. The male-line descendents of Udai Singh II bear the patronymic "Ranawat". In 1568, during the reign of Udai Singh II, Mewar was conquered by the Mughal emperor Akbar. The third Jauhar of Chittor transpired, with the ladies of the fort finding "safety from personal dishonour in the devouring element (fire)," while the remaining menfolk sallied forth to certain death in the battlefield.

Prior to this calamity, Udai Singh and his family had fled to the safety of the nearby hills. He later moved base to another location in the foothills of the Aravalli Range. This new base gradually became the city of Udaipur, named after him. Udai Singh wanted Jagmal, his favourite son, to succeed him. However, with the help of senior nobles, Pratap took over the responsibility of leadership in 1572. It was the beginning of a career of struggle and hardship.

Conflict

Chittorgarh (Chittor fort), Pratap's ancestral home, was under Mughal occupation. Living a life on the run, the dream of reconquering Chittor (and thus reclaiming the glory of Mewar) was greatly cherished by Pratap, and his future efforts were bent towards this goal.

Nearly all of Pratap's fellow Rajput chiefs had meanwhile entered into the vassalage of the Mughals. Even Pratap's own brothers, Shakti Singh and Sagar Singh, were serving Akbar. Indeed, many Rajput chiefs, such as Raja Man Singh of Amber (later known as Jaipur) were serving as army commanders in Akbar's armies and members of his council. Akbar sent a total of six diplomatic missions to Pratap, seeking to negotiate the same sort of peaceful alliance that he had concluded with the other Rajput chiefs. Pratap roundly rebuffed every such attempt.

For the new capital-Udaipur, Maharana Udai Singh constructed a water reservoir–Udai Sagar in 1565. It was on its dam that in June 1573 Kunwar(Prince) Man Singh of Amber, as the emissary of Mughal Emperor Akbar, arrogantly demanded that Maharana Pratap should give up protocol and be present at the feast in his honor. Pratap and Man Singh were of the same age, both were born on May 9,1540, but one was king while the other a prince. Pratap, following the protocol, sent his son Kunwar Amar Singh to dine with Kunwar Man Singh Akbar's special envoy.This incident precipitated the Mughal-Mewar conflict. (Man Singh was a Kunwar, his father Raja Bhagwan Das led another unsuccessful peace mission to Rana Pratap in October 1573 at which Rana Pratap was personally present). Raja Bhagwan Das and Kunwar Man Singh won Kashmir for Mughals in 1586, that is Man Singh was NOT the Raja of Amer, later Jaipur,till 1586. Man Singh was confied the title of Mirza Raja in 1590.

Battle of Haldighati

On June 21, 1576 (June 18 by other calculations), the two armies met at Haldighati, near the town of Gogunda in present-day Rajasthan. While accounts vary as to the exact strength of the two armies, all sources concur that the Mughal forces greatly outnumbered Pratap's men. The battle of Haldighati, a historic event in the annals of Rajputana, lasted only four hours. In this short period, Pratap's men essayed many brave exploits on the field. Folklore has it that Pratap personally attacked Man Singh: his horse Chetak placed its front feet on the trunk of Man Singh's elephant and Pratap threw his lance; Man Singh ducked, and the elephant driver was killed.

However, the numerical superiority of the Mughal army and their artillery finally began to tell. Seeing that the battle was lost, Pratap's generals prevailed upon him to flee the field so as to be able to fight another day. To facilitate Pratap's escape, one of his lieutenants, a member of the Jhala clan, donned Pratap's distinctive garments and took his place in the battlefield. He was soon killed. Meanwhile, riding his trusty steed Chetak, Pratap made good his escape to the hills.

But Chetak was critically wounded on his left thigh by a Mardana (Elephant Trunk Sword) while Pratap had attempted to nail down Man Singh. Chetak was bleeding heavily and he collapsed after jumping over a small brook few kilometers away from the battle field. While Pratap’s General donned Pratap’s clothing and armour, it went unnoticed thanks to the chaos of the war but for two Turk knights from the Mughal army. They could not communicate it with others in their group, due to linguistic barrier (the appropriate language would have been Persian, Marwari or Arabi). They immediately followed Pratap without wasting time. The moment they started chasing him Pratap’s younger brother Shaktisingh who was fighting from the Mughal side (he had some disputes with Pratap at the time of Pratap’s coronation; hence he had defected and gone over to Akbar’s court) realized that his own brother was under threat. Prataps' general's sacrifice had already been discovered by him. He could not help but react against a threat to his own brother. He followed the Turks, engaged them in single combat and killed them. In the meanwhile,Chetak collapsed and Pratap saw his brother Shaktisingh killing the two Mughal riders. Saddned by the loss of his beloved general and horse, he embraced his brother and broke into tears. Shaktisingh also cried and asked for his brother's pardon, for having fought as his enemy. Pratap pardoned him (later on he was given a huge estate near Chittor). Shaktisingh them offered him his own horse and requested him to get to a safe place. This incident is famous in Rajasthani folklore, a song “O Neele Ghode re Aswar” (O Rider of the Blue Horse) mentions it.

A mausoleum to Chetak is at the site of the steed's death.

The impact of the battle on the Mughal army was also significant. In terms of numbers the Mughal army suffered heavier losses. This was also because of the intensive arrow showers by the Bhil tribes of the surrounding mountains who had aided with Pratap. To honour their contribution, a Bhil warrior was placed next to Pratap in the Royal Coat of Arms of Mewar.

The battle of Haldighat is considered to be the first Major breakthrough of Rajputs aginst the Mughals since the Second Battle of Khanwa in 1527, which was fought between Rana Sanga great grand uncle of Maharana Pratap, and the Mughal Babur. It is regarded with a degree of significance by many Rajput families.

Aftermath

Pratap retreated into the hilly wilderness of the Aravallis and continued his struggle. His one attempt at open confrontation having thus failed, Pratap resumed the tactics of guerilla warfare. Using the hills as his base, Pratap harassed the large and therefore awkward Mughal forces in their encampments. He ensured that the Mughal occupying force in Mewar never knew peace: Akbar despatched three more expeditions to ferret Pratap out of his mountainous hideouts, but they all failed. During this era, Pratap received much financial assistance from Bhamashah, a well-wisher. The Bhil tribals of the Aravalli hills provided Pratap with their support during times of war and their expertise in living off the forests during times of peace. Thus the years passed. As James Tod writes: "There is not a pass in the alpine Aravalli that is not sanctified by some deed of the great freedom fighter, Maharana Pratap Singh; some brilliant victory or, more often, some glorious defeat." On one occasion, the Bhils saved the Rajput women and children in the nick of time by conveying them into the depths of the mines at Zawar. Later, Pratap relocated to Chavand in the mountainous southeastern area of Mewar. Still harassed by the Mughals, the exiles survived in those ravines for many years by subsisted on wild berries and by hunting and fishing.

Last days

Rana Pratap died of injuries sustained in a hunting accident. He died at Chavand, on January 29, 1597, aged fifty-six. It is said that as he lay dying, Pratap made his son and successor, Amar Singh, swear to maintain eternal conflict against the mughals. Thus, his strained circumstances did not overpower Pratap even in his declining years; he remained intrepid to the end.

Maharana Pratap is a great hero in the eyes of many Indians, and is much respected and loved by his people. During a dark chapter of Rajput history, Pratap alone stood firmly for his honour and dignity; he never compromised his honour for safety. He died a proud and free man.

Character

Before the Battle of Haldighati started, Man Singh Kacchwaha was out hunting with a few hundred retainers. Pratap's Bhil spies reported this to him at his camp a few kilometers away. Some of Pratap's nobles suggested that they seize the opportunity to attack and kill Man Singh. Pratap refused, demonstrating his sense of rectitude.

In another incident, the womenfolk of Abdur Rahim Khankhana, a mughal officer, fell into the hands of Pratap's son Amar Singh. At this point of time, Khankhana was actually on the march against Pratap, and was camping at Sherpur in order to make preparations for an assault against Pratap. Nonwithstanding all this, Pratap commanded his son Amar Singh (eldest of 17 sons and 5 daughters) to arrange for the safe conveyance of the mughal ladies to their camp. Khankhana was so affected by this incident that he refused to campaign against such a chivalrous monarch. He petitioned Akbar to be relieved of his post .

Chankya

Chānakya (Sanskrit: चाणक्य) (c. 350-283 BC) was adviser and prime minister to the first Maurya Emperor Chandragupta (c. 340-293 BC), and architect of his rise to power.
Kautilya and Vishnugupta, the names by which the political treatise Arthaśhāstra identifies its author, are traditionally identified with Chānakya. Some scholars consider Chanakya to be "the pioneer economist of the world" . Chankya was a professor at Taxila University and is widely believed to be responsible for the first Indian empire.

Identity

He is generally called Chanakya^[5] but, in his capacity as author of the Arthaśhāstra, is generally referred to as Kautilya.^[6] The Arthaśhāstra identifies its author by the name Kautilya,^[2] except for one verse which refers to him by the name Vishnugupta.^[7] One of the earliest Sanskrit literature to explicitly identify Chanakya with Vishnugupta was Vishnu Sarma's Panchatantra in the 3rd century BC.^[8]

Legend

• Chanakya is born with a complete set of teeth, a sign that he would become king, which is inappropriate for a Brahmin like Chanakya. Chāṇakya's teeth are therefore broken and it is prophesied that he will rule through another.
• The Nanda King throws Chānakya out of his court, prompting Chānakya to swear revenge.
• Chānakya searches for one worthy for him to rule through. Chānakya encounters a young Chandragupta Maurya who is a born leader even as a child.
• Chānakya's initial attempt to overthrow Nanda fails, whereupon he comes across a mother scolding her child for burning himself by eating from the middle of a bun or bowl of porridge rather than the cooler edge. Chāṇakya realizes his initial strategic error and, instead of attacking the heart of Nanda territory, slowly chips away at its edges.
• Chānakya betrays his ally the mountain king Parvata.
• Chānakya enlists the services of a fanatical weaver to rid the kingdom of rebels.
• Chānakya adds poison to the food eaten by Chandragupta, now king, in order to make him immune. Unaware, Chandragupta feeds some of his food to his queen, who is in her ninth month of pregnancy. In order to save the heir to the throne, Chānakya cuts the queen open and extracts the foetus who is named Bindusāra because he was touched by a drop (bindu) of blood or of poison.
• Chānakya's political rivalry with Subandhu leads to his death.

Life

Kautilya was educated at Taxila or Takshashila in present day Pakistan. The new states (in present-day Bihar and Uttar Pradesh) by the northern high road of commerce along the base of the Himalayas maintained contact with Takshasilâ and at the eastern end of the northern high road (uttarapatha) was the kingdom of Magadha with its capital city, Pataliputra , now known as Patna. Chanakya's life was connected to these two cities, Pataliputra and Taxila.In his early years he was tutored extensively in the Vedas - Chanakya memorized them completely at a very early age. He was also taught mathematics, geography and science along with religion. Later he travelled to Taxila, where he became a teacher of politics. Chanakya taught subjects using the best of practical knowledge acquired by the teachers. The age of entering the University was sixteen. The branches of study most sought after around India at that time ranged from law, medicine, warfare and other disciplines. Two of his more famous students were Bhadrabhatt and Purushdutt.

Chanakya lived to ripe old age and died around 283 BC.

Chatrapati Shivaji Maharaj

Chatrapati Shivaji Raje Bhonsle (Marathi: छत्रपती शिवाजी राजे भोसले) was the founder of Maratha empire in western India in 1674. Using guerrilla tactics superbly suited to the rugged mountains and valleys of the region, he annexed a portion of the then dominant Mughal empire.

Family Background

Shivaji started his rise to power in what is now the state of Maharashtra in the Deccan, close to the power centres of South-Central India.
The land of Maharashtra was ruled by a local dynasty, the Satavahanas from 300 BC to 230 AD. After which, it constantly swayed into many different kingdoms.
In 1292, Ala-ud-din Khilji defeated the Yadavas of Devgiri, but the Yadavas continued to rule till 1310. But a branch of the Yadavas ruled parts of Konkan and Khandesh regions for a century. While the Maratha capital fell to invaders, the regional lords held their sway.

In 1453, an invasion of Bahamani in the region of Vishalgarh resulted in a defeat. Over time, an understanding evolved between the sultanates, regional lords and their erstwhile master Yadavas. The Yadavas became a vassal of Bahamani. In 1492, the Bahamani sultanate broke into five kingdoms called Shahi.
In 1565, the allied Deccan sultanates had vanquished the Vijayanagara Empire at Talikota. By the time Shivaji began his military career, power in the region was shared by three S

ultanates - Bijapur, Ahmednagar, and Golconda. Most of the Marathas continued as the noblemen of the Sultanates. Indeed, the sultanates engaged in a continuous game of mutual alliances and aggressions.
Like his ancestors, Shahaji was a major player in the Mughal Wars. At that time, Shahaji played the role of a regent for the young Nizam. Together with the prime minister of Nizamshah, Malik Amber, he put up a stiff resistance to the advancing forces of the Mughal emperor and defeated them. However, tired of the unsettled conditions, Shahaji Raje left Nizamshah's service and joined Adilshah of Bijapur, who gave him the title of 'Sar Lashkar' ^[1]. Emperor Shah Jahan again attacked the Kingdom of Nizamshah. At this critical hour, Shahaji Raje returned to the service of Nizamshah. Meanwhile Lakhuji Jadavrao was murdered. Shahaji raised the banner of independence.

Early life

During the same period, Shivaji was born. Thus he was born in independent country

as it was declared by his father. Perhaps that was the start of his lasting fight for independence. The actual date of Shivaji's birth was under controversy but now settled on date as 19 February 1630. He was born in Shivneri Fort, Junnar, 60 kilometres north of Pune and about 100

kilometres east of Mumbai. The child was named Shiva, after the local Goddess Shivai, to whom his mother Jijabai had prayed for a son. Jijabai had several other sons before Shivaji Shahaji attempted to build on the ruins of Nizamshahi kingdom of Ahmednagar, but was defeated by a combined force of the Mughals and Adilshah in 1636. He was forced to leave the region around Pune. He was inducted by Adilshah of Bijapur and was offered a distant jagir near present-day Bangalore. But he was allowed to keep his old land tenures and holdings in Pune.

Foundation of empire

Under these circumstances, Shahaji appointed the young Shivaji under the care of his mother Jijabai to manage the Pune holdings. A small council of ministers was appointed to assist Shivaji in the administration which included Shamrao Nilkanth as Peshwa, Balkrishna Pant as Muzumdar, Raghunath Ballal as Sabnis and Sonopant as Dabir. Apart from these ministers, military commanders Kanhoji Jedhe and Baji Pasalkar were appointed to look after Shivaji's training. Dadoji Kondadev was appointed to look over overall training. Under such conditions, Shivaji took oath of swarajya at the temple of Raireshwar and assumed administrative responsibility in 1644. Shahaji got Lal Mahal built at Pune. A royal seal was handed over to Shivaji which reads in Sanskrit: "This is the royal seal of Shivaji, son of Shahaji. This royal seal is for welfare of people. This seal (the rule of the seal) will grow like the new moon grows." Thus Shivaji started his career as an independent young prince of a small kingdom on a mission. Shivaji used the title of Raja (king) only after Shahaji died.

Thus his parents made an indelible imprint on his impressionable mind. Shahaji's failed attempts at political independence, his exceptional military capabilities and achievements, his knowledge of Sanskrit, Hindu ethos and patronage of the arts, his war strategies and peacetime diplomacy, all have inspired him. His mother, having lost her father and three brothers to a plot hatched by the Nizamshah, had enough bitter experience of wayward and callous alien rule to instill in Shivaji's mind a natural love for self-determination and aversion for external political domination. Her piety and commitment to indigenous culture made him peerless (as confirmed by even otherwise inimical chroniclers, Khafi Khan especially) in his tolerant attitude towards other religions and treatment of women and non-combatants. Shahaji's vision, Jijabai's motivation, and able training by military commanders like Gomaji Naik, Baji Pasalkar were the greatest influences that groomed Shivaji into a brave and fearless military leader as well as a responsible administrator. Young Shivaji, the prodigy that he was, took little time to apply what he had learned.

Confrontation with the local Sultanates

He carried out his first military action by capturing Bijapur kingdom's Torna fort at age 16, in 1646. By 1647 he had captured Kondana and Rajgad forts and had complete control of the Pune region.

By 1659 Shivaji had captured forts in the Western Ghats and along the Konkan coast. In a bid to sabotage this move of marathas, Adilshah got Shahaji arrested by deceitful means, and sent one army against Sambhaji at Banglore (with Farradkhan at its head) and one against Shivaji at Purandhar (with Fattekhan at its head). However both brothers defeated the invading armies and secured release of their father. Later, Sambhaji was killed by Afzal Khan, Bijapur's finest general in the siege of Kanakgiri. Afzal Khan was sent to destroy Shivaji, in an effort to put down what was seen by Bijapur as a revolt.

Battle of Pratapgarh

Shivaji vanquished Afzal Khan in the battle of Pratapgarh which was fought on November 30, 1659. This feat made Shivaji the hero of Maratha folklore and legend. All contemporary powers of the Indian subcontinent were shocked to see the outcome of the battle. Immediately after the battle, Shivaji in the brilliant moves of cavalry conquered the area right up to the Panhala fort stretching over 200 km.

Clash with the Mughals

With the death of Muhammad Adil Shah, the Sultan of Bijapur, Aurangzeb and his amir Mir Jumla began to take over the Adil Shahi holdings. In 1657 Aurangzeb attacked Golconda and Bijapur. Shivaji, using guerrilla tactics, took control of three Bijapuri forts formerly controlled by his father. With these victories, Shivaji assumed defacto leadership of many independent Maratha clans. He was bequeathed the sobriquet of "mountain-rat" by his opponents for his frequent guerilla-style raids. The Marathas harried the flanks of the warring Bijapuris and Mughals, gaining weapons, forts, and territories. During the war of succession, Shivaji's small and ill-equipped army survived an all out Bijapuri attack, and Shivaji personally killed the Bijapuri general, Afzul Khan. With this event, the Marathas transformed into a powerful military force, capturing more and more Bijapuri and Mughal territory. In Shivaji's second phase (1660-1674), he extended his holdings, notably by destroying Baharji Borah who was reputed to be the world's richest merchant.

Shaista Khan

In 1660, Aurangzeb sent Shaista Khan, Aurangzeb's maternal uncle with a large army to handle Shivaji in the Deccan. Within three years in 1663, Shivaji had lost most of his conquests to a relentless attack by a well-trained Mughal army. Shaista Khan, seized Pune and the fort of Chakan. His vast army was more than a match for Shivaji's troops and he was an experienced commander who had defeated the Shahaji in this region in 1636. But though he held Pune for almost a year, he had little further success. He had set up his residence at Lal Mahal in the city of Pune where no Maratha was allowed. However, Shivaji broke into his house and cut Shaista's two fingers. One day in April 1663, a wedding party had obtained special permission and Shivaji planned an attack on that very night. In the cover of the night, the bridegroom’s party and the Maratha soldiers met at a prearranged site and quietly entered the general’s house, which was guarded by 40,000 Mughal troops. After disposing of the guards they broke into the house by breaking a wall and Shivaji's men captured all the residents. Shivaji himself confronted Shaista Khan who fled by jumping from the window but Shivaji's sword was swift and Shaista Khan lost his son, his thumb, two fingers and consciousness but was taken to a safe place by the servant maids.

Jai Singh

Aurangzeb for the next few years ignored the rise of the Marathas. Shivaji led by inspiration, not by official authority, and the Marathas continued to capture forts belonging to both Mughals and Bijapur. At last Aurangzeb sent his Jaipuri general Jai Singh, a Hindu, to attack the Marathas.

Jai Singh's blistering attacks were so successful that at Purander in 1665, Shivaji capitulated to Jai Singh and Aurangzeb and Shivaji agreed to peace by becoming a Mughal vassal.

Trip to Agra & Escape

In 1666, Aurangzeb summoned Shivaji to Agra, along with his six year old son Sambhaji. In Agra, on 12 May 1666, Aurangzeb made Shivaji stand with the lowly commoners in his court, an intentional insult. Deeply offended, Shivaji stormed out of court and was promptly placed under house arrest, but under the care of Kunwar Ramsingh I, the son of Mirza Raja Jai Singh I.

From his spies, Shivaji came to know that Aurangzeb planned to shift him to a secure location from where escape would be impossible. So he feigned sickness and requested to be allowed to send sweets to temples in Agra as an offering. After several days of sending out boxes containing sweets, Shivaji disguised himself as a palanquin bearer and managed to sneak out without being seen. ( Another theory is that he escaped by hiding in the box of sweets) Sambhaji had sneaked out a couple of days earlier, disguised as the son of a brahmin who had come to pray for Shivaji's quick recovery.

In the years 1667-69, Shivaji lay low. In 1668, Shivaji's repeated petitions to Aurangzeb won him the title 'Raja' and Chakan fort. The Mughals had the impression that he was now a spent force and would not cause them any more trouble. Then in January 1670 Shivaji's forces launched a concerted attack on Mughal garrisons in Maharashtra. The force of the assault was overwhelming and within six months Shivaji had regained most of his old territory. His army was much larger now: about 40,000 cavalry, backed by 60,000 infantry. From 1670 to 1674 Shivaji continued to expand his territory at the expense of the Mughals.

Battle of Sinhagad

One fort on the outskirts of Pune, Kondana, was still under the control of a Mughal general. On February 4, 1670 Shivaji deputed one of his most senior and trusted generals, Tanaji Malusare, to head a mission to capture Kondana. In the Battle of Sinhagad, the fort was scaled during the dead of the night from the side that was least guarded and most difficult to climb. But victory was secured only with loss of Tanaji.

When Shivaji learned that he has lost his loyal and trusted friend, he said "Gad ala pan sinh gela", meaning We have won the fort, but lost the Lion. Thenceforth Kondana fort has been called Sinhagad (the Lion fort).

Coronation

Shivaji was formally crowned Chatrapati ("Chatrapati= Chief, head or King of Kshatriyas", representing the protection he bestowed on his people) on June 6, 1674 at the Raigad fort, and given the title Kshatriya Kulavantas Simhasanadheeshwar Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj. Pandit Gaga Bhatt, renowned as Vedonarayana (Greatest exponent of Vedic discourse), a Brahmin from Varanasi, officially presided over the ceremony declaring that Shivaji's ancestor's were truly Kshatriyas who descended from the solar line of the Ranas of Mewar. He was invested with the janeau, with the Vedas and was bathed in an abisheka. Shivaji had insisted on an Indrabhishek ritual, which had fallen into disuse since the 9th century.

Thus Shivaji become a “shakkarta” (he started his own calendar). A few days later a second ceremony was carried out, this time according to the Bengal school of Tantricism and presided over by Nischal Puri. Henry Oxinden (later Acting President of the Bombay Presidency) from the British East India Company was present at the ceremony.

Southern expedition (Dakshin digvijaya)

At the end of 1676, Shivaji launched a wave of conquests in southern India with a massive force of 50,000 (30,000 cavalry & 20,000 infantry). The first major alliance made by the monarch was with Abul Hasan, the Qutb Shahi Sultan of Golconda. They began a campaign against the Bijapur Karanatak, including the Shivaji's own half-brother, Vyankoji Bhonsla. He defeated and captured the forts at Vellore and Gingee in modern-day Tamilnadu. These victories proved quite crucial during future wars. Jinjee served as Maratha capital for 9 years during 27 years of war.

Death and succession

Shivaji died in 1680 at Raigad, after running a fever for three weeks. After his death, his elder son Sambhaji and his wife Soyarabai (step-mother to Prince Sambhaji, born to Sayibai who had died soon after the child-birth) fought for control of the kingdom. After a brief struggle Sambhaji was crowned king. Aurangzeb's son, Prince Akbar, rebelled against his father and was sheltered by Sambhaji. The emperor and his entourage moved to the Deccan in 1681 to coordinate the assault on the Marathas and were initially successful, but they were defeated and withdrew in 1707. This war of 27 years was a tribute to Shivaji's genius, even after his death, people fought along with his army to preserve the self-rule or governance swarajya.

Shivaji died at 12 noon, 3rd April, 1680.His age was then 50 years.

Shivaji's rule

Shivaji was an able administrator and established a government that included such modern concepts as cabinet (Ashtapradhan mandal), foreign affairs (Dabir) and internal intelligence.^[3] Shivaji established an effective civil and military administration. He also built a powerful navy and erected new forts like Sindhudurg and strengthened old ones like Vijayadurg on the west coast. The Maratha navy held its own against the British, Portuguese and Dutch till Maratha internal conflict brought their downfall in 1756.

Shivaji is well known for his fatherly attitude towards his subjects. He believed that the state belonged to the people. He encouraged all socio-economic groups to participate in the ongoing political changes. To this day he is remembered as a just and welfare-minded king. He brought revolutionary changes in military, fort architecture, society and politics.

Revolution in Military Organization

Shivaji's genius is most evident in his military organisation which lasted till the demise of the Maratha empire. He was one of the pioneers of commando actions (though the term "commando" is modern).^[4] Shivaji was responsible for a lot of changes in military organization. These include -

• A standing army belonging to the state called paga;
• Horses belonged to the state; nobody in his army was allowed to own horses;
• Creation of part time soldiers from peasants who used to work for eight months in the field and supported four months in war. This light infantry was his innovation and they are the one who excelled in commando like actions;
• The introduction of an intelligence department, a navy, and regular chain-of-command;
• Introduction of field craft viz. Guerilla warfare, commando actions, flank attacks;
• Innovation of weapons and innovative use of traditional weapons like tiger claw. 'Vita' was a weapon invented by Shivaji;
• Militarisation of almost the entire society, including all classes, with the entire population of settlements and villages near forts involved in their defense.

Forts

Shivaji constructed a chain of 300 or more forts running over a thousand kilometres across the rugged Western Ghats.

Shivaji and Sanskrit

Perhaps the house of Shivaji was one of the royal families who were well acquainted with Sanskrit and promoted it. The root can be traced from Shahaji who supported Jayram Pindye and many like him. Shivaji's seal was prepared by him. Shivaji inherited this and developed that taste. He named his forts as Sindhdurg, Prachandgarh, Suvarndurg etc. He named Ashta Pradhan (council of ministers) as per Sanskrit nomenclature viz. Nyayadhish, Senapati etc. He had kept a provision for learning the Vedas. He got Rajya Vyavahar Kosh (a political treatise) prepared.

After his death Sambhaji, who was himself a Sanskrit scholar (his verse - Budhbhushanam), continued it. His grandson Shahu spent his entire childhood in Mughal captivity, which affected his taste. But even he showered gifts on learned Brahmins. Serfoji II from the Thanjavur branch of the Bhonsle continued the tradition by printing the first book in Marathi Devnagari.

Remembering Shivaji

Because of his struggle against an imperial power, Shivaji became an icon of freedom fighters in the Indian independence struggle that followed two centuries later. He is remembered as a just and wise king and his rule is called one of the six golden pages in Indian history.

Swami Vivekananda

Swami Vivekananda( स्वामी विवेकानंद )(Bengali: স্বামী বিবেকানন্দ Shami Bibekanondo) (January 12, 1863 - July 4, 1902), whose pre-monastic name was Narendranath Dutta (Bengali: নরেন্দ্রনাথ দত্ত Nôrendronath Dhat-tha), was one of the most famous and influential spiritual leaders of the philosophies of Vedanta and Yoga and a major figure in the history of Hinduism and India. He was the chief disciple of Ramakrishna Paramahamsa and the founder of Ramakrishna Math and Ramakrishna Mission.

While he is widely credited with having uplifted his own nation, simultaneously he introduced Yoga and Vedanta to America and England with his popular lectures and private discourses on Vedanta philosophy. Vivekananda was the first known Hindu Swami to come to the West, where he introduced Eastern thought at the World's Parliament of Religions, in connection with the World's Fair in Chicago, in 1893. It was there that he was catapulted to fame by his by wide audiences in Chicago and then later elsewhere in America.

Birth & Early Life

Narendranath Dutta was born in Shimla Pally, Kolkata, West Bengal, India on January 12, 1863 as the son of Viswanath Dutta and Bhuvaneswari Devi. Even as he was young, he showed a precocious mind and keen memory. He practiced meditation from a very early age. While at school, he was good at studies, as well as games of various kinds. He organized an amateur theatrical company and a gymnasium and took lessons in fencing, wrestling, rowing and other sports. He also studied instrumental and vocal music. He was a leader among his group of friends. Even when he was young, he questioned the validity of superstitious customs and discrimination based on caste and religion.

In 1879, Narendra entered the Presidency College, Calcutta for higher studies. After one year, he joined the Scottish Church College, Calcutta and studied philosophy. During the course, he studied western logic, western philosophy and history of European nations.

Questions started to arise in young Narendra's mind about God and the presence of God. This made him associate with the Brahmo Samaj, an important religious movement of the time, led by Keshub Chunder Sen. And along with his classmate and friend Brajendra Nath Seal, he regularly attended meetings of the breakaway Sadharan Brahmo Samaj. Later they would part ways with Dutta aligning himself with Keshub Chunder Sen's Nava Vidhan and Seal staying on as an initiated member. During this time spent together, both Dutta and Seal sought to understand the intricacies of faith, progress and spiritual insight into the works of John Stuart Mill, Auguste Comte, Herbert Spencer and G.W.F. Hegel.

But the Samaj's congregational prayers and devotional songs could not satisfy Narendra's zeal to realize God. He would ask leaders of Brahmo Samaj whether they have seen God. Their answers did not satisfy his quest for knowledge. It was during this time that Reverend William Hastie, the Principal of the Scottish Church College told him about Sri Ramakrishna of Dakshineswar.

With Ramkrishna

Narendra met Ramakrishna for the first time in November 1881. He asked Ramakrishna the same old question, whether he had seen God. The instantaneous answer from Ramakrishna was, "Yes, I see God, just as I see you here, only in a much intenser sense." Narendra was astounded and puzzled. He could feel the man's words were honest and uttered from depths of experience. He started visiting Ramakrishna frequently. At first he did not believe that such a plain man could've seen god but gradually he started having faith in what Ramkrishna said.

Though Narendra could not accept Ramakrishna and his visions, he could not neglect him. It had always been in Narendra's nature to test something thoroughly before he could accept it. He tested Ramakrishna to the maximum, but the master was patient, forgiving, humorous, and full of love. He never asked Narendra to abandon reason, and he faced all of Narendra's arguments and examinations with infinite patience. In time, Narendra accepted Ramakrishna, and when he accepted, his acceptance was whole-hearted. While Ramakrishna predominantly taught duality and Bhakti to his other disciples, he taught Narendra the Advaita Vedanta, the philosophy of non-dualism.

During the course of five years of his training under Ramakrishna, Narendra was transformed from a restless, puzzled, impatient youth to a mature man who was ready to renounce everything for the sake of God-realization. Soon, Ramakrishna's end came in the form of throat cancer in August 1886. After this Narendra and a core group of Ramakrishna's disciples took vows to become monks and renounce everything, and started living in a supposedly haunted house in Baranagore. They took alms to satisfy their hunger and their other needs were taken care of by Ramakrishna's richer householder disciples.

Wandering in India

Soon, the young monk of Baranagore wanted to live the life of a wandering monk with rags and a begging bowl and no other possessions. On July 1890, Vivekananda set out for a long journey, without knowing where the journey would take him. The journey that followed took him to the length and breadth of the Indian subcontinent. During these days, Vivekananda assumed various names like Vividishananda (in Sanskrit, Vividisha means "the desire to know" and Ananda means "bliss"), Satchidananda, etc., It is said that he was given the name Vivekananda by Maharaja of Khetri for his discernment of things, good and bad.

During these wandering days, Vivekananda stayed on king's palaces, as well as the huts of the poor. He came in close contact with the culture of different regions of India and various classes of people in India. Vivekananda observed the imbalance in society and tyranny in the name of caste. He realised the need for a national rejuvenation if India was to survive at all. He reached Kanyakumari, the southernmost tip of the Indian subcontinent on 24 December 1892. There, he swam across the sea and started meditating on a lone rock. He thus meditated for three days and said later that he meditated about the past, present and future of India. The rock went on to become the Vivekananda memorial at Kanyakumari.

In The West

Vivekananda was received well at the 1893 World Parliament of Religions in Chicago, where he delivered a series of lectures. He also earned wild applause for beginning his address with the famous words, "Sisters and brothers of America." A newspaper account described him as "an orator by divine right and undoubtedly the greatest figure at the Parliament." Vivekananda's arrival in the USA has been identified by many to mark the beginning of western interest in Hinduism not as merely an exotic eastern oddity, but as a vital religious and philosophical tradition that might actually have something important to teach the West.

Vivekananda successfully introduced yoga and Vedanta to the West and lectured around America introducing the topics (1894-6). He taught hundreds of students privately in free classes held in his own room beginning in New York in 1895. Later, he started Vedantic centers in New York City and London, lectured at major universities and generally kindled western interest in Hinduism. His success was not without controversy, much of it from Christian missionaries of whom he was fiercely critical. After four years of constant touring, lecturing and retreats in the West, he came back to India in the year 1897.

Back in India

Admirers and devotees of Vivekananda gave him an enthusiastic reception on his return to India. In India, he delivered a series of lectures, and this set of lectures known as "Lectures from Colombo to Almora" is considered to have uplifted the morale of the then downtrodden Indian society. He founded one of the world's largest charitable relief missions, the Ramakrishna Mission and reorganized the ancient Swami order by founding one of the most significant and largest monastic orders in India, the Ramakrishna Math.

However, he had to bear great criticism from other orthodox Hindus for having traveled in the West. In his day there was hardly a Hindu in America and he received criticism for crossing the ocean, at that time a cause for "outcasting." Vivekananda scoffed at these critiques from the orthodox saying "I cannot be outcast - As a monk, I am beyond caste." His contemporaries also questioned his motives, wondering whether the fame and glory of his Hindu evangelism compromised his original monastic vows. His enthusiasm for America and Britain, and his spiritual devotion to his motherland, caused significant tension in his last years.

He once again toured the west from January 1899 to December 1900. He inculcated a spirit of respect and good will for exchanges between the East and the West. He had American disciples whom he brought to India and initiated as Swamis and brought Indian Swamis to America where they and their successors have been ever since.

Death

On July 4, 1902 at Belur Math near Calcutta, he taught Vedanta philosophy to some pupils in the morning. He had a walk with Swami Premananda, a brother-disciple and gave him instructions concerning the future of the Ramakrishna Math. Vivekananda died suddenly later that day. He had predicted that he would die before the age of 40, which proved to be true when he died at the age of 39.

How The Communist Serpent Moves?

Communism has, of course, fattened itself on widespread Macaulayism and a negative nationalism driven by nothing better than an anti-Western animus and inflated ideas about India's role in world affairs. But the main strength of Communism in India springs from colossal Soviet finances which pour into its coffers through many channels and in increasing amounts. This is not the place to identify the channels through which the Soviet Union finances its fifth-column in India. Here we are concerned with what the Communist movement does with this money. The following deserve our particular attention:

1. The Communist movement in India has built up the largest press in English as well as Indian languages. It runs many dailies, weeklies, fortnightlies, monthlies, quarterlies and irregular periodicals. Most of these papers and journals do not care for commercial and other advertisements which are the main source of income in normal press establishments. The losses that are incurred by these party organs run into crores of rupees every year,

2. The movement controls the largest number of publishing houses. They publish Communist literature in English as well as Indian languages. Most of this literature is in the form of pamphlets, presenting the Party line on all issues of importance, national and international. Recently, Communist publishing houses have undertaken publication of heavier intellectual fare as well, provided it carries a Communist slant or is authored by a Communist or a fellow-traveller. A new line is publication of text-books, particularly on Indian history. These are prescribed by Communist professors whenever and wherever they control university departments, which is not unoften. Departments of history in the Delhi and Jawaharlal Nehru universities, for instance, have become pocket boroughs of Communism for all practical purposes. All this literature, light as well as heavy, is sold at prices which cannot meet even a fraction of the cost. The large discounts allowed to retailers increase this disparity a good deal. The publishing houses which are housed in spacious places, owned or rented by the movement, maintain large salaried staff of all levels. The losses incurred in this enterprise are also colossal;

3. The movement is a cadre-based movement. It has a farflung hierarchy of leaders and workers. All of them are paid activists. Some of them are whole-timers, others part-timers. The leaders are paid and maintained much better than the workers. But salaries and allowances of workers are not inadequate either, if we take into account the communes which the movement maintains for its activists. These expenses on salaries, rents, food, clothing, transport and sundries account for another colossal sum spent from month to month and year after year;

4. The movement maintains and mans many front organisations among trade unions, peasantry, students, youth, women, children, writers, artists, for "peace", for fighting "imperialism", for opposing "communalism". Most of these front organisations have their own offices and their own staff. They also publish their own pamphlets and periodicals. The costs involved on maintaining and turning these transmission belts, as Lenin called them, are considerable;

5. The Communist movement in India is well-known for the frequency of conferences, congresses, mass meetings and demonstrations. A large number of people, many times from long distances, are paid to travel to these gatherings, pass the Party resolutions and shout the Party slogans. Many participants in Communist demonstrations, particularly in big cities like Calcutta, are hired on the basis of payment per head per day. The lodging, board and transport costs for mobilising these crowds are paid by the movement. Posters, placards and buntings abound on these occasions. Again, the costs are colossal.

We are not counting the routine expenses which every political movement or party has to incur in its normal functioning. The parties which do not control a government know it very well how difficult it is to find finances even for these normal expenses. The expenses incurred by the Communist movement are abnormal when compared to its size and significance in India's body-politic. In comparison, the ruling Congress Party is a poor party. And it has to find itself in an embarassing position when some of its methods for collecting money are exposed.

The one thing which, next to slogans, never gets scarce in the Communist movement is money. That is how it is always in a position to prove that it is a movement of the poor, maintained by the poor, and for the benefit of the poor. Shankar had once drawn a cartoon in which a well-dressed upper class Communist worker was demanding a donation for peace from a naked and blind beggar, and denouncing the latter as a warmongering agent of American imperialism who would not part with his paisa.

Footnotes:

¹ See Sita Ram Goel, Perversion of India's Political Parlance, Voice of India, New Delhi, 1984.
² The Communists who control The Times of India at present have already come out with this rhetoric

Communists Are Anti Hindu

The source of positive nationalism in India is Sanãtana Dharma and the long saga of Hindu history. Hindu society provides the only base for positive nationalism. The Muslim and the Christian communities can share in positive nationalism only by revising the premises of their exclusive creeds in favour of the universal principles laid down by Sanãtana Dharma. Communism in India is bent upon destroying Sanãtana Dharma and Hindu society. It is, therefore, in its interest to prevent the Muslims and the Christians from moving towards the mainstream of positive nationalism. This is a point with which we shall deal when we expose the united front between various forces hostile to the Hindus. Here we shall simply specify some prime targets of Communism in its battle against Hindu society and culture. They are as follows:

1. The first and foremost target of Communism is Sanãtana Dharma enshrined in Hindu literature and made living by a long line of saints, mystics and bhaktas. Communism ridicules all this wealth of unrivalled spiritual splendour as a conglomeration of sterile superstition, obnoxious obscurantism and puerile priescraft;

2. Next, Communism makes an aggressive move towards Hindu Dharmashãstras which have their source in Sanãtana Dharma and which lay down the moral and social principles by which a wholesome social and individual life is sustained. Communism denounces these Dharmashãstras as respositories of primitive prescriptions, Machiavellian morality, caste oppression, untouchability, degradation of women, Brahmin domination, lack of social responsibility, and what not;

3. Thirdly, Communism concentrates on Hindu philosophies which expound, compare, contrast, fortify and defend the manifold metaphysical points of view flowing into several streams from the self-same Sanãtana Dharma. It condemns all these philosophies as Brahminical conspiracies to suppress the Lokãyata, "the only scientific philosophy pulsating with a revolutionary principle". Rahul Sankrityayana was a great pedlar of this Communist lore among the Hindi reading public. Some of his works have been translated into other languages also. He was very enterprising indeed. He postulated that the Buddha was preaching Marxism for all practical purposes except for his unmindful lapse into the unproved doctrine of transmigration;

4. Fourthly-and here Communism has really invested some herculean endeavours-it ransacks the annals of Hindu history and Hindu heroism. A whole battalion of Communist historians have been busy for years battering the walls of Hindu historiography "behind which Hindu communalism and chauvinism is hiding its ugly face". They have ridiculed every hero, every period, every episode, and every precedent in which Hindus can take pride. The Golden Age of the Imperial Guptas in which Hindu achievements attained their acme in the fields of art, literature and science is dismissed as a myth by D.N. Jha whose Ancient India: An Introductory Outline has just been reprinted by the People's Publishing House, New Delhi. Other Communist historians have portrayed Maharana Pratap, Shivaji and Guru Govind Singh as local rebels against pax moslemanica for petty personal ends. The same historians whitewash bloodthirsty Islamic conquerors and despicable despots, and condone their crimes either by balancing them with "great good deeds which they did in some other direction" or by explaining them away as conforming to the prevailing pattern of empire-building;

5. Lastly, the Communist anthropologists and sociologists dive deep into Hindu social institutions, customs, mores and manners and come up with some class interest hiding inside the core in each case. We are told that Hindu society has always been an unhealthy society except perhaps during the Vedic period when, according to Romila Thapar, our Aryan ancestors ate beef. Beef-eating by the ancient Aryans has been such an obsession with Miss Thapar that she returns to the theme again and again, even when discussing the dancing girl found in the ruins of Mohenjo-daro.

How hostile Communism can be to everything Hindu is proved by an incident in which S.A. Dange and his son-in-law, Deshpande, got involved a few years ago. Deshpande wrote quite a scholarly book in which he propounded that several important principles of modern mathematics and science (including dialectical materialism which is the greatest principle of modern science according to Communism) were first discovered by systems of Hindu philosophy, notably SãMkhya and Vedãnta. Several other Communist savants had earlier indulged in a similar exercise of casting ancient Hindu philosophies into a materialist mould. The party had paraded them as expert explorers and authentic interpreters of the revolutionary undercurrents in India's philosophical heritage. Where Deshpande went wrong was that he took a genuine pride in the ancient Hindu past and expressed it in no mean measure. Dange himself contributed a Preface to the book and presented it as quite an academic achievement. Little did they know the consequences of what they had done. The Party came down upon them like a ton of bricks. It called a seminar, "Marxism on Vedanta", in which Dange had to confess his errors and cat crow. Deshpande's book published by a society in Bombay was withdrawn from circulation.

Footnotes:

¹ See Sita Ram Goel, Perversion of India's Political Parlance, Voice of India, New Delhi, 1984.
² The Communists who control The Times of India at present have already come out with this rhetoric

What is Communism?

Scholars and historians of Communism far more competent than the present writer have documented it beyond a shadow of doubt that Communism has been an instrument of Soviet foreign policy in its drive towards world domination, particularly since Stalin emerged as the undisputed leader of the Soviet Union as well as the world Communist movement. The unmasking of Stalin as a mass-murderer by Khruschev has blown up the myth of Soviet Russia as a proletarian paradise. The split with China has splintered the world Communist monolith. But, by and large, the movement has recovered from these shocks, retained its self-righteousness and resumed its role in the service of Soviet foreign policy.

It is, therefore, natural and inevitable that Communism should come into conflict with positive nationalism in every country. India cannot be an exception. By positive nationalism we mean a nationalism which draws its inspiration from its own cultural heritage and socio-political traditions. Such a nationalism has its own way of looking at world events and evaluating the alignment of world forces. Such a nationalism is guided by its own past experience in safeguarding its interests and pursuing its goals. These interests and goals may coincide or agree with the interests and goals of Soviet foreign policy at some particular stage of world politics. But it is equally likely that they may not.

This basic dissonance between Communism and positive nationalism in India was fully and finally dramatised during the Second World War. The Communist Party of India had, since its inception, opposed British imperialism in India and stood for its immediate and violent overthrow. The Party had also opposed the Muslim League which it had characterised as a collaborationist conspiracy of landed interests. In the eyes of Indian freedom fighters, therefore, the Party represented a revolutionary fringe of the nationalist movement. The Congress Socialist Party even allowed its platform to be used by the Communist Party of India which was working under a British ban. But the curtain was raised suddenly in 1941 when Hitler invaded the Soviet Union and the real face of Communism was revealed for all who could see.

The Congress leadership had tried to negotiate a settlement with the British for two long years. Finding the British attitude adamant, the Congress decided in August 1942 to launch the Quit India Movement. The Communists in the Congress opposed the Quit India resolution in the AICC Session at Bombay. They propounded that the imperialist war had been transformed into a people's war simply because the Soviet Union had been invaded by an enemy of Britain.

The freedom movement forged ahead under its own inspiration. But the Communist Party of India moved full steam in the opposite direction. British imperialism now became British bureaucracy for the Communists, the Muslim League a spokesman of the Muslim mass upsurge, and the demand for Pakistan a legitimate expression of Muslim nationalism which the Congress should concede immediately. The rest of the story is well-known-the story of how the freedom movement was branded as a movement for collaboration with Fascism, how Subhash Chandra Bose was denounced as a Nazi dog and a Japanese rat, how Communist cadres spied for the British secret police on Socialists and Forward Blocists who had organised an underground movement, and how the Communist intellectuals like Adhikari and Ashraf blueprinted the case for Pakistan with facts, figures, academic arguments and sentimental slogans.

The Communist contribution towards the creation of Pakistan was next only to that of the Muslim League. The Soviet Union was in search of a base from which it could operate for capturing the rest of India after the departure of the British. That plan did not succeed and Pakistan became a base for American interventionism instead. Ever since, the Communists in India have been blaming the Partition on those very forces of positive nationalism which had fought the Muslim League tooth and nail. Communist slogans may change but their hostility to positive nationalism is permanent.

The methods which Communism employs in India to denigrate and denounce the votaries of positive nationalism are the standard Communist methods it uses everywhere around the world. Here we shall concretise three of its chief methods under Indian conditions:

1. Communism in India has developed a language which George Orwell has described as doublespeak. In this language, the traitorous and totalitarian forces represented by the Communist movement are presented as patriotic and democratic forces, collaborators with Communism as progressive people, Islamic imperialism as secularism, and positive nationalism as Hindu communalism and chauvinism. Many people do not know how to decipher this doublespeak and are, therefore, trapped by it;¹

2. Communism in India constantly practises what Karl Popper so aptly expounded "as the conspiracy theory of society". It goes on digging up one conspiracy after another against the working class, the peasantry, the middle class, the toiling masses, Secularism, and so on. In this scheme, it links up "Hindu communalism and chauvinism" with capitalism, landlordism, forces of obscurantism, revivalism and reaction and, finally, all of them with "American imperialism". The forces of "democracy and progress" are then called upon to rally round the Communist movement to defeat the "grand conspiracy between American imperialism outside and reactionary Hindu communalism within". This helps the Communist cadres to acquire a rare depth of perception without exercising their brains. The less they know and think, the better they feel and function. Recently, Communism has discovered a conspiracy of "Hindu communalism" to kill Muslims and destroy Muslim property whenever and wherever Muslims show some signs of prosperity;

3. Communism in India wields a strong-worded swearology which it hurls at its adversaries. Some samples of this swearology will illumine the venom which it can carry. During the Ranadive party-line in 1948-50, Mahatma Gandhi was "unmasked" as the cleverest bourgeois scoundrel and Rabindranath as mãgeer dãlãl, that is, a pimp. But the choicest reprimand was reserved for Sardar Patel and Pandit Nehru "the fascist duo". Parichaya, the prestigious Bengali monthly, came out with a long poem on the two of them "conspiring together in the service of American imperialism". One of the lines exposed them as shyãlã shooarer bãcchã, birlã tatãr jãroja shontãna, that is, sons of swine and the bastard progeny of Birlas and Tatas. But, then, you cannot pin the Communists to any of their past performances. They always "admit their mistakes" publicly and do a bit of chest-beating whenever they receive orders to change the Party line. At present, the bulk of Communist swearology is being mobilised against the camp of positive nationalism. People belonging to this camp are being daily denounced as communalists, chauvinists, fascist murderers of minorities, perpetrators of genocide, reactionaries and revivalists. The tone is still mild, keeping in mind how mendacious it could easily become at a moment's notice. But there are intimations that it may resume its full powers of rhetoric as and when required.²

Footnotes:

¹ See Sita Ram Goel, Perversion of India's Political Parlance, Voice of India, New Delhi, 1984.
² The Communists who control The Times of India at present have already come out with this rhetoric