Chhatrapati Shivaji- O Deliverer of the Hindu Race!- Hindu Chhatrapati - the champion of HIndu Dharma and Hindu Civilization

Chhatrapati Shivaji- O Deliverer of the Hindu Race!- Hindu Chhatrapati - the champion of HIndu Dharma and Hindu Civilization

The youth rose in rebellion. Shivaji wrote in 1645 AD to one of his compatriots severely protesting against the allegation of being faithless to the Shah of Vijapur, and appealed to the superior morals by reminding him that the only faith they pledged was not to any Shah, but to God alone. Did he not in the company of Dadaji, his guardian, and his comrades solemnly swear in the presence of God on the summits of Sahyadri to fight to finish and establish “Hindvi Swaraj”, a Hindu-Pad-Padshahi in Hindustan (India)? “GOD IS ON OUR SIDE AND HE SHALL WIN!”

This word, “Hindvi Swaraj”, coming from the pen of Shivaji himself, reveals, as nothing else could have done, the very soul of the great movement that attired the life and the activities of Maharashtra for a hundred years and more. Even in its inception the Maratha rising was neither a parochial nor a personal movement altogether. It was essentially a Hindu movement in the defense of Hindu Dharma to overthrow the alien muslim domination, for the establishment of an independent, powerful Hindu Empire.

It was not only the leader of Marathas who was actuated by this patriotic zeal, but it was more or less shared throughout his camp and his country. The people were as fully conscious of the patriotic spirit that actuated the efforts of Shivaji, as he himself was. He was hailed everywhere as the deliverer of the Hindus.

And even those, who still ranged themselves on the Muslim side were doing so either through their natural failure to conceive that a rebellion against the great Muslim Padshah could ever succeed, or through a natural hesitation to accept the lead of young and raw enthusiast as Shivaji must have appeared, to the more callous and calculating minds,a s well as to those who had vested personal interests in the permanence of the Muslim rule.

But to Hindus in general, not only in Maharashtra, but throughout the Deccan and even in North, he was the one great champion of their cause, the chosen hero of his race, who was destined to win the political independence of his Land and his Race. History, tradition and literature of that period teem with passages and events that give noble expression to his popular regard and appreciation which the mission and work of Shivaji, Ramdas and their generation won throughout Hindudom, district after district, and town after town, longed and pressed for the coming of Marathas under Shivaji and rejoiced to see Muslim flag being torn asunder from its flag-staff and the sacred Geruva of the Marathas rise and wave triumphant in its stead.

to cite only one example to subtantiate this statement, let us refer to the letter which the people of Savnoor sent to Shivaji when the Hindus of that district could no longer tolerate the Muslim rule.

“We are groaning under the tyrannical sway of the aliens and our dharma is trampled under foot. Come! O, Champion of the Hindu faith, come! O, destroyer of the wicked and the unbelieving aliens’ rule! Here we are at mercy of the Muslim General, Yusuf, and his army, who because we sympathize with Thee and conspired to invite our Hindu compatriots under Thee, have made us prisoners in our own house, place guards at our gates, and are trying to starve us by interdicting food and water. So turn thy nights into days and come, O Deliverer of the Hindu Race!”

It is needless to state that Shivaji did not turn a deaf ear to this moving appeal of his co-religionists beyond the borders of Maharashtra. Hambir Rao, the famous Maratha Captain,hastened to the scene, inflicting crushing defeats on the forces of Vijapur in more than one battlefield, delivered the Hindus from Muslim clutches and rid that district of their rule.

Having out in order his little jagir, comprising Poona and Supa, and organizing the 12 mavals (districts) when he was but 14-16 years old, Shivaji, with his chosen band, took Torana and other important forts by tactful surprises and daring raids. After gaining one of his most decisive victories over the forces of Vijapur under Afzal Khan, Shivaji came in open conflict with the Moguls. Having routed several of their captains and generals now surrendering, now surprising, but always outwitting them, he struck such a terror in the hearts of his foes that even Aurangzeb thought it prudent to drop opposition for a while and lure him into trap. But Shivaji proved more than a match even for an Aurangzeb in his intrigues, and frustrating his treacherous designs at Agra, escaped unscathed from captivity and reached Raigadh safely. 

The war with Moguls was resumed and Sinhgadh was re-captured by Shivaji. Several other captains distinguished themselves by inflicting crushing defeats on the Muslims wherever they met, till at last Shivaji thought it prudent and safe to have himself formally crowned as the Hindu Chhatrapati - the champion of HIndu Dharma and Hindu Civilization. Since the fall of Vijayanagar, never had a Hindu Prince dared to have himself crowned as an independent ruler, as a Chhatrapati. This coronation broke the spell of Muslim superiority in arms. Never again did they prove a match for the hindus in the battlefield.

The results seems miraculous even to actors themselves, Ramdas, himself the high priest of that war of Hindu Liberation, sings in one of his mystic utterances of the vision he had seen and the triumphantly asserts that much of what he had seen in his vision had already come to pass.

“In utter darkenss I dreamt: behold, the dreams are realized. Hindustan is up, has come by her own and those that hated her and sinned against God are put down with a strong hand. Verily, it is a holy land and happy. For, God has made her cause His own and Auranzeb is down. The dethroned are enthroned and enthroned are dethroned! Actions speaks better than words. Verily, Hindustan is a holy land and happy; now that Dharma is backed up by RajDharma, Right by Might, the waters of Hind, no longer defiled, can enable us once more to perform our ablutions and austerities.”

It was this consciousness of fighting under the banner of God that made Shivaji, when he succeeded in founding an independent Hindu Kingdom, to lay it all at the feet of his consciousness of a great mission that made Ramdas return it all to his illustrious disciple as a trust to be administered for the good of man and to Glory of God.

The stirring appeal and the battle song that the Maratha trumpet sounded from the summits of Sahyaadri in the name of Dharma and Hindu-Pad-Padshahi touched and roused all hinduism far beyond the borders of Maharashtra and made them feel that the cause that was being fought out by the Marathas aimed at nothing short of the deliverance of the Hindus and Hindu Land from the hated alien bondage.